Document 2J3qDdMLbpLDkO446VnqyjYZ7

Monsanto Monsanto Company 800 N. Lindbergh Boulevard St Louis, Missouri 63167 Phone (314) 694-1000 November 5, 1986 LAW DEPARTMENT David C. Musch, Ph.D. Assistant Research Scientist University of Michigan Medical W.K. Kellogg Eye Center 1000 Wall Street Ann Arbor, MX 48105 Center Re: Charles Wright v. Monsanto Dear Dr. Musch: X have received your letter and reviewed the index of materials relating to your PCB mortality study of W.G. Krummrich plant workers. If it would not be too great an imposition, I would appreciate receiving copies of all of the documents on that list. I will of course be happy to pay any copying or postage charges. With respect to your questions regarding specific items on that list, it is difficult for me to give you an opinion without having first having looked at the documents. However from the description on the list it would appear that Items 1 and 2 are probably protected by the attorney-client privilege and that item #5 is protected by the Monsanto privacy policy from disclosure to third parties. The rest of the items on the list do not appear to be privileged but I would wish to examine them before deliver ing the final opinion. Regarding your question on conflict of interest, it seems to me that your confidentiality agreement with Monsanto would prevent you from surrendering personal medical or employment information regarding the individuals who participated in your study. Further that agreement would obligate you not to disclose to Mr. Hobson proprietary information concerning the manner in which Monsanto operated any of its production units at the W.G. Krummrich plant. I appreciate the uncomfortable position which Mr. Hobson's inquiry has placed you in, and I would request that you advise me of any further attempt which Mr. Hobson makes to contact you or question you regarding your study. You are DSW 153283 PCB-ARCH-EXT0381779 David C. Musch, M.P.H., Ph.D. November b, 1986 Page 2 certainly within your rights to refuse to speak to him although he may, if he wishes, seek to subpoena you for a deposition. That deposition would, however, be conducted in Michigan. I will be in touch with you shortly to discuss this matter further. In the meantime I appreciate your continued cooperation. Thomas M. Bistline Assistant Litigation Counsel BCC: David M. Moore, Esq. DSW 153284 PCB-ARCH-EXT0381780 W, K. Kellogg Eye Center 1000 Walt Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 (313} 763-8122 November 18, 1986 NOV 2 i 1986 Thomas M. Bistline Assistant Litigation Counsel Law Department Monsanto Company 800 North Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63167 RE: Charles Wright v. Monsanto Dear Mr. Bistline: Enclosed are copies of all documents on the list of correspondence and materials related to the PCB mortality study, as you requested in your letter dated 5 November, 1986 Thank you for your preliminary advice on the confidentiality of this material and my involvement in this case. The latter question may be irrelevant, however, since I have not heard from Mr. Hobson since 24 September, 1986. I will contact you if any further contact from Mr. Hobson occurs. Any further advice you may offer would be appreciated. Best regards. Sincerely, David C. Musch, Ph.D. Assistant Research Scientist DCM:kaw Enclosures DSW 153285 PCB-ARCH-EXT0381781 Correspondence and Materials, PCB Mortality Study t- DATE .1 6/16/78 CONTENT Communication re Starbuck > Curtis trials from Jay R.G. Ortiz, marked "AttorneyClient Privilege" 2. 8/2/78 Memo to Jay Ortiz from D. Musch - draft of "proposal for a historical prospective mortality study of PCB-exposed workers" 3. 8/14/78 Revised draft following Jay Ortiz's review of 8/2/78 proposal 4. Late 8/78 First handwritten draft of manuscript 5. Late 8/78 Employee Demographic Information on PCBexposed workers - including SS#, name, clock#, vital status, exposure years, etc. 6. 12/14/79 Draft of Manuscript by J. Zack i> D. Musch 7. 1/26/82 .8 4/lyS/82 Letter from D. Musch to W. Gaffey re status of paper Letter from D. Musch to W. Gaffey re 1/26/82 letter 9. 4/26/82 Letter from W. Gaffey to D. Musch with goahead to publish o 5/21/82 Letter from D. Musch to W. Gaffey - thanks and will go forward 11. 9/15/82 Letter from D. Musch to W. Gaffey - request for references 12. 9/16/82 Letter from D. Musch to J. Zack - questions on study details 13. 9/21/82 Letter from W. Gaffey to D. Musch - response to 9/15/82 letter 14. 