Document 2JZwG1EkwvZp3GdLYwGBwJYYb

708 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH REPORTER NIOSII is undergoing evolutionary, not revolutionary, inform the occupational health community of cwrreni changes. l-'mklea said. The NIOSII system of priorities will knowledge concerning industrial uses and toxicity of Ik** altered. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and solicit comments and NIOSII has provided consultative services to small suggestions. businesses which hove been wcll-reccived, Flnklea said. It is NIOSH estimated that 12,000 people are occupationally ex wise lo separate the* roles of policeman and teacher, and posed to PCBs, with the majority of these exposures m NIOSII is well-placed lo serve as teacher. capacitor production and in investment casting processes MOSH is going in try to locus its efforts on the most im NIOSH noted that PCBs arc employed in capacitors and portant problems. More attention must be directed Lo salety transformers because they combine attractive dielectric problems ami the effects of wot kplace substances on women properties with chemical stability and fire resistance Ap of child-hearing ace. NIOSII must work more closely with proximately twice as many pounds of PCBs arc used in the researchers of other federal afiencies to avoid unnecessary manufacture of capacitors as in the manufacture of duplication of churl. transformers. The credibility ol federal programs is being seriously The known toxic effects of PCBs in humans include an (jueslmned, Finklea said, a problem which can be helped acnelikc skin eruption (chloracnc), pigmentation of the skm with more openness. Most technical and medical expertise and nails, excessive eye discharge, swelling of eyelids, and resides in government and industry, not with workers. Yet distinctive hair follicles. Die mmlio of a `'technical priesthood" must be avoided, if For a number of years, chloracne of the face and nock has ttie allcctcd employees arc not to be shut out of the been reported among workers exjtosed to chlorinated tTgulaiory process. Too often employee* have not been in hydrocarbons. Workers exposed to PCBs in the process of in volved in the development of standards, he said. sulating cables, in the production of condensers, and in (he A iH'Uer way to provide for training of safety and health manufacture of chlorobiphenyls have reported these skm prolessionals must be developed, Finklea said. There are lesions along with systemic effects such as digestive distur many ways to pay for the training, either through direct bances, edema of the face and hands, burning of tlie eyes, ledeial grants or exerting pressure on medical schools to ^j^ppotence, and hematuria. Change nimrulmns. * NIOSH also noted the 1968 outbreak of poisoning in Japan The adversary .system of developing regulations must be that involved over 1,000 people who ingested PC'B con xmtl mixed closely lo be made more effective without reduc taminated rice bran oil for a period of several months ing input, Finklea said. Details on the malignant, nonmalignant, and reproductive SttmdiHdt Sotting effects of PCBs in animals also were reported. The current Occupational Safety and Health Administra /Daniel Boyd, director of the OSHA Office of Standards Development, addressed the NAM in what he said was his tion standards for chlorinated biphenyls are 1 mg/cubic i meter for 42 percent chlorine mixtures and .5 mg/cubic last speech prior lo his departure from OSHA scheduled for j | meter for 54 percent chlorine mixtures (Reference Kile December i. Boyd said he intends to make several | 31:8302). These arc based on (he Threshold Limit Values recommendations for regulatory reform before he leaves. it is very difficult (or Utc government to make purely *f(TLV) established by the American Conference of j Governmental Industrial Hygienists. scientific decisions on controversial health issues, Boyd said Such derisions should be based on facts, not on consen sus of opinion, especially since human lives are at stake. Kvcn so it is possible lo reach a concept of acceptable risk, be said General Policy During the public hearings on the vinyl chloride standard. Boyd said he became convinced that neither industry nor labor actually wanted the positions they pul forth in public. NI08H TO COMPLETE HAZARDS SURVEY IN OCTOBER 1976; DATA NOW BEING USEO "J have never had lo compromise any decision because of polities," Uovd said. Polities has not actually played a big The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health expects to complete its National Occupational Hazards part in the OSHA stondards-setting process. Survey by October 1976 but is drawing on data from the sur The development of vertical standards for each industry vey for other purposes, according lo John Finklea, NIOSH would not work, Boyd said. OSHA has neither the com director. petence or resources for such a mammoth task. More research is needed regarding the trade names of In Dio past few years, OSHA standards have been reactive chemicals before the survey is finished. Finklea told OSIIK and symptomatic, Boyd said. Hopefully in the future OSHA This research involves identifying the chemical components will not be surprised by problems like vinyl chloride. of trade name products while maintaining the confidentiality From now on all proposed health standards must be ac of trade names. companied by inflation impact statements, Boyd said. It will In the meantime, data from the survey has been helpful to be many months before another health standard is proposed. NIOSH in issuing information bulletins, and in preparing testimony on the proposed Occupational Safely and ilcallli Administration noise standard (Current Report, July 3. p. Hoollh Hazards 156). NIOSH and OSHA are working together closely in the NIOSH ISSUES BACKGROUND REPORT ON USE OF POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS preparation of criteria documents, and the Standards Completion Project Finklea said, NIOSH hopes lo shorten the period for reviewing a criteria document from one your A report on the industrial uses and toxicity of to 30 weeks. NIOSH would like lo involve the Labor Depari- polychlorinated biphenyls was issued by the National ment early in the review process, and gel ;m in-depth review Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on November 3. of documents by experts outside the Federal Government The background material was prepared by Uie NIOSH Of Finklea noted that the threshold limit values for 50-ioo fice of Occupational Health Surveillance and Biometrics to substances adopted by the Labor Department from a 1968 Occupational Sofaty & Haolth Raportar HONS 064116