Document 104ZGj31mB77MabOoDpd58zGX
SPRINGFIELD PLANT BULLETIN
Monsanto has recalved a mortality study of former Springfield Plant employees conducted by the University of Pittsburgh. Graduate School of Public Health. The year-long study was initiated at Monsanto's request to insure that present and former employees remain free from concern with regard to workplace health.
The study covered workers employed a year or more between January 1, 1949 and December 31, 1966 and examined the deaths which occurred in this group through the end of 1976. These years, were chosen because they provide enough time to discover any lon^-term health effects.
Briefly, this extensive study confirmed the findings, of previous studies:
- Fewer deaths from any cause were found than expected.
- Fewer deaths from all forms of cancer were found than expected.
- Slightly more deaths from digestive system and genito-urinary tract cancers were found than would be expected.
- No new evidence was uncovered to show any worker health problem at the Springfield Plant,
In all of these cases, the expected number of deaths was based on Hampden County, Massachusetts rates.
Monsanto has given this information to union officials, federal and state authorities.
In a second phase of the study, the University of Pittsburgh will examine the work histories of former employees who died of digestive system and genito-urinary tract cancers. This part of the study will be completed in mid-1980.
This additional work is part of Monsanto's continuing program to insure the health and safety of its employees.
3/7/80 Approved for posting:
W. R. Gaffey Manager, Epidemiology Department of Medicine and Environmental Health Monsanto Company
Removal Date: 3/31/80
RSV0027227
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RSV0027228
University of Pittsburgh
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Department of Biostatistics
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Graduate School of Public Health
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April 23, 1980
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Mr. Paul Bureau Personnel Director, Indian Orchard Plant Monsanto Company
730 Worcester St. Indian Orchard, MA 01151
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Dear Paul:
Per our discussion during my last visit, please find enclosed a listing of 104 employees for which additional work history data is needed. In most cases this will amount to xeroxing the prior 1946 service record cards which are included in the personnel folders. For ten employees on the list the entire work history is needed since those furnished by Monsanto/St. Louis for these men were not legible.
If these files could be pulled prior to our visit, I feel that the xeroxing and refiling could be done by two of my clerks in about two days.
Please consider my plan and contact me to discuss arrangements for a visit. I would prefer sending my people earlier in the week (within the next 2-3 weeks) to allow for extra time should any problems arise.
Thank you and your staff again for the help and hospitality extended to us during our last visit.
Sincerely yours,
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Gary M. Marsh, Sc.D. Assistant Professor of Biostatistics
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cc: Dr. William Gaffey/Monsanto, St. Louis Miss Anne Simon/Monsanto, St. Louis
PITTSBURGH, PA. 15261
RSV0027229
PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATIONS - OCTOBER 10, 1978
SAFETY *- , - As of September 6, 1978: 2,076,513 Exposure Hours.
1978
1977
Total Recordable Rate (TRR) Total Lost Workday Rate (TLWR) Total Days Away Rate (TDAR)
Pool: Availability Requests Extra Work
5 17
5
1.73 1.35
.58
2.87 2.43
.90
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
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- Angie Garrison, Benefits Supervisor attended a Retirement Seminar sponsored
by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. ^'
- Pre-retirement counseling seminars were conducted by the Benefits Dept. A total of 108 employees and spouses attended the sessions held on September 27 and October 4.
- Announcement was made rescheduling 92 Bldg, from a 5&2 rotating to 5&2 oscillating schedule effective October 10.
- Labor Relations Superintendent - Bill Patton -^participated in "Showcase
Springfield" program.
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- Three third step grievances were heard with the following dispositions:
9 92 Bldg, personnel allegedly performing work beyond the scope of their job was denied.
Company allegedly improperly hired a Welder was denied.
Area Mechanics allegedly improperly performed Piper work was denied.
PROFESSIONAL RECRUITMENT
- Robert Tedeschi - per diem technician starts today - Technology Dept.
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
- Alvin Toffler, author of "Future Shock" will be the Phillips lecturer at the Springfield Public Forum Thursday, October 12, at 8:00 P.M., at Kiley Jr-. High School. This public lecture series is open and free to the public. .