2/23/83 Letter from D. Musch to W. Gaffey - revised manuscript enclosed with last revision of paper to date - significant shortcomings (small sample size, small # of deaths, lack ing SMR standard errors). Request for Gaffey's input on the merit of publishing. t DSW 153286 PCB-ARCH-EXT0381782 December 9, 1986 W. K. Kellogg Eye Center 1000 Wall Streel Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 (313) 763-8122 Thomas M. Bistline Assistant Litigation Counsel Law Department Monsanto Company 800 North Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63167 Dear Mr. Bistline: I thought I should inform you of a telephone call I received today from a Stuart Curry (sp?) of Bloomington, Indiana, regarding health effects of PCBs and the results of the Monsanto PCB study, of which he possessed a copy. He apparently is collecting information, as a layperson, on the current health status of workers in a Westinghouse plant who were exposed to PCB. I provided information on our study to him, and suggested that he speak with Dr. Gaffey if he would like further information. In response to my query, he told me that there is litigation involved in this situation. In this context, I thought you should be informed. Sincerely, David C. Musch, Ph.D. Assistant Research Scientist DCM:kaw mdec9 DSW 153342 PCB-ARCH-EXT0381783 W K. Kellogg Eye Center 1000 Wall Slreel Ann Arbor Michigan 48105 (313) 763-8122 January 6, 1987 Thomas N. Bistline Litigation Counsel Law Department Monsanto Company 800 North Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63167 J8H 0 9 1986 RE: Bloomington, Indiana Litigation Dear Mr. Bistline: Enclosed are copies of follow-up correspondence which I have had with Mr. Stuart Curry regarding my involvement in Monsanto's PCB mortality study. I will let you know if any further contact occurs on this subject. Sincerely, 0. David C. Musch, PhD Assistant Research Scientist DCM:kaw J6-2 Enclosures DSW 153343 PCB-ARCH-EXT0381784 December 10, 1986 Dr. David C. Musch Kellogg Eye Center 1000 Wall St. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105-1910 Dear Dr. Musch, . Thank you for talking with me about the mortality study at Monsanto dated December 14, 1979. As I mentioned my Father-in-Laws PCB blood level was 336 ppb. The average for workers tested at Westinghouse was 502ppb. I have found that most of these exposed workers have similar health symptoms. I would like to know if you did a health survey of the Monsanto PCB exposed workers. If such a survey was done I would like to compare the Westinghouse workers health problems with those of the Monsanto workers . Incidently, just about al]of the Westinghouse workers I have talked to list eyes sensitive to light as well as problems with night lights such as on coming headlights. It sill seems to me that your study is significant from the stand point that more that half olcf the observed deaths were higher than expected and in some catagories much higher. I would appreciate knowing how significant you fefcl the study was. Also, I am not sure how you calculated the 22.88 number for expected deaths. I think you told me but I missed that some how. The 7.22 higher that expected deaths looks pretty big at least in my view. Thank you for your time. Sincerely Sluqi l r. . kju l l y P.O. Box 3267 Bloomington, Indiana 47402 DSW 153344 PCB-ARCH-EXT0381785 December 12, 1986 W K. Kellogg Eye Center 1000 Wall Streel Ann Arbor Michigan 48105 (313) 763-8122 Stuart A. Curry * P.O. Box 3267 Bloomington, IN 47402 Dear Mr. Curry: You raised several questions in your correspondence dated 10 December, 1986, which I will attempt to answer. Regard ing a health survey of Monsanto workers exposed to PCBs, I was not involved in such a study. My sole involvement was in the mortality study, which did not have a morbidity component. If such a study has been done since my Monsanto employment, I am unaware of it. Regarding the method of calculating the expected deaths for the study group, a computer program (Monson RR. Analysis of relative survival and proportional mortality. Computers in Biomedical Research 1974; 7:325-32) was employed, which uses age, race, and cause-specific mortality rates for U.S. males to calculate what number of deaths would be expected for the Monsanto worker group. As I mentioned on the phone, the mortality study had several significant shortcomings, including a small sample size and, therefore, a small number of deaths to evaluate, as well as insufficient exposure information. These weaknesses did not permit us to be conclusive regarding whether the discrep ancies between observed and expected deaths in the Monsanto cohort were due to chance, or due to an exposure such as smoking or PCBs. These problems made the study preliminary and inconclusive, and so Judy Zack and I agreed to not pursue publication. I hope this letter provides you with the answers you needed. Sincerely, David C. Musch, MPH, PhD Assistant Research Scientist WK Kellogg Eye Center DCM:kaw mdec!2 DSW 153345 PCB-ARCH-EXT0381786