Deicing chemicals from Hartsfield

International Airport that contaminated Fayette County's drinking water

in January likely didn't reach levels that would significantly harm local

residents, according to an expert from Emory University.

In a public forum at the Peachtree

City Library last week, Dr. Howard Frumkin said Fayette was likely exposed

to levels at least 20 times less than has caused reproductive problems

with mice and rats in clinical studies. That's assuming the "worst

case" scenario that 180,000 gallons of the deicing chemical reached

the Flint River at its headwaters near Hartsfield, Frumkin noted.

"But I'm not standing

here and saying there was no exposure," he said.

The big difference between

what happened to Fayette's water in January and the studies on rats and

mice, however, is that Fayette wasn't exposed to the ethylene glycol for

more than a few days, Frumkin said. The mice and rats had the chemical

injected over a longer period of time in the clinical trials, he noted.

"I feel comforted by the

fact that it probably only lasted for days," Frumkin said.

Frumkin cautioned, however,

that unborn babies could be at the greatest risk from exposure to the

contaminated water. He urged mothers to work with their physicians to

monitor the baby's growth closely.

"I think careful scrutiny

during pregnancy is justified," Frumkin said.

Any birth defects caused by

exposure to ethylene glycol would depend on the fetal stage of development,

Frumkin said. The largest risk would be to unborn children ranging from

four to eight weeks old, he added.

Only one study on the affects

on unborn babies exposed to ethylene glycol has been done, Frumkin explained.

In that study, birth defects were found in children whose mothers were

exposed to the chemical when they worked in an electronics plant in Mexico.

Those babies had misshapen

faces, bone abnormalities and neurobehavioral abnormalities, Frumkin said.

But the study didn't include just how much exposure the mothers had to

ethylene glycol, he added.

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