Document 2qE0jm0B751y00OD9KZ8xD74b

Chronicle-Telegram Tuesday, February 19; 1974 Pape 13 By DAVE RUSS The B. F. Goodrich Chemical Co. Avon Lake plant will be part of a study of polyvinyl chloride-producing plants to help' determine if the substance is linked to a liver cancer. T!:: !,<,.= L.<_cn yummieu ov me uiscoverv that two ..v-kcis at iiie GutrJncn Louisviiie, Ky. chemic'al plant had contracted the disease. One of the workers died of the disease-- a reare cancer of bleed cells of the liver -- in 1964. Another has been diagnosed as having the disease. POLYVINYL CHLORIDE (PVC) is made at the Avon Lake Plant, one of the larger of five BFG plants making the product. A sixth plant, in Calvert City. Ky., makes vinyl chloride (VC), also suspected of causing the liver disease. Tiuuui i icyianas, .Avon Lr.lte nlar.t niana.i&j-, referred Cnromcie-Teiegram queries concerning the investigation to BFG's home office in Akron. Avon Lake receives VC, as do the other PVC-producing plants, mostly from the Calvert City plant. Cleveland Lane, an Akron BFG spokesman, said. ASKED IF THERE have been any suspected cases of can cer caused by PVC or VC in Avon Lake. Lane said. "No, but just like every place else, we have had employes die of can cer." BFG last month reported that four of the company's work ers died of live cancer between 1968 and last year. A worker with the disease was confirmed as having it after part of his liver was removed. He was one of 15 workers with possible liver ailments discovered last month in a sample check of 55 workers in the Louisville plant by public health workers. BFG's AVON LAKE plant, together with several PVC and VC-producing plants, will be investigated by the National Insti tute of Safety and Health (NIOSH), which will examine medi cal records of present and former workers, both living and dead. The government's investigation began after the BFG dis closure last month of the four deaths. r; 2745001