Document 0qqmYb6orJLZjpRDZLMrRebeO

n o I ronvn & '! By John Suar The tcriicr if o member nf the Metro politan stuff of The WWiiiioion Post. . B KPORC IT WAS identified earlier this year as llic carcinogenic killer of 12 industrial workers, vinyl chloride was accepted as a cheap and almost innocous gas willi a varity of urcs. Pres surized Into consumer-sale aerosol cans, it served as the propellant for in secticides and hairsnrays: a* the base ingredient in a common plastic--poly' vinyl chloride (I*VC)--it i* omiliprctent of everyday life as bellies, pipes, wrapping, ear upholstery, phonograph records and sundry other products. With dramatic speed over these last' ' lew months, our understanding of the apparently compliant stave fas has been unpleasantly chanced. Unmasked by an Italian research chemist. It now .stands convicted in the deaths by a ' rare and Invariably fatal liver cancer of the 12 plastics workers id the lest 13 years. Now--In the words of one researcher --It, "casts a long shadow" over tlio lives of many thousands of workers in second-echelon, plastic-using indus tries. And If the lethal qualities of . viynl chloride have been nverlnnked by the manufacturers!, just how justified is the consumers' reliance on that most commonly used artificial material--, ' plastic? The already proven relationship be tween vinyl eltluride and angiosarcoma ' . --a liver cancer which generally kills an average of only 21 person* a year in the United States--is the latest of the . chemical time bomlis to llireaten our Industrial workers and, if Ilie forebod ings of some researchers are borne ' out. It may be worst. That suspicion is under high priority Investigation by at least seven gover. mental and medical research groups-- . an effort one involved expert in envi ronments! henlth calls "unprecedented ` , In both scope and intensity." "Poleut Carcinogen" ' "'17 IN'YU. CHLORIDE," added Dr. ' Y lrvtng Sclikoff. a professor of , medicine at the .Mount Sinai Seltodl of * Medicine. New York and dlrectw of the Knvironmemal Sciences Lahore. lory there, "Is a very potent eareino* . ' gen in the center of our great chemical process industry and a product used throughout society and industry." Or. Joseph A. Wagoner, working |3hour days to direct another key inves tigation for the National MMitute for UliiODI `'The. already jirovcit re. Intiottshi/t hel ir ccn vinyl rhlttritle. ami ttitpiusarronia in lltr latest nf the. r.ht'iniritl time, bombs to threaten nnr industrial Mot hers." Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSIfl, calls vinyl chloride "one of, if not the most potent carcinogens." With the dangers of vinyl chloride established in the grimmest fashion by death certificates, researches are pressing with unusual urgency for some answers to a whole spectrum of far-reaching question. They want to know exactly what the health risks are for approximately G.500 people who work in 37 plants where vinyl chloride is polymerised into polyvinyl chloride. Beyond that, there is an urgent need to establish the haaerds. if any. for the tens or thousands of other workers who fashion the raw PVC into prod ucts and for the public at lame which uses thorn. Other agencies engaged in active rc search are the N'ntinal Institute for Environmental Health, the Environ mental Protection Agency, the Na tional Cancer Institute. Environmental Protection Administration for the City of New York and the Contcr for Dis ease Control, Atlanta. 1 The Investigations are far from com plete. but under the gun of a continu ing health hazard of uncertain propor tions. scientists will discuss their in terim findings at an international con ference May 10 organized by the New York Academy of Sciences. That link Is now just about as cer tain as the relationship between the tu bercle bacillus and the etiology of tu-' berculosla, according to SelUkoff: "I don't think there's any doubt of a firm, strung anoeUUon between angiourcumn and vinyl chloride exposure," he said. RECEIVED MAV 13 1974 ** bt. .... */ i f: JVtiliU'ins Kunml ijjWf'rPoEmIlTASmerHicrEiarRn\EanIde1xpEeucrtoperaenposrctsicntisl to further substantiate llic link between vinyl chloride and anaiosarcnna ami lo predict a polcidinl dcnlli exposed workers. 