Military Comments on 2-butoxyethanol and acquired hemolytic anemia

Subject:	Why are symptoms for Gulf War Syndrome the same as 2-butoxyethanol poisoning?
To:	"Margaret Diann" <mother_margaret@yahoo.com>
From:	Special.Assistant@deploymenthealth.osd.mil
Date:	Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:50

Just thought I would share that the symptoms of 'Gulf War Syndrome Vets' are the same symptoms as 2-butoxyethanol poisoning Please have doctors check them for hemolytic anemia But doing extra tests, too ... as the doctors are missing the hemolytic anemia in the population of Inipol EAP 22 Bioremediation workers of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill cleanup... and so are your doctors, in my opinion http://www.valdezlink.com/symptoms_of_gulf_war_illnesses.htm http://www.valdezlink.com/1989photos_print.htm EVOS picture story Maybe these extra things can be checked & a LAB TECH must look at the red blood cells under a micrscope & COMMENT

www.valdezlink.com/men.htm www.valdezlink.com/women.htm

http://www.valdezlink.com/hematologist_help.htm Exxon was LOOKING for hemolytic anemia in 1989 on its target workers... & finding it http://www.valdezlink.com/how_abbrev.htm But unless our doctors are LOOK for it, they are not finding it.... those with all the other symptoms, varied as they are... HAVE to first of all have had the blood damage. The auto workers in our nation & many others should be checked for this chemical poisoning, too www.valdezlink.com/opinion.htm Note the symptoms of the Central Nervous System Damage of our Exxon Valdez Oil Spill cleanup workers www.valdezlink.com/feel_print.htm Note the symptoms of chemical overexposure (poisoning) and especially what 2-butoxyethanol does http://www.valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/symptoms_print.htm You tell me if my theory makes sense. I would like to know what was the OK range for red blood cell counts, hemoglobin and hematocrit before 1989 Margaret Diann Hursh, PO Box 233, Valdez, ALASKA 99686 1-888-853-5333 Looking for the EVOS workers www.valdezlink.com/home.htm this e-mail replicated on this web letter http://www.valdezlink.com/missing_it.htm

Thank you for your recent e-mail. My name is Joan, and I am responding on behalf of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses, Medical Readiness and Military Deployments.

We have referred your message to members of our medical staff who have furnished most of this response. Short summaries about 2-butoxyethanol and its potential for health effects can be found at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts118.html and http://www.who.int/pcs/cicad/summaries/cicad_10.htm .

The hemolytic properties of 2-butoxyethanol can be demonstrated when red blood cells are exposed to the chemical in the laboratory. Moreover, hemolytic anemia can be induced in laboratory animals when they are exposed to sufficiently high doses. The degree of hemolysis is proportional to the amount of 2-butoxyethanol absorbed by the animal. As with many other chemicals, the toxic properties depend upon the dose. Hemolysis has also been observed in humans, specifically people who swallowed large amounts of cleaning agents containing 2-butoxyethanol.

Damage to red blood cells continues as long as sufficiently high concentrations of 2-butoxyethanol are present. Because 2-butoxyethanol and its breakdown products leave the body within 24 to 48 hours of exposure, damage to red blood cells will cease after that period of time unless there is continuing or repeated exposure at high enough doses.

Joan, I disagree with the above paragraph.

If hemolytic anemia occurs from any source - how can it just go away? I know there are some rat studies that say such,

however, I am not interested in what happens when swallowed because that is not a primary source of exposure.

Breathing fumes, getting vapors in your eyes, getting product on your skin/cuticles - are the primary entry routes of 2-butoxyethanol. Two people from the Exxon Valdez oil spill days reported that in a public meeting an Exxon man drank Corexit to prove that it was safe. He must have known that ingestion was not a form of exposure.

Is there a cure for hemolytic anemia?

If not, then you need to find a test that will find it in those with acquired hemolytic anemia, too!

When approximately 100,000 veterans of the Gulf War underwent the special medical evaluations provided by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), one of the basic laboratory tests included in the evaluations was the complete blood count. This test is very sensitive to the presence of anemia. Although hundreds of cases of anemia were identified among the veterans, hardly any of them proved to be acquired hemolytic anemia (different from hereditary hemolytic anemia). We do not know the exact number, because the published report on the evaluation programs did not list any diagnoses which affected fewer than eight persons. (See this report at http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/combined_analysis/index.htm .) This low frequency is not surprising because hemolytic anemia is very uncommon. Even if the veterans had somehow been exposed to very large amounts of 2-butoxyethanol, the evaluation programs would be unlikely to detect a persistent hemolytic state unless very high levels of exposure continued to occur. The evaluation programs did not start until 1992 (VA) and 1994 (DoD), so the effects of any exposure to 2-butoxyethanol during the Gulf War would have been long gone.

You asked about the normal ranges for red blood cell counts, hemoglobin, and hematocrit before 1989. According to the textbook, Clinical Hematology, by MM Wintrobe et al., published by Lea and Febiger in 1981, the values for healthy adults should fall within the following ranges, expressed as a mean ± the standard deviation: Male Female Red blood cell count (million/mm3) 5.4 ± 0.9 4.8 ± 0.6 Hemoglobin (grams/deciliter) 16 ± 2 14 ± 2 Hematocrit (% or ml/deciliter) 47.0 ± 5.0 42.0 ± 5.0 We hope this information is responsive to your questions.

If we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to ask. 071503

2 women who worked the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup shared recently that their iron counts are 6 and 10; one has developed rheumatoid arthritis from a weakened immune system

The other was told, "Oh, you don't have leukemia, or you would be dead now"

We have a chiropractic doctor who worked with patients during the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup & in 1992 he came down with melanoma eye cancer & had one eye removed; recently his liver cancer had gone undetected with normal testing for liver cancer. They only found it by inserting a camera at the naval area... & then found he was full of cancer in the liver and it had gone to the stomach. And if he is still alive, he would only have days to live.

He could have been exposed second hand, when patients were expelling the chemical thru their respiratory system?

PS Could you tell me what the troops wash their gear with?

I was told it contained 2-butoxyethanol

The military uses many different cleaning/degreasing agents on its equipment. Each is selected for the particular job that is required and any personal protective equipment for people using these agents is likewise selected based on the properties of the agent being used. I am sorry to be so general about this but the military has literally thousands of types of equipment ranging from small arms to aircraft and navy ships with all of their associated components. Virtually all of them get cleaned at some point and the cleaning agent is selected based on the requirement of the job.

What temperature is recommended for storing & use of cleaning compounds?

What kind of exposures could you have to 2-butoxyethanol type chemicals?

http://www.valdezlink.com/what_exposures.htm

What are the symptoms of too much chemicals in one's system?

http://www.valdezlink.com/patient_intake_chart.htm

MSDS 2-butoxyethanol:

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/cis/products/icsc/dtasht/_icsc00/icsc0059.pdf

Check blood Men Women

Learn to avoid products with 2-butoxyethanol - especially those which contain large amounts of this chemical Some Auto & Cleaning products have very high levels of 2-butoxyethanol

Corexit has 38% 2-butoxyethanol (UNSAFE!) Inipol EAP 22 had 12%