Document 2Jg8QEx0Y2rbaJgK3g7E85LE7

APRIL, 1979 Doris Flournoy, Editor AMERICAN OCCUPATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 150 NORTH WACKER DRIVE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 6060 6 REGULATORY ACTION IMMINENT O N CARCINOGENS, HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM AND PESTICIDES In the first edition of the Regulatory Calendar of Federal Regulations issued February 28, the Occupa tional Safety and Health Administration has indicated that it expects to issue the final standard on car cinogens and to publish notices of proposed rulemaking covering hexavalent chromium and pesticides in the spring of 1979. The Regulatory Council was created by the President on October 31 to help coordinate Federal regula tory activities and to expand efforts to manage the regulatory process more effectively. Twenty of the Regulatory Council's 35 member agencies have listed major regulations under development in the first Council C a l e n d a r . ........................... ................................... In a memorandum to Douglas Costle, Regulatory Council Chairman, Charles Knapp, special assistant to the Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall, commented on the beryllium and noise standards, notably miss ing from DOL's calendar of activities in the regulatory realm. "The beryllium standard, originally thought to be major, has, through farther study, proved to be considerably less costly than anticipated and so is not included." No explanation of this statement was given. Regarding the noise standard, M r. Khapp sa/d, "the noise standard w ill see no action in the next six months, during which time staff analysis w ill determine whether or not we wish to proceed with i t . " OSHA officials have since empha sized that tiiey do still intend to revise the noise standard. / . (. OSHA ACCEPTS EMPLOYEES' WAIVER OF MEDICAL EXAMS FOR RESPIRATORS Medical exams which assess a worker's a b ility to wear a respkator may be waived by the employee, it has been determined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The information was con tained in a letter from OSHA to the Washington, D .C ., law firm of Cushman, Darby and Cushman. Under OSHA standards for personal protective equipment, the employer is compelled to make medical examinations available to employees whose jobs require them to wear respirators, to provide the res pirators and to assure that employees are using them, however, the standards do not require employees to take the medical exams. An employee who waives the exam may still work at a job requiring a res pirator, provided he or she wears one, according to OSHA's interpretation of its own rule. NIOSH CRITERIA DOCUMENT MAINTAINS FEDERAL LIMIT FOR FURFURYL ALCOHOL In a new criteria document concerning the control of furfuryl alcohol hazards in the workplace, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends continuation of the present Federal standard which limits occupational exposure to 200 mg/m^ as a time-weighted average concentration. The acute hazards associated with furfuryl alcohol include eye, skin, and upper respiratory irritation from direct contact and depression of the central nervous system from inhalation or percutaneous ab- sorption. Evidence of a chronic effect is not available. Other hazards associated with the compound include combustibility and violent reactivity when mixed with acids. In the criteria document, NIOSH recommends work practices to reduce fire and explosion hazards and to minimize skin contact. A pro gram for medical and environmental surveillance is also included. NIOSH suggests the following research to correct deficiencies in available information: (a) epidemio logic studies of employees exposed to furfuryl alcohol; (b) animal studies of any chronic effects of fur furyl alcohol, including experimental studies of its possible carcinogenicity; (c) possible effects on reproduction, including whether or not furfuryl alcohol can cause terata or induce mutations; and (d) biotransformation of furfuryl alcohol, its distribution, and elimination. PARTIAL JUDICIAL STAY OF STANDARD FOR OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO LEAD While most major provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's standard for work place exposure to inorganic lead became effective March 1, the most costly provisions were stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia C ircuit pending full judicial review of the stand ard. Lead Industries Association, In c ., one of the petitioners for review of the lead standard, esti mates that oral arguments on the petition w ill be heard in October. The provisions of the lead standard that have been stayed are as follows: Paragraph (e)(1) - Methods of compIia nee/engi neeri ng and work practice controls. Paragraph (e)(3) - Compliance program, except for the paragraph relating to compliance plans for protective clothing, hygiene and housekeeping practices. Paragraph (e)(4) - Bypass of interim level . Paragraph (e)(5) - Mechanical ventilation. Paragraph (e)(6) - Administrative controls. Other paragraphs are in effect with certain exceptions, as follows: Paragraph (f) - Respiratory protection, except that the paragraph relating to employee selection of powered, air-purifying respirators (PAPR) is modified so that PAPR's must be provided only when the physical characteristics of the employee are such that the respirators specified else where in the standard are inadequate for the employee's protection. Paragraph (i) - Hygiene facilities and practices, except that it is stayed to the extent that it requires the construction of new facilities~or substantial renovation of existing facilities. Paragraph (j) - Medical surveillance, except for two provisions that have been stayed: the require ment for ZPP (zinc protoporhyrin) determinations, and the requirement for the m ultiple physician review mechanism. The final standard for occupational exposure to lead issued last November called for the principal indus tries affected by the standard to reach an interim 100 pg/m^ level in one to three years o f the effective date of the new standard and to reach the final 50 pg/m^ level in from one to ten years. Now, however, the prior standard of 200 pg/mJ as an 8-hour time-weighted average w ill remain in effect until the com plete new standard becomes effective. NCI REPORT O N CARCINOGENESIS BIOASSAY OF TOXAPHENE Analysis and evaluation of data from a bioqssay of toxaphene has led National Cancer Institute scien tists to conclude that under conditions of testing, toxaphene was carcinogenic to male and female mice, causing cancers of the liver. The development of cancerous and noncancerous tumors in the thyroid glands o f male and female rats suggested, but did not establish conclusively, that toxaphene was car cinogenic in rats as w e ll. The pathology and tumor incidences were reported as follows: