Document 3Jbo8mRdb9Y5v2km61q6BX0xy

REPORT OF MEETING VINYL CHLORIDE STEERING GROUP March 13, 1973 The Vinyl Chloride Ste'ering Group met: In Che Manufacturing Chemists Association Washington office March 13, 1973 for the principal purpose of reviewing the several proposals made for an Epidemiology Study of the Vinyl Chloride Industry* Three proposals were received from the following: 1) Tabershaw-Cooper Associates, Inc., 2) Harvard School of Public Health, 3) University of Michigan School of Public Health. After carefully reviewing each of these, the committee selected that of Tabershaw-Cooper Associates as being the most desirable for the industry. A copy of this proposal is attached. I strongly urged the Committee to include a level of 5 ppm in the animal experi ments which are about to begin at Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories. This level had been especially recommended by Mr. Warner and would be in addition to the other three levels previously decided upon; 5,000, '500, 50 ppm. The Committee, however, felt that there would be no advantage in using this lower level, particularly Inasmuch as exceptionally large colonies of animals would be required to make the data significant. They felt that the previously designed experiment should move forward without modification and that, if results so indicated at a later date, additional animal experimentation then would need to bo done and specifically de signed It was decided to present the entire story of the Vinyl Chloride proposal and the proposed studies to representatives of each of the participating companies at a meeting in Washington April 4. The specific site of the meeting is to be deter mined by MCA. At this meeting, additional funding will be requested from the industry. This will be $92,345 for the Epidemiology Study and some contingencies, .and $15,000 for an additional study at Bio-Test Laboratories to determine what effect, if any, the inclusion of litter and food in animal cages may have upon the outcome. In the studies currently underway in Europe by Professor Maltoni,. litter and food are added directly to the rat cages and it is felt that perhaps this may be an important aspect on the results. mk Attach. W. E. McCormick, Mgr. Environmental Control Department zsaommz / // BFG09105 / / / / A PROPOSAL FOR A -HEALTH STUDY OF VINYL C3L0RI0B WORKERS March 6, 1973 .! Presented by , TABERSHAW-COOPER ASSOCIATES, INC. I!i . 2180 Milvia Street i ;1 I Berkeley, California /. BFG09106 A PROPOSAL FOR A HEALTH STUDY OF VINYL CHLORIDE WORKERS PRESENTED BY TABERSHAW-COOPER ASSOCIATES, INC. March 6, 1973 Introduction Tabershaw-Cooper Associates, Inc. is happy to respond to the request from the Manufacturing Chemists Association for a proposal to study the health of vinyl chloride workers. Our organization is well qualified to carry out such a project because our staff has had extensive experience in the areas of occupational medicine, indus trial hygiene and epidemiology. ; | Our personnel includes three full-time occupational health phy sicians, two experienced industrial hygienists whose services are available as required, and a health studies staff concerned with the acquisition and analysis of health data in an occupational setting. The health studies staff is composed of a full-time professional epi demiologist, a statistician-programmer and appropriate clerical per sonnel. It is organized to conduct health studies, is cognizant of the need for timeliness in such studies, and can be responsive to new demands without administrative delay. The health studies staff is experienced in successful techniques of tracing and follow-up, and has operating computer programs for the complex calculations in volved in health status studies. At the present time, TCA, Inc. is responsible for organizing and maintaining a physical examination and industrial hygiene pro gram for occupational work groups, and is carrying out several long term follow-up health studies in selected industries. Among the latter, the study which is closest to completion has successfully followed and accounted for slightly over 96 percent of the study population. 'j Possible methods of study j i There are essentially three ways to study the effects of occu pational exposure, each of which can be useful in appropriate sit uations. One is to measure the functioning of selected physiologic systems which one suspects may be affected, in either a cross-sec tional or serial study, hoping to detect subclinical changes not accompanied by diagnosable disease, while presumably of high sen sitivity, this technique inevitably leads co serious questions as to the significance of minor physiologic deviations, which must be resolved by studies of morbidity or mortality. i /* ' BFG09107