'Two months ago. Dr. Sclikoff took a 50-strong team of medical personnel to the Niagara Palls, N.Y.. plant where WO men make polyvinyl chloride for Goodyear. He is unwilling jet to detail results of the mass clinical screening conducted there, but commented: "We have found problems there. Wc have 'found vinyl chloride-associated dis ease." The vinyl chloride hazard has been exposed at a quickening pace over the last few mouths as animal researchers found that mice and rats dosed with the chemical developed angiosarcoma and medical researchers found evi dence of the same rare tumor among plastics workers. As the evidence hardened, govern ment agencies have drastically changed legislation regarding vinyl chloride. Some of the pressure for changes stemmed from the alarming 000834 Dr. Sidney ITnlfe: "Inm-tinn . , . may fie fatal." results of internal research programs. More In the form of petitions, dozens of phone calls and disclosure actions estnc from the feisty, goading at Ralph Nader-funded Health Wcaewmb .! mkhJnniiai-y, l'* F. Goodrich an nounced the death of three loniHcrtn (inployees at the Louisville polyvinyl fhtaridc plant with the significant ad dendum that the company was investi gating whether the deaths "were re-, leted to occupational causes." * Since then. 94 consumer products containing vinyl chlorido have been el* ' tlicr voluntarily withdrawn by manu facturers or banned from sale by the EPA and FDA. These included 41 aero sol pesticides for household use, 28 home and professional hairsprays, 13 deodorants and nnti-pcrsplrnnta. * The radical chanjto In altitude to ward the colorless gas is reflected in Department of l.abor regulations on the exposure of Industrial workers, previous regulations limiting workers to .*00 parts per million wore based on a\Hiding combustible concentrations and toxic levels sufficient to cause dic linous and nausea. A new emergency , standard limiting exposure to 30 parts per million is now in force and the' Occupational and Safety Health Ad ministration (OStlA) plans to seek a l>ermanent standard of no mensurable ' Though their simile* arc incomplete, the researchers are sure enough about vinyl chloride to express a uniform consternation at the Idea of workers being exposed to levels as relatively low as $0 ppm. "1 don't think it's adequate," said Selikoff, "H would be foolhardy to say this lower level U sate. If cancet occurs at higher levels. It will occur at lower levels, thouch less frequently." U'o Heartlirenkiiifi!' THE PERCEPTION of vinyl Chloride as dangerous in any amount leads to a depressing comparison with the lev els accepted as reasonable by the chemi cal Industry as late a* January' this year. Vinyl chloride readinss declared by the companies themselves ranged In ordi nary production from 20-100 ppm. But occasional very high readings were ad mitted. Th plastics division of Out' royal at Palnesville. Ohio, for Instancy fold NlOSH researchers that workers scaling Ihe vessels in whieta pVC it made were brlclly exposed to levels at high as 1.600 ppm. When told that. Selfkotf exclaimed. "It's heartbreaking!" With responsibility for governing vinyl chloride use falling between the over lapping jurisdictions of' several federal agencies -- all adjusting at differing speeds to new knowledge on Iho gas -- tome Important gap* aUU exist, o Vinyl chloride production is estimated at 7 billion pounds a year and it is still being transported by ntu and highway under dangerously outdated hazard rules. On April 14 a freight train derailed and dumped a tank car of vinyl chloride on a Philadelphia expressway. Dr. Wag oner broke from his work in Cincinnati to place telephone calls to the Pennsyl vania Poison Center and ihe- Penn Cen tral Railway. Neither knew they were dealing with a proven cancer-causing agent. In the past three years, eight spillage incidents have been reported. The Health Research Group, partially responsible for persuading the EPA to ban sales of inside insecticides, is ,,0w pushing the agency to scire all'outdoor vmyl chloride aerosols v.i(h the logical argument that on present knowledge any further consumer exposure it in tolerable. Emergency Revision 7tHE RECENT history of vinyl chlor- ' idc shows a fascinating bc)ter-#keller pattern of scientific initiative and governmental response as society stiged a hurried retreat from a chemical re garded as relatively benign since it was first manufactured in 1930. Jan. 2C. Dr. Joseph A. Wagoner di- . rector of XfOSH's 'field investigation division begins, with "a senso of national urgency." an epidemiological study of four long-established PVC manufactur- Ing plants. At this time the rcseareh is : going full-force, occupying 18 out of 32 people on his staff. One branch has shut t down work on every other project to handle the vinyl chloride emergency. In mid-February. Italian scientist I Prof. Ccsaro Maltoni told a hurriedly t assembled OSHA hearing that two cut Of 87 rats subjected to daily dosages of vinyl chloride dorcioped angiosarcomas. At a very high level at 6.000 parts per million. 