Cancer Risks of Coal Tar Sealants Exposed

As reported early on this site, a Baylor University toxicologist has run the numbers for cancer risk for children exposed to dust and soil contaminated from coal tar sealants. A summary video is now available on this website if you want to learn more. Dr. Spencer Williams details findings where he used the concentrations of PAHs in house dust and soil concentrations as collected by the USGS and the University of New Hampshire.

“CSA”-coal tar sealant affected

For the first time, a toxicologist has publicly presented the probable risks to children exposed to soil and dust tracked into homes from coal tar pavement sealants. An excess risk of 1 in 10,000 was estimated. Federal law deems this risk “unacceptable” and is “sufficient basis” for action. While the professor from Baylor University, Dr. Spencer Williams, thought more information should be studied, others at the conference wondered if it wasn’t more than enough.

from Site remediation planning and management by J. Andy Soesilo, Stephanie R. Wilson

He presented a conservative, yet compelling look at the cancer risks for children coming into contact with coal tar sealants. While he stated that the excess cancer risk of 1 in 10,000 is theoretical and he’d like more research, it nonetheless is a strong indictment of a product that has no demonstrable pavement benefit and is not recommended for use by the Asphalt Institute.

The full, hour-long presentation is available on the University of Connecticut website.

Also included is a recently re-discovered video of a Love Canal toxicologist about the high PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) found in Austin, Texas back in 2003. One quotable quote went something like this, we usually get excited if you have PAHs in the part per BILLION, but you have them at parts per MILLION!! (which is 1,000 times higher).