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RSV0027231
Third Analysis Wt
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Monsanto Will Fund
\ Cancer Study at Plant
j Officials at Monsanto Co. head! quarters in St. Louis, Mo., will hire an I independent health agency to conduct
j an analysis of the rate of cancer and its
j possible lihk to occupational factors , among workers at their chemical plant
i in Springfield.
j The analysis will be the third such
i study in as many years.
The company's Springfield officials already have conducted special physi cals for all workers at the plant ex posed to vinyl chloride, recognized by ; the federal government as a cancer| causing agent, according to a company 1 spokesman.
Barney Wander, manager of envi ronmental communications for Mon santo in St. Louis, said today the company's decision to conduct the new study came after several meetings with doctors from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health earlier this year.
NIOSH released a preliminary re port late last year noting a high inci dence of two types of cancer among
workers at the Springfield chemical plant, and linked the cancer rates to oc cupational factors. Monsanto later released its own report disputing the first.
"Our officials decided jointly with NIOSH following those preliminary studies and a series of meetings held in Cincinnati, Ohio, that we needed a larger study of a larger group of workers,'' Wander said.
The federal study had included death certificates from about 400 workers at the plant and compared the can cer rates to national statistics, while the Monsanto study included about 500 death certificates and compared the cancer rates to the rate in Hampden County which is higher than both the state and national rate. Both studies found higher ratesA of the two cancers, but the federal study called them sig nificant while the company study did not.
"Now we're doing an outside, inde pendent proportional mortality study on the workers, but exactly how many
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1 ( s 1 1 I ( * 1
1 a
Monsanto Will Fund
Cancer Study at Plant
(Continued from Page 1)
we include will depend on the consult ant who does the study," Wander said.
"This will give us a more thorough picture of what is going on at the plant, and if we still see elevated levels, then we will probably do a case control study to see where the higher rates link 1 with specific jobs," he said.
"We will try to identify which groups have the higher rate," he said, "looking at their work histories."
Wander said the company will know in about two weeks who will do the study, probably the epidemiology department of a large university,
One of the points of negotiation is how long the study will take, he said, since most agencies have said it will take at least 18 months and the compa ny would prefer a shorter time.
While Wander said the new study will include only workers who have : died, a spokesman from the Springfield plant said the company conducted spe cial physicals on workers exposed to vinyl chloride operations. The physi
cals were in addition to the physical exams given all employees once every two years, he said..
Monsanto discontinued manufac turing vinyl chloride in 1975 after feder al reports the year before identified it as a cancer-causing agent.
"We have not turned up anything significant from our point of view from these exams, we've found no problems, nothing that would give us any indica tion of a problem in those workers," the spokesman said. "We can't prove there is a problem but we can't prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there isn't, and I'm not sure we can ever do that,'' he said. "I think all we'll come up with is more of the same, leaving it up in the
air, but it has been a long and tedious process which we're still continuing."
NIOSH released the final report of its two-year study on the cancer rates last month, adding the comparison of county.rates to the comparison of na tional rates.
RSV0027232
Toxic exposure rules proposed
WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government
on Wednesday proposed rules that would force em ployers to disclose records of workers' exposure to hazardous chemicals and other harmful agents.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administra tion said the rules would be a landmark step for
worker rights. It said the rules could affect "tens of thousands"
of workplaces where workers may be exposed with out their knowledge to harmful chemicals, gases, radiation, noises or other physical agents.
Currently employers can refuse to show workers any records on toxic exposures except in a handful of cases involving federal standards, said Grover Wrenn, head of OSHA's health standards program.
Even an employee's own medical records can be kept from him, Wrenn said.
The proposal does not become final until after several months of review.
Employers would be required to provide, at a worker's request, access to toxic exposure and medi
cal records to either the affected worker or a desig nated representative or physician.
Access to another worker's medical records would be possible only with the written consent of that worker.
Employers also would be required to inform workers if records on toxic exposures exist and of the workers' right to see them.
OSHA said it is requiring immediately that em ployers preserve all such records until a final rule is issued. The only records that may be discarded are those involving people who have not been in a compa ny's employment for more than five years.
OSHA also announced a final rule that would permit workers to see an employer's "log" of in juries and illnesses in the workplace.
Currently, employers with 11 or more workers are required to maintain such a log but do not have to make it available to employees, although workers now may see a less - detailed summary of illnesses and injuries.
RSV0027233