11 out of 72 rata developed the ' torn tumors. However, the bombshell in Maltoni't findings that led to an Im mediate emergency revision of tbo in- t duslrial atmospheric levels then stand- ing at 300 ppm was the statement that some rata developed the tumors at i MO ppm, 1 Feb. 14, EPA forms a task force under Glenn Schweitzer to assess over all health and environmental risks as sociated with vinyl chloride and PIT. On April 10. he directs EPA's 10 re gional offices lo test the water, air and solid -waste emissions fronv at least on' plant using vinyl chloride to make PVC. Fob. 21, the HRG petitioned the FDA to ban and namo cosmetics employ ing vinyl chloride ss propellant on Ihe basis of "woll-documooted csrc'.no- tonicity." A similar petition went to EPA Administrator Russell Train, call-1 ing for suspension of vinyl chloride pend- ( Mis regulated hr the EPA, I .Marcli 2.1. Itc.-pniulm; to the HUM petition on pesticides, the F.I*A state*. they have no listing o{ products contain- 'ing vinyl chloride and are seedin' a i warning letter to all 15.000 pcsticin.-l manufacturers suggesting the subsino-J lion of another gas. I * March 20, The Health Itcs'ar,. Group -- unsuccessful in pcisuadj,, Clairol to withdraw vinyl chloride-p,*. ered hairsprays from the market--tat', the dispute to the PDA in a letter to ti:>- . administrator Dr. Alexander N. Schmid; (The substance of the HRG's case w. Clairol's admission that users of i|H. sprays were exposed to 200 ppm for a one-minute duration. The HRG direr. tor. Dr. Sidney M. IVolfe. reproved thFDA: "Whereas this inaction by the, FDA must be welcome and financial!} beneficial to Bristol-Myers and itj Clairol subsidiary, it may be fatal fa many unsuspecting citizens of ihi, .country." * April 3. The FDA announced actioto end the use of vinyl chloride hi * products under its control. The ordc concerns three manufacturers am about 30 products. Calling the bazar*' to hair-spray users ''extremely re j mote," Clairol Inc. nevertheless, an-: . nounces the recall of 100.000 cans o.* Summer Dlondo and Alisa Clairol aero sol hair sprays. * April 3, In response to a Marcli It recommendation from NlOSH that the acceptable industrial level should be * zero, the Department of Labor an nounces an interim emergency level of 30 ppm. * April 17. The EPA identifies 20 products containing vinyl chloride, leaves 21 tnore unnamed pending man ufacturers' approval of their publica tion. . *. April 19. EPA administrator Hus- sell Train hears the result of some cru cial experimentation by his own peo ple. Under test, pesticides on public sale raised the vinyl chloride concen tration in a small room such as a bath room to 409 ppm in a 30-second burst. Without light or ventilation, the re searchers reported to their chief, the concentration of gas diminished by only 1 per cent in a four-day period. * April 24, Citing those tests and the easy availability of substitute gases. Train signs an order banning all vinyl chloride products for indoor uses. The EPA administrator was doubtless also aware of some preliminary findings i a long-term study by the Manufactur ing Chemists Association which dis closed tumors In mice at levels of only SO ppm. The names of seven of the vi nyl chloride products regulated by ihe EPA still have not been released. ucc 000835 $* Gloomy Prediction t npllK I'OSdtULE significance nf the ' 1 ',2' dcailu currently associated with vinyl chloride-induced augiosarcoma for the G.30U work force drew a bloomy prognostication from Ur. ScUi:i:lt: "Twelve deaths may not sound many, but put it In this perspec tive. In the early 1950s there were mayb-. 1,000 worker* In PVC plants. In the normal course of events somethin;; like 100*150 would have died. Twelve deaths out of 100-190 suggest* rate of 12 per cent" Selikoff's study of Goodyear's vinyl chloride operation included a trace an 08 per cent of all employes with five or more years service. To the company's disc"very of one angiosarcoma death, Sellkoffs workers added tho names of two ethers whose causes of death were misdiagnosed on death certificates. He. searchers Interviewed faintly doctors and hospital pathology departments t and Mifdicd original pathology slides ' to verify the true causa of death as an giosarcoma. Misdiagnosis owing to the rarity of the particular strain of ratiear la also i* i 1 troubling Wagoner's MOSH researchers: "Out of the 13 deaths so far confirmed, 33 per cent were Mis diagnosed. One was classified as eir- * rliosfs and another ns a benign liver tu mor." (The National Cancer Institute j ; has taken the unprecedented action of ! . opening a national registry of all an- ! ' plosavcoma cases.! .Though Wagoner's primary concert' ' is with the safety of industrial work- 1 crs. the three questions he is trying to answer encompass fnr broader ramifl- ; cations. "We want to assess the magnitude of : the tick -- how many other cases are ihcie? And secondly, whether other or gans or .the body arc affected by vinyl chloride. 