Document 2qnDgzq48moMwb7o0mbvx8Zzp

J PRESS QUERY <r COMPANY (OpUnit or Corporate): MIC SUBJECTS OCP AND DIOXIN REPORTER'iSTMEDIA: Larry Morris KBIA Columbia, MO 882-7591 TIME & DATE: May 22, 1979 - 11:14 a.m. Roger Jolley Associated Press May 22, 1979 - 1:42 p.m. X J. R. Foehr X T. L. Gossage X E. H. Harbison X E. L. Head X J. C. McPhillips X J:.* .S'- 'Metcalf. X J. D. Wilson X News Bureau X J. T. Nolan X J. E. McKee X D. R. Bishop ___ W. J. McCarville ___ W. R. Multali X J. F. Hussey-Washington, D.C. X . S. Pickard-Washington, D.C. X New York Public Relations ___ Brussels Public Relations ___ MAP PR X . MCI PR ( J . S p a n o ) _X_ MIC PR (G . Y oung ) ___ MPR PR ___ MTCPR ___ IN TL PR Q. Have you solved the problem of dioxin contamination of OCP? A. As we discussed last week, we've made some changes in our OCP process. Based on one sample analyzed by our lab in Dayton, we could detect no TCDD in the chemical intermediate called OCP. j. Does 'that mean you are no longer shipping the bad material and now make a pure version? How will you destroy your bad material? A. The trace levels of TCDD are no health hazard. -We've continued to ship OCP with contamination of TCDD because our customers chlorinated the product further to make PCP; no batches are being destroyed. Q. What have you done to the process-to clean it up? A. Previously we used caustic soda in the distillation process to prevent corrosion of the production equipment. We've been experimenting with using no caustic soda. That's how we got the no-TCDD analysis. We're now trying to see if we can run the process without the caustic. Q. You said TCDDs were no health hazard? Why-did you clean up your process if the TCDDs are no health hazard? A. Reviewed situation from position paper. (Attached is a recent Chemical Week article on Sturgeon). Reviewed above with Associated Press. SOURCE OF ANSWER Jim Wilson HANDLED BY: . Isham CHEMICAL WEEK May 23, 1979 : DJottn Is found to ; cleanup workers'btoc-d lV.*oprofessionai visanup workers v/ho j helped mop up a C.iiflfl-gste spill of . orthochUtropheit! in Sturgeon, Mo., laul January have Mian found to have. low levala of TCDD (,8,7,B-tetrachlorodib?Ji' : 7.0-/>a?wlio>:in) in their blood, according j to in# Envircumenia) Protection Ageni cy. The- highly {nxic dioxin a contamil nani of orihochloropbenol--haa so far i ' c&ui'&d no adverse health effect# in'iiia workers. 'fhe orthovhlorojihitiri was on refute from Monsanto to a customer on Jarm- : arjf10 when the Norfolk & Western lank ! car carrying it darailed in Sturgeon. "Quito a cloud of obnoxious gas" was nJe&&d, ksa says, and forced temporary 1 evacuation of moit c*f Sturgeon'? 350 ; residents. Cleanup workers from West ern Snvironniental services (Portland, Ore.)--hired by the railroad--arrived : the name day io contain theorthochlpro- ; phenol and eventually remove the eon! laminated soil front ovar a mile of j raekbd. Although "Western Knyirafi, 'mmini puppHe-d full protective equlp; meat for all employ&**," according to ; N&W, five -of the men Aub&cqiitmiiy \ tested showed traces of orthochloropka- liol in their urine. Monsanto later nolifil'd L'?Athat its rjrthnohlurophenol ship ment coniained 37 parts per billion of ' TCOP, tilthough ilia company said it waa . not possible to daiarmiuc whether the dioxin was the highly toxic 2,3,7,Bisomer of Tiroa (k'a's own later analysis of the ' . ortho from Hivarai laboratori#? con' firmed the presence of the 2,3/7,5 TCTD iafirrsar, oifiehts report.) Thu (iva worki ere conisi inaled with orthochhiropho noI were then lasted for dioxin. One worker who reportedly disre garded safety procedure* ..and let. his hands cojv.b in coniaci with tbs orlhochlorophenel has approximately 31 parts per trillion of 2,3,7,3 rcou in his blood, e!`a says. Another worker haa 7 parts per trillion and K&W says it ihiesn'l know how ha coaid imve been coni^mi ns ted. Western Environmental declined commonL Because human dioxin eonteniinsi'yn is rarely reported in innontic literature, iri'A officials are impre whether the workers' IcvuSs are cause for concern. "We don't know if they Vs lugli or low, but 1 would guess there's no iorieoloi^ef;) significance," acid Dr. do wnh BaifiiT, an ~e ?a physician, especially btwuire there Imva been no sdvHhsfi health effects thus u-.r. Hut the worker will siiil Ik: monitored, he cri!!.