Railroad solvent exposure and cancer

Degreasers are liquids used to strip oil and grease from metal. Trichloroethylene, often called TCE, is a colorless liquid that turns to vapor easily. It is used chiefly to make refrigerants and to degrease metal equipment. People make it; it does not occur naturally.

People who work with TCE can take it in through breathing and through the skin. The US military also relied on it heavily for degreasing equipment. Researchers have also studied solvent exposure in the railroad industry in a 1997 journal article.

According to the National Cancer Institute, TCE is a known cause of kidney cancer. IARC reaches the same conclusion. Another cleaning solvent, perchloroethylene, is also suspected of causing cancer.

National Cancer Institute researchers examined six chlorinated solvents in 1,217 people who had kidney cancer and 1,235 who did not. An industrial hygienist, an expert in measuring on-the-job chemical exposure, estimated how much exposure each person likely had to each solvent. Four of the six solvents showed no link to kidney cancer: carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, methylene chloride, and 1,1,1-trichloroethane.

The researchers concluded that heavy perchloroethylene exposure was linked to kidney cancer on its own, not just because people exposed to it were often exposed to TCE too.

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer. The American Cancer Society includes workplace exposure to TCE and to cadmium among possible risks. This cancer shows up about twice as often in men. One reason may be that men have historically spent more time around cancer-causing chemicals on the job.

Other known risks include:

• Smoking, with risk rising the more a person smokes
• Carrying extra body weight
• Elevated blood pressure
• Having a sibling with kidney cancer
• Long-term use of pain medicines such as acetaminophen, which may be linked to a higher risk
• Serious kidney disease, particularly when dialysis is needed

State workers' compensation covers most on-the-job injuries, but not railroad work. The Federal Employers' Liability Act steps in instead, holding a railroad responsible when an injury or death can be traced even partly to its negligence. Here, negligence means the railroad failed to act with reasonable care. The Supreme Court says FELA covers occupational diseases as well as accidents. The Court has also said even a small contribution from the railroad's negligence can be enough.

If a worker shares some blame, recovery is still possible, though the award is reduced by that share. Damages can cover medical bills, wages lost in the past and future, and pain and suffering. When a worker dies, the estate's personal representative brings the claim on behalf of the worker's husband or wife and children.

A FELA claim has to be filed within three years, in federal or state court, so it helps to check your situation early, before the clock runs out. For a disease that develops slowly, the three years begin when the effects of the exposure become apparent.

That moment can come earlier than people expect. Early in 2026, a New Jersey appeals court let stand the dismissal of a car inspector's claim. His doctor connected his bladder cancer to his work in May 2014, yet he filed in April 2019, past the deadline for the cancer as of 2014.