1 would ausepet we should be looking it the lung as a target organ." Vai.oncr's third area of investiga tion Is the potential vulnerability of other industrial workers, and finally, . the consumers. "We want to know how widespread exposure to vinyl chloride is in the making of PVC and in the va riety of uses nf PVC." .* Gulling the Not Whlo SO FAR, Wagoner's "walk-through" survey team* of doctors, engineers, biostalisticians and epidemiologists have ' studied and microfilmed personnel rocords at four plants. They have exam- hied conditions under which vinyl chlor-; idc has been used and the .likely exposuro by leakage of the workers. But the prime ohjedive Is a com prehensive study of mortality among workers at the plants. From n search of (he microfilmed personnel record.-, the NIOSM researchers are cvUhlUhius how many of the plants' past and pres ent employees are dead, and wh;,l (hey died from. The net is cast wide to ex amine all fatalities because the Good rich Company's own screening program at the Louisville plant disclosed ?0 cases of liver abnormalities in sddltlon to previously undiagnosed angiosarcoma in tyro workers. From the autopsies of former workers who died in non-related accidents, the researchers hope to understand the rangeof conditions vinyl chloride may pro duce other than liver malignancy, From the autopsies of former workers who died In non-related accidents, tho researchers hope to understand tho range of conditions vinyl chloride may pro duce other than liver malignancy. Cooperation by all peripherally In volved in the NIOSH study has boon excellent. Wagoner rays Tho Ohio Stale motor vehicle registry which is able to provide an initial check an whether for mer employes of an Ohio plant are aliva has cut the response time from three months to three hours, and police scout cars have been offered to ferry ma terials. The pressure Is constant. "Everyone wants results." says Wagoner. "We are looking for hmg-Urm carcinogenic re sults, but at the moment we have more question* (haii answers." When properly cured and aged, finished PVC is thought no to exude vinyl chloride fumes. This belief is. being tested by. NIOSH in experi ments involving the placing of PVC pH- lets in closed chambers and measure ment with sensitive devices. The extent of consumer hazard will depend on the a* yet unknown frequency with which vinyl chloride "leaches" nut of a host of everyday products. NJOSH i* now placing a contract, for the full investigation of "leaching." , Wagoner will say only. "Wc don't know what the full spectrum of disease is, but there are concerns for tho consum er." At the National Cancer Institute, where another major vinyl rlnride re search program is under way. and an angiosarcoma patient Is undergoing chemotherapy and study Ur. I'm berm Saffinlti assiwijile director nf can-nun- genesis, considers the gas "a major potential hazard." and "a - serious problem for consumers." While the fxposuro of an Individual consumer is lower than a vinyl chloride worker, <ut infinitely greater number of people are involved, he points out: "There may he millions of people in volved and an incidence at a much lower rate in a large pi.-un'.ation may still -Ua substantial number of cancer cases." HKG director Wolfe sees the known angiosarcoma deaths os the start of a series of cases and the best reason for redueing consumer exposure to vinyl chloride immediately. "We are now seeing people ulm got really high doses. In the next few years wc may see beauticians exposed to dovs not quite so high through hair sprays. A vory few.years later wis may sc* con sumers who fust happened to ho heavy aerosol- users." ucc 000836 4 ;v>'*KS*'!.vywTwr/rr*,J : :i , ,. w-v /..y'- ' >i ^ '- t'ts H- ' V'"' '"'. * * "M ,1U k.f. i'J v./ *!' *>'**&; vv;^ -vya ,, ., ,<'V ;?.t, - ^ V '1 v :.> `' ** \ */" v* / . \ ' ; i* . K>:.' \ tV-.*....... * ', " ;>; ' - '* c .. /v'../v, ", ; .L^v ?*,.{. ; ,-i ' ' ;f * /I'.WV \* f* ?*..*.?.. ^ 1 * <*i < . | : T ' .`V* ^" --j %* jf *|'` ;<` ' <: 4.14 /'V '-../- `i v*v,> * Y'V .; - f.: . . ' * v . 'j ;. - .' v, ,*.*,,.' ->' i -1 'jv `V\K ^h/i"j'f f'it.%1 '.., V:' : ; V,7Mt'-V- ^ Itttfxll Train: Hunt inttanr ux oj vinyl chloride ftroduett. 1 3 j . ^r' Irving Selikofft "It'* henrthrcaking!" ' ucc 000837