Document 3JxVEGy73pzKx26g0vn15V2LJ

SAFETY & HEALTH Job-related cancer: Still an open question ucc 053604 When a worker at Union Carbide Corp/s Texas City (Tex.) petrochemical complex became convinced that an unusual num ber of his fellow workers had a rare form of brain cancer, he reported it to the Occupational Safety & Health Adminis tration. That November, 1978, telephone call sparked what has been the largest and most thorough examination of jobrelated cancer to date, with some 10 sep arate government and industry studies still under way. But firm conclusions continue to elude the researchers. Scien tists on both sides of the question are as far from agreeing on the cause of the chief epidemiologist, Ralph R. Cook, told the New York meeting that a compari son of brain-cancer death records to health reports of workers not exposed to chemicals showed no excessive risk for those exposed. No job link could be pin pointed for one "cluster" of cancer that showed up among workers hired in the 1940s, he added. Gulf, Exxon, and Du Pont presented similar surveys. In fact, the only thing the investiga tion has proved beyond any doubt is that determining the causes of worker health complaints is not a simple task. The data not looking around for things to raise hell about, but these questions have to be answered," insists Raphael Moure, an industrial hygienist for the Oil, Chemi cal A Atomic Workers International Union (ocaw). Some scientists, too, are rankled by the implication that they are playing a game of statistical one-upman ship. "We're investigating a real phe nomenon here, not simply a statistical quirk," says Victor Alexander, an OSHA physician now on temporary assignment with the U. S. Public Health Service. Mortality rate*. Indeed, the cancer fatali ties are very real. When p a ca i i 4 i Please send me your free brochure, 'Making the Most of Your Fleet.* I understand I'm under no obligation. ....................... Mail to: 3M Company, Transportation & Commercial GrapNcs Div,, 3M Center. St. Paul, MN 55101 NAME_____________________________ TITLE_______________________________ COMPANY_________________________ AOOBESS_________________________ CITY______________________________ n Q Q si STATEZIP &OE3C1BC]DDDBDDBBlB3aE3 Although you probably know what an important role your fleet of trucks plays in your company, you may not realize what an important advertising medium it is. too. For example, one company truck traveling 25,000 miles annually can create 16.3 million advertising impressions every year. That's not hearsay That's according to the latest Findings by the American Trucking Association Foundation. With 16.3 million chances every year to tell your story, it's an opportunity that's wasted unless your fleet is marked property and effectively That's where we can help. Just use the coupon to send for our free brochure. You'll be under no obligation, but you may just find out the potential your trucks have. And the economy the 3M Matched Component System of Fleet Markings can offer you. Or write 3M Company, Transportation and Commercial Graphics Division. 3M Center. St. Paul. MN 55101. 1i ,1 ve must do now is to localize the prob- !em," says ocaw's Moure, who says that nvolves "concentrating on exposures to decide which jobs are of particular risk, and if there is an occupational cause to these cancers." But that is an immense task. Ia the Dow plant alone, some 44,000 worker-death records dating back to the 1940s must be reviewed and corre lated with hundreds of possible chemical exposures over a 40-year period. In addi tion, job assignments, length of employ ment, lifestyle, and other factors mbst be studied to see if some pattern emerges. And exposure data must be correlated with the limited information from animal tests that linked about 25 chemicals to brain cancer. More studies. Company medical records are often woefully inadequate, and fail ure to organize them has hampered investigators. Union Carbide and Dow, for instance, are only now following Du Pont Co.'s lead in setting up central mortality surveillance systems. And companies are still fighting labor and government access to employee medical records. "Let's say cooperation [from companies] has varied," says J. William Lloyd, osha epidemiologist , Even after all the studies are com pleted, scientists on both sides recognize that the cause of those cancers may 'remain an unsolved mystery. "We're not consistent in our findings, and we may never find a causative agent" acknowl- OSHA's try at linking brain cancer and chemical workers Is Inc nclusive edges Richard A. Lemen, a niosh scien tist And although improved recordkeep ing and better cooperation from industry may aid future investigators, it will be of little aid in finding answers to other can cer clusters where exposure may have occurred 20 to 30 years ago. Yet lessons are being learned. "Epide miology should get better," says H. Michael D. Utidjian, Union Carbide's as sociate corporate medical director for toxicology and epidemiology. "We're starting to crank out studies from the records which should suggest where we should set our priorities," he adds. Still, the ultimate solution, company health and government officials agree, may simply be a tightening of current work practice controls and increased vig ilance over chemical workers' exposure to all substances. In addition, suggests R. Hays Bell, osha director of technical support, stricter adherence to OSHA standards could help. "But we must be careful to control other agents as well." says BelL "There are 45,000 chemicals in the workplace, and osha doesn't haw standards, nor will it ever have stan dards, for all of them." 10S P BUSINESS WEEK: November 24. 1980 UCC 053605 SAFETY t HEALTH