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            Auburn University - University Relations
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4/13/95                       Mitch Emmons

AU RESEARCHERS EXAMINING HEALTH EFFECTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE

      AUBURN -- About 10 percent of the nation's hazardous waste 
disposal sites are leaching enough toxic chemicals to cause health 
problems in nearby plants, animals and humans, says a researcher in 
Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine. 
      Barbara Kemppainen, an associate professor in the Department of 
Physiology and Pharmacology, says the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency has documented hundreds of chemicals found commonly in the soil, 
water and air around hazardous waste landfills.
      Kemppainen and Stephen Lenz, associate professor in the 
Department of Pathobiology and Joe Renden, professor in the College of 
Agriculture's Department of Poultry Science, are examining the effects of 
five chemicals -- arsenic, cadmiumn, lead, benzene and trichloroethylene 
-- on broiler chickens.
      "In past studies, toxicologists have concentrated on examining 
the health effects of these chemicals individually," Kemppainen says. 
"But when you have a complex mixture of chemicals, such as you would have 
near a hazardous waste site, those chemicals can sometimes interact to 
result in different toxic effects. Some may be harmless, while some may 
be more severely toxic than the chemical is alone."
      Noting that Alabama has at least a dozen hazardous waste sites 
currently on the EPA's priority list for cleanup, she added, it is 
important to learn at what levels and at what concentrations these 
chemicals can pose health threats -- particularly to an area's potable 
water supply. Alabama's hazardous waste sites are in Baldwin, Butler, 
Calhoun, Jefferson, Madison, Mobile, Montgomery, Talladega and Washington 
counties.
      Broiler chickens were selected for the research because of their 
value as an agricultural product in Alabama, Kemppainen said.
      "We have looked at the health effects of low levels of certain 
heavy metals and other volatile organic chemical substances in the 
drinking of these chickens," she says. "We have learned that these 
chickens are up to 100 times more sensitive to these toxins than are 
laboratory mice,"
      Chickens drinking the contaminated water had slower weight gain 
than chickens drinking uncontaminated water,  and the toxins also appear 
to impair the immune system's ability to ward off disease, says Kemppainen.
      "What this tells us is that there is a lot of difference in 
susceptibility among species," she says. "It would therefore, be 
difficult to assess the effects on large livestock or even on humans. But 
this is an area that is beginning to receive the attention of the EPA and 
the NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences)."
      The full extent of Kemppainen's research is not yet known, but 
she says positive results have been shown on commercial poultry farms 
when the chickens' drinking water is filtered.
      "We don't yet know what and in what concentrations these 
contaminants are being filtered out, but filtering does appear to reduce 
symptoms of adverse health effects," she said.
      Kemppainen's research, which is supported by the Alabama Food 
Animal Health and Disease Fund, will be expanded to evaluate effects of 
the toxins on reproduction in chickens.
      "We already have learned that a decrease in important vitamins 
and minerals increases susceptibility to these toxins," she said. "But 
looking at these complex mixtures and lower concentrations of these 
contaminants is a new emphasis in toxicology research because they more 
closely mirror the types of environmental exposures that are currently 
occurring."
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      CONTACT: Kemppainen, 334/844-5415.