Document 3N3vo74Qor78zkRgkDrmOMQKD

frsIBullethi L . 1 tj--. 1 i1, ^ - *.>z r. S. COUR'TOF XfPEAI^ UPHOLDS 5HA STANDARDS ON VCMt SPI TO PETITION SUPREME COURT 7 - ;*$$$ 1 PUI^i;** ... - Cm Friday,! January 31t'l975rthe U. S>..z|Court of Appeals for |e Secood 4 Circuit (Newi^ork) its decision uj Iding the standardsJ> omulgated;. V ft\ AO^cftaoKbaeri 1974KJibr-y^te3j^S. .Occupational Safetyr^!aannd HealthlXAninist stionribSHii j n employee exposujeJtpjviityi chloSde "monqra5r.- .Becau_se4' t * y the appeal proceedings, * the Cbu^Truled^that"the standaitisllwfiic chaAited ta Wednesday^Febtuafy T1975,TSPI^inj tpetit i tbell'S.^ Supreme Ccmrt foe a reyiew of the decision, peals rred in its^inierpretauon of the ^substantia % technologicaUyaM^cbnoniicaily^nfeaflib r ~........ ard TATE OF ECOjig >ROGRAMS;^CH mjsftgs % four en ientB of lean Ai 1 * i .jr 1 SPI-26544 i Rep.'David Dbey (D-WIsc Institute 'of *.s- ational Safety and i2by^the cent^p^fo^Disease Control. Heall ;C^3 l-(NIOSH) and separate it from control used vinyl|ehl|>ride and .chloroprene as Ills examples or citing the problems HOSH must'deal ^vith. He contends that^IOSH,jaV ex>ne federaVagency wl h~pi4marybes fonsiblllty to explore chemical bazar ifjiag actually. shrunkTi Slze and^wlti >82 employees Is 12 percent bel<w it* January 1973 personnel levels JSp. " I; * I ^ ' --------- -12 ----:--- 1 Several Congressmen have already leape I on die fact recent Russian studies have disclosed afertgher lung and skin chc serrate, among workers exposed to chloroprenej us^dln the inanufacture of nany syntheti(^products (hoses, cable sheath', adhesives, etc. ) and on the further fact that chloroprene is part of the same jchemlcal family_as_vlnyl_chl ride, the Congressmen are beginning to call for 1^. S. inquiries. Typical was he action of R^>.! Dominick Daniels (D-N. J.), who on January 29, urged NIC ?H "to move quickly and decisively to safeguard the lives of AmericanTwork< rs~exposed to this toxic substance. i !: - 1 : 'I ! Rep. Hamilton Fish, Jr. (R-NY) has Introduced a bill to extend the provisions of the Flammable ^Fabrics Act to constrc rtion materials used in the Interior of homes, offices, ind other places of assc nbly, and to authorize the establish ment of toxicity tandards. Similar bllli have been introduced by Reps. John Murphy (D-NiY1 ) anJd-: Petre:r Pe: yser {D-NiY r--": - --r-?*- - * - ' : Sen. Abe Riblco: :^(D-Conn.).has rerlntx< duced die 1975 version of the Consumer Protection ^ct, tow known asbhe Agenc; forConsumer Advocacy. The bill . (S. 10) is sponso: ed by 38 Senators India ting it will pro iably pass the Senate : again with'no dif ?oilty.^_' 71"^!} tl.^ 'r if ' ! If- On the regulator jaside, the U.S. Depart: tent of Transportation Is going ahead with February"Li |l9 hearings to encours je automakersftojdevenjp lighter weight bumper t stems (i. ei|plastlcs)^> ich will help*save energy by redui cing the weight of cai 3jby approximately 100 ounds. However, objections have j- . ' - Jitional TrafflcSafety mlnistratloi^al^cormnendatLon that stand a fiveMarch 3 ~y discarded 1 . ( SPI-26545 in solid waste. Titled "Energy in Solid Waste: A Citizen Guide to Saving, " the report points out that since 1965, research by the Council on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Mines and other federal agencies have provided a wealth of information on better ways to recover, recycle and reuse materials and energy from solid waste. Now, the report says, it is up to the Admini stration and Congress to adopt a national policy to put this knowledge to work. Such a policy, the Committee said, should include at least the following five major elements: 1. Consideration of federal tax measures to provide economic Incentives for private industry to reduce the depletion of critical natural resources and to maximize resource recovery, recycling and use. These could include incentives to encourage increased production and use of recycled materials and rapid amortization for recycling facilities. 2. Federal legislation requiring a refundable deposit on all beverage containers to promote the use and resuse of reflllable instead of throwaway containers. 3. Revising interstate transportation rates to promote the movement of re cyclable materials. 4. Requiring federal agencies to carry out programs of resource recovery, recycling and reuse. 5. Further study of the present program of federal grant assistance or loan guarantees for the construction of resource recovery facilities. The Advisory Committee is chaired by Henry L. Diamond, New York State's former Commissioner of Environmental Conservation and includes among its members Laurence S. Rockefeller, scientist Rene Dubos, Robert Cahn, former member of the Council on Enviromental Quality, Governor Tom McCall of Oregon, and Arthur Godfrey. UNION CARBIDE EXECUTIVE ADVOCATES POSITIVE ATTACK ON CHEMICAL TOXICITY PROBLEM In the keynote address at a January 29 Symposium on Toxic Substances Control and OSHA/NTOSH Regulations sponsored by the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association and the Council of Chemical Associations, a Union Carbide executive said a positive attack on the problem of possible chemical toxicity through immediate action to reduce worker exposure to all chemicals and an Ln-depth health research program. Thomas W. Carmody, Union Carbide's Vice President, Safety, Health and Affairs Related to the Environment (SHARE) for Chemicals and Plastics, said an additional research effort is necessary because 'Respite enormous investments in research, at this time industry, academia and government admittedly do not know enough about the long-term effects of many chemicals that are in use today, Long-term research, Carmody added, should focus on finding a means to realistically predict the effects of 20-to-40 years of exposures to minute amounts of chemicals... "present test methods for suspected carcinogens need improvement. They take too long and the results cannot now be translated directly to safe limits for human beings. " -3 - SPI-26546 CHEMICAL COMPANIES WILL SPONSOR RESEARCH ON OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH ASPECTS OF STYRENE AND VDCM The Manufacturing Chemists Association has announced it will administer research projects dealing with occupational health aspects of styrene and vinylidene chloride monomer (VDCM). Twelve companies will sponsor the research on styrene, one of the most widely-used liquid monomers in the production of plastics; thirteen companies will fund the work on VDCM, a liquid monomer used principally in the produc tion of plastic wrappings. Individual projects are expected to cover such animal testing as ingestion, vapor inhalation, fetal development, toxicity and metabolism. Both programs are designed to provide additional scientific information on which to base safeguards to protect employee health. According to MCA, styrene has not been linked with any health hazard. However, preliminary VDCM research in Europe 'has caused the producers to feel there is a need for further tests. " URETHANE SAFETY GROUP PRETESTS SLIDE PRESENTATION ON FIRE SAFETY SPI's Urethane Safety Group has been pre-testing a slide presentation on fire safety. So far, Executive Director Arthur B. Chiwis has shown versions of the presentation to foam contractors in Tampa, Florida; fire chiefs in Goshen, New York; and farm builders in St. Louis, Mo. According to Chiwis, audience reaction has been enthusiastic, demonstrating a real need for this type of audio-visual information program. Comments and questions from all three audiences will be taken into account in develop ing the final presentation. In other areas related to combustibility, SPI: Has distributed .drafts of an illustrated booklet on the uses of plastics in construction for expert comment and suggestion... it is anticipated the booklets will be available in several weeks. Is distributing copies of