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m c_ VCM and PVC PRODUCERS GROUP SFX Conference Room New York. Mew York Thursday, April 15, 1976 10:30 A.M. The VCM/PVC Producers Group's Steering Cocsnlttee will meet in the SP1 Conference Room, 355 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. at 10:30 A.M. on Thursday, April 15, 1976. This will be a luncheon meeting that will probably conclude by 4:00 P.M. Principal items on the agenda will be as follows: 1. Structure and Organisation of VCM/PVC Producers Group Chairman Steering Committee Staff 2. 0SHA Issues - ft.@7feEfcni 3. FPA Issues 4. EPA Issues -ait' t- 5. Health Issues Completed U.S. Studies European Developments New U.S. Studies - Industry/Government/Labor 6. Legal Issues Regular Counsel Special Counsel 7. Public Relations Communications Comittee Action Program 8. Financial Status Financial Report Audit Future Budget Please use the attached fora to indicate who will be attending this meeting from your company. /)Sincerely, * JRL:jt Attachment Oohaa HR. TLaetwjmreemnacme Technical Director <h\/CsH SPI-10629 minutes VCM-PVC COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE /Z.----- SPI Conference Room 355 Lexington Avenue New York, N.Y. 10017 June 30, 1976 10 a.m. PRESENT FOR THE COMMITTEE: Present for Hill & Knowlton, Inc. Present for SPI: Ed. Ackerman, Diamond Shamrock Chemical Co. M. C. Carpenter, Dow Chemical Co. Robert B. Downey, B. F. Goodrich Chemical Co. Richard Savage, B. F. Goodrich Chemical Co. Charles H. Zeanah, Ethyl Corporation Robert L. Ferrante M. M. Swetonic John R. Lawrence E. S. Nuspliger 1. Chairman Ed. Ackerman called the meeting to order at 10 a.m. 2. Mr. Ferrante reported on the editorial briefing tours conducted to date and distributed written reports as available from several of them. Mr. Downey pointed out the importance of a follow-up with the editorial contacts made on these tours and suggested that SPI install an 800 phone number which they could use for information on plastics as required. Following discussion, the Committee recommended that the proposal for installation of an 800 number at SPI be placed on the'agenda for the PAC Public Relations Committee meeting on July 23rd. Mr. Downey reported that the general press reaction was that they were "pleased and surprised that business was coming out of its shell to talk to them." Locations for future tours were discussed at some length. The Committee pointed out that such cities as Akron and Cleveland offered special problems and THE SOCIETY OF THE PLASTICS INDUSTRY. INC. 355 Lexington Avenue New York, N Y. 10017 (212)573-9400 SPM0630 Page 2 may require that Committee members who are local do the advance work instead of Hill & Knowlton or their associates and therefore give us an opportunity with the existing budget to cover more cities with editorial tours. New Orleans and Baton Rouge were suggested as one possibility for a future tour. Mr. Downey suggested a combination of`Chicago and St. Louis; Seattle and Portland; and Los Angeles and San Francisco are also under consideration. The Committee agreed, that, temporarily, Houston should not be considered as a city for an editorial briefing. 3. The scheduling and recruiting of participants in the confrontation training session was considered. Several suggestions were made by the Committee and it was agreed that with the four participants already scheduled and an addition of two more, the training session should proceed in August. 4. On the recently developed VCM/PVC Management Summary, the Committee suggested that it deserves wider distribution. It was agreed that our Committee will officially ask the VCM/PVC Steering Committee for ideas on additional distribution and that the next issue will be "couponed", that is, we will ask recipients to send in a portion of the summary indicating additional people who should be copied. (Ed. Note: Done). Also, the Committee suggested that a specially edited version of the Management Summary be prepared and sent to the members of the press who have been called on on our tours. Mr. Swetonic was instructed to prepare a sample version for submission to the Comnittee along with a policy of red pencilling items from the existing Management Summary for compilation and distribution to the press at a later date. 5. In Mr. Burleson's absence, Mr. Downey submitted a proposed Civic Action procedure. The Committee agreed that it should be presented to the Steering Coumittee but that there should first be a meeting of the Civic Action contacts in Washington before the Steering Committee meeting. 6. Regarding the eventual announcements by the EPA and FDA on regulatory actions on VCM, it was agreed by staff that they would prepare in advance several alternate responses to the actions based on their best intelligence as to what the regulations will be. 7. Strategy for future positive publicity on VCM/PVC was discussed. The Committee agreed that this was the wrong time for out and out confron tations on national panel shows, for example, with our antagonists. They agreed that submission of material which could be worked into a syndicated column on the value of PVC would be worthwhile and that our work with Dr. Whalen, author of Panic in the Pantry, was again a good idea. It was hope that some positive publicity would result from our editorial briefing tours. It was also agreed that we would continue to rifle pos itive publicity to targets of opportunity as they present themselves. It was further agreed that the risk/benefit theory was a good subject for SPI-10631