EPA must protect workers from harmful chemicals
This August, I traveled to Washington, D.C., to share my story with lawmakers and urge them to take action on the toxic chemical that changed my life.
In 2014, my husband of 42 years passed away. He had spent years battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and died from a brain tumor. Before his diagnosis, he worked for three decades for IBM, cleaning customers’ copiers and typewriters with a solution that contained the carcinogenic chemical trichloroethylene (TCE).
Despite the science on TCE’s risks, the company never warned my husband, Dale, about the dangers of the solution he used for his job. To clean the machines, he would spray the TCE solution onto the copiers and typewriters and use a device to blow off the vapors — all while breathing in the air.
He would then toss the rags he used to wipe off the machines (and the TCE) into his car and head to the next job. He wasn’t told to wear gloves or any protective gear. In fact, he was required to wear a suit and Jan Peterson and her husband, Dale, seen with their first grandchild. Dale, a former IBM service technician, died of a brain tumor after battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphomia from age 47.
white dress shirt.
My husband, like so many in the workforce, was not adequately protected.
And that’s why I went to Washington — to speak up for my husband and other workers and to urge lawmakers to call on the Trump administration to protect Americans from TCE. I joined other families whose lives have been affected by the chemical
— mothers and fathers who have lost children to cancer and community members struggling with TCE-tainted water.
The Environmental Protection Agency currently has the ability to ban the use of TCE that impacted Dale. Due to health concerns, the agency proposed a ban on TCE in aerosol degreasing and spot cleaning in December 2016, and then a month later, it proposed to ban its use in vapor degreasing.
Over 20 months later, the EPA hasn’t finalized either ban. Instead of better protecting Americans, the agency has delayed the bans and has decided to ignore major sources of exposure to TCE while evaluating its risks to health and the environment. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has not explained why the agency won’t take action.
While in Washington, I shared my husband’s story with lawmakers, and spoke about it at a press conference. Dale was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 47, which doctors noted was young to get the cancer. Around the same time, many other IBM employees were contracting rare cancers at early ages.
Several employees that became sick with illnesses potentially linked to chemicals used on the job ended up bringing lawsuits against IBM. As the lawsuits progressed, it was revealed that IBM had a “Corporate Mortality File” detailing the causes of death for 33,000 employees over a 30-year period. Analysis of the records found excess mortality for cancer in employees. The EPA has a clear path forward to better protecting workers and consumers from the serious risks of TCE. The agency must finalize the bans now and look at all the ways workers and the public are exposed when deciding what other uses to restrict.
I lost my husband, and my children lost their father. While I can’t know exactly if the TCE caused his illness, I do know that he was exposed to the carcinogenic chemical on the job for years. And I know that EPA has the chance — right now — to protect Americans by finalizing the bans.
Though it was painful for me to recount Dale’s story to lawmakers, and it is painful to write about it now, I will continue to speak up. Despite how difficult it is, I feel the need to represent my husband in the hopes that sharing my experience will prevent similar tragedies in the future.