1,1,1-TCE used to be a household chemical; it was a component of liquid paper, of floor adhesives, and spray-on shoe polish. It was phased out due to concerns about the ozone layer. It is not classified by the EPA or the WHO IARC as carcinogenic.
Unlike 1,1,1-TCE, Trichloroethylene is apparently still used in household products, like corrections fluids, and in a number of automotive solvent cleaners. You can smell it at 0.01% concentration in the air; it is indeed apparently smelly stuff, about twice as smelly as 1,1,1-TCE (I'm guessing this is a linear response). It is a probable human carcinogen based on mouse models; maximum routine occupational exposure over 8 hours is 200ppm (so about twice the level at which you start to smell it).
If you're my age and you remember the CFC media blitz of the late 80's: TCE/1,1,1-TCE are apparently archetypical examples of CFCs. TCE is an extremely common industrial chemical; it isn't (if you were wondering) in any way specific to electronics.
Just to build on this a little bit, cause the article also gets a little confusing regarding chemicals in question.
The TCE that pops up in the article over and over again is 1,1,1-TCE. As pointed out, it is not counted as carcinogin, however it has been linked to birth defects in lab animals.
What is your source for this statement? According to the EPA, "The primary contaminants detected at the site were trichloroethene (TCE); 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA); tetrachloroethene (PCE); gallium; and arsenic."
I plead office move today. The 1,1,1-TCA EPA tox report said it was pulled because of ozone layer concerns, and there's a 1,1,1-TFA that is a CFC. But yep, that was a dumb sentence for me to have written.
Unfortunately, the acronym "TCE" has been used for both 1,1,1-trichloroethane and trichloroethene (and even sometimes tetrachloroethene). It appears, though, that the preferred usage is "TCA" for trichloroethane (either 1,1,1-TCA or 1,1,2-TCA) and "TCE" for trichloroethene. ("Trichloroethylene" is an alternate name for trichloroethene.)
For clarity, I would suggest not using "TCE" for trichloroethane.
Which is ironic, because a major part of Silicon Valley's success was that it was populated by inventor people who don't send clothes to he dry cleaner, and not the empty $1000 suits of the east coast.
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp70.pdf
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp19.pdf
1,1,1-TCE used to be a household chemical; it was a component of liquid paper, of floor adhesives, and spray-on shoe polish. It was phased out due to concerns about the ozone layer. It is not classified by the EPA or the WHO IARC as carcinogenic.
Unlike 1,1,1-TCE, Trichloroethylene is apparently still used in household products, like corrections fluids, and in a number of automotive solvent cleaners. You can smell it at 0.01% concentration in the air; it is indeed apparently smelly stuff, about twice as smelly as 1,1,1-TCE (I'm guessing this is a linear response). It is a probable human carcinogen based on mouse models; maximum routine occupational exposure over 8 hours is 200ppm (so about twice the level at which you start to smell it).
If you're my age and you remember the CFC media blitz of the late 80's: TCE/1,1,1-TCE are apparently archetypical examples of CFCs. TCE is an extremely common industrial chemical; it isn't (if you were wondering) in any way specific to electronics.