Document 1Q6e97MaYJa5xrYnV9906gMaj

NEW YORK TIMES - FEBRUARY 15, 1974 iver Cancer Alert . 'Declared to Protect i Plastics W criers 1 37 JA.VE I. Z.1CDY As u'y.'ritiu.". r '. > 3F. :t:ir.th ch-miml plant i.i 'fnrnlle, Sy., Sr. 1 Jcha L. Irrrrh Jr. r.\anu.".is r'l in- !l;ys* reunmrg ;a v; ra zrrrr illness. Hi was struck re- -Mil" by the lurre zrrrrrr^r of i.->ns liver tiixeats among re sprites, compared to pt- he saw in his pr.vaa -gfmi pnetiej, - 3r. Creech stitched hit aan- cy aid. worker records and |jC3.-;rd.sha: m ti* list Sire, earn four employes had died f rngioHmog* o.' tha !ivar, : e.rr*meiy rare cancer, All iitxad workers, 5* found. ` fra dlredy fn-.-bived in tie "f aciFiftyl chloda hom vinyl cnlcrida,. a . isrcua crymrc chemical tau to damage tit liver at lih cnncansnBixa. - " j Til doctor suspected- a ml*--' onsni? between this chemical ti* iilaasiei he mi seeing ai wolists; I-Zj siijpidorj . tve lad the Government to da- art id emmjenc7 aad seek p7i Co protact workers^They- pus also spurred extensive uiiss b? Federal. industry A hadnuad on Papa 34> Column 8 -V.J_ r,K \Alert ISDeelaredfor Mastics Workers Vnyl chloride, a simple ir.iia;;** "-Sr1 la of carbon, hydrogen w. la a. stud-es orU.'.TM'__ i::vt -- *" Production Forets Soma 6,500 workers [a 51' American planes and many mors ; thousands of Eurotaaa workars ` , -------- are involved is the production-**rjincP ccttc-'r* ict.or. i " V ^',,,j4 a-, cf.vhyl chloride or po.r-iayl Ja:.i ,. ^ chlor.da, a whits powdsry chaiaical rssaicbilai sojar. considering new rigulaticn* \V,ln In addrioa, tern of thousand! of American workers partielpata in the conversion of these ap.r-aottstctt: workers eapoied to' m 5`*<^,,p0!1 V* T*** vinyl chlonde. callstf Tzt curreat Fedgral stMdsri;' icrsoiis.ovs'j -- s.c*t cf tils brr* zt ths lad Ida s*cr- nw material, vinyl chloride that adi'wsi a and polyvinyl chloride. Into 1 fairly common worldwide pro's- countless products, ineinHmjlcjaonga wr m lea. typically occurrinj in die paints, constmorioa pipes, mniJagi a lyre* that readriY causes worictrs who dsaard i* hu;s aoholsterv. di-nri.lHver daswta a reacaar tanks when the cen- verrion of ''iayl chlarida to polyrinyt calorics takes place. .ent aqimd not not nfact ,.^-r Subjapueet chaajae Li deanupon 13> arectlces have virtually idrci. Spverel com-gii-uaetad.rw. prohlam. Dr. products. In tain, hundreds oi "ETwever. uciucm Creech sridc- millions of coosulman In ev< The Sl-ytar-o'd Kentucky- Isdustriallaed' society an ei.,-- horn suryeon tedtd that the posed to these produces. jlai liver cancer crocebiv thawed Thus; when Goodrich offtelalsnev ,, up a Louisville first 'because" conveyed Dr. Creech's, obeervaw aowever. one study showed dons to the Nttional Institute that at cert; ijfor Occupational Safety ar.dlpolvv5vl cl ev-oveo lopaer to Health three weeks sfO. . ' situation was regarded as chlortJe." Ke said reenatiTtiotT SnEPprebtem was aided by serious emeryeney to 'be 1m mediately and fully Inveed ihe fact that the same ohysl,clen saw til the cases. gaud," Dr. Marcus M. Key, "3ut had the cancer been a' rector of the icsCaite. told mom eetncoa or.s. such u lus2 cancer, I probablywould "Tarn percentaae not have realised there was posed woraets. acsorhlnn to any problem in the first plica," lareist iinraaae reports daoex ita tntariff aattHa htjm. Dr. Craech said. Dr. SeUkeff 'noted that the Vi |I- . -V T ..,'. '- -'v ' t',*, '-,J J. .' 4 -w4-`"V *i.y'r'r ]i\*. bTv 'f.(\ Ij ?e' ,V- ' - .''J--' -Vr' i** , * / ' * "a- ^e-workers era the bs aria."* he resacfcsd. Tbay live us hints cf whs we might-' - the UaiceO , ftad a the poputaden at iartw"; i or aw nr*** pv --it . Acoordlatiy. Dr. Edward Fsr-t j rend of the Haw Ybrc CKy* Cesere Maltnnl of the Snvironmeccal Protacdoo Ad--- University of Bologna who did minisemdon kaj begun to ami-3 the experiment..la expected to yre hundrads of cocstnnarpred- ' docribe his results to die htar- ucs for vinyl and poiyvttyi. . lof in Wuhiacten today, ^Wlft thi* fbsdinfe w b*v rhfnrVa 'TV` dm'tk=ow if se fisd-Vf eottt full cycle Dr. I/vin* J.jafrwtli iroaEy mwaeo to* Salikoff rvnsrttad at tbo Clavo* tlu pw>tep Dr. cem-- land meeting. "We have can- merited, "but we don't want to la the vinyl chloride he caagnt wtthout Inform*TM, j --------n end apparently the if aometimig turat ig. , -- r"l Identical tumor he* been rapro- ` It i* ra* son of prepm-iacOsi. dueed In enimnb exposed to WTMdi that r-. . tShff.e^bStolsic7aiLr"vaoidr ofD.nr.-rSooU-- would lita ctw taiCTia\ to*.-* g * * ' mencal. medicine Meuntiaed ea SSSi School or Medtane hem *e Nonetheless. Dr. Selikaff md Gn-iand meveng. ~I?; _e3ij-r Institute eciaatiits said they! Bite ea w doing juarant were keeping an open mindiing end doing jt w*u 043 -... shout the cause of the preblem.!shoulda't ee*v be dom* .jpSorw 50 or 60 different ehemi- fignun*, U iSeuld he tola to-, cals besides vinyl 'cKloride art : anticipate ensM and head mem ~acd b4!0r? thty cckt.*1 -^.lj ` ' '-.V r--' -*--**** . - -V"' 1 '*. ,, >,., ^y;1 iiSnmr*`ii<ww(T<A^rV.... T-nnifr*^. ' ` - ucc (102740 90*11>4 (l|*7i inter office memo TENNEC0 CHEF11CAL3f INC. To Darwin Rhoads AT Oat* February 26, 1974 From SoBjecT S. R. Sheeran At con to F, X, Dwyer - w/o J. P. Lamb _ If VINYL CHLORIDE MONOMER ASSOCIATED CANCER - ARSENIC Please find attached an excellent search on the above subject from Miss Carnahan. 1 have not made any copies so this is being passed on to you intact. I have read all of the references that Miss Carnahan provided and have noted that arsenic poisoning does not appear for long periods of time, i.e. 10-25 years after exposure. Miss Carnahan's memo and attached literature speaks for itself. As you told me, the Louisville plant of B. F. Goodrich scrubbed the acetylene supplied by Carbide with sulfuric acid to remove the impurities such as arsine, phosphine, etc. before use as a monomer. I refer you specifically to the ACS monograph reference wherein it is indicated that most of the impurities from commercial cylinder gas had been reduced to a level which is negligible if the gas is to be used for raw material synthesis. As 1 men tioned to you, in my Fh.D. dissertation Dr. Vogt was a co-advisor and insisted on further purification of the cylinder of acetylene to remove arsine and phosphine since these were not completely removed from the acetylene in the Preetolite cylinders. Basically, the extent of purification of the acetylene used at Notre Dame at that time varied from no treatment to extensive treatment depending on the chemistry being studied. In many cases the acetylene was used as is until peculiarities in the chemistry appeared, then further purification trains would be added. In other words, the acetylene was purified only to the extent necessary to remove interfering impurities. As an extension of this, I wonder whether this was the case at the Goodrich plant where the acetylene was scrubbed with sulfuric acid only to the extent required to avoid interference with the addition of HCl to make VCM. It is my recollection that the addition of HCl to make VCH is not sensitive and wonder what conclusions could be drawn if all of the arsine was not removed in the Goodrich sulfuric acid scrubbers. You will note from the attached references provided by Miss Carnahan that the quantities that are deleterious are at extremely low levels. I do not want to persist unnecessarily long and hard in this possibility but do feel that it should not be stricken from the possible sources of the incidents at Louisville and at Charlestown. I say this in face of the Business Week article of February 23, 1974, Page 101 where in the right hand column the statement is made that "only two other carcinogens, arsenic and thorium-232 are proven causes of angiosarcoma, and medical records of the four Goodrich workers show no exposure to either." Again, referring to other references from Miss Carnahan, the question could be raised.as to'the accuracy of this statement and the accuracy of the tests used to determine arsenic content; or a question could be raised on what basis is the statement made that the four Goodrich workers showed no exposure to arsenic. I will be very happy to discuss my concerns and the attached references at your convenience, if you so desire. SRS:pr atts. S. R, Sheeran ucc 002741 Tenneco Chemicals A Tenneco Company Park 80 Plaza West-1 Saddle Brook. N. J. 07662 (201) 646-3800 RECEIVED ^ \ APR 02 1974 M WHtELfR, jr. A March 29, 1974 Mr. R. N. Wheeler Union Carbide Corporacion Chemicals and Flasclcs Division P. 0. Box 8004 South Charleston, West Virginia 25303 Dear Nick: 1 appreciated your very timely call with the Information on arsine. 1 was In the office of Dr. Stanley Sheeran, one of our vice presidents, who has been very much Interested In the possibility of the angiosarcoma prob lem being caused by contaminants. I am enclosing a copy of the literature search which he mentioned during our conversation. This cane from our library and Is not very complete, but may be interesting to you. Inciden tally, he was discussing this with Ben Zwlcker who also received a copy of the attached, I am sure he did not realize the close working relationship we have developed during this crisis and, therefore, was reluctant to men tion other names. Your idea of keeping the union president informed, especially in preparation for the forthcoming XUD meeting, struck a very receptive cord with my boss, Joe Lamb. Thanks for the idea. I think it was an excellent one. Sincerely, DER:ms Attachment Darwin E. Rhoads, Manager Safety and Loss Prevention ucc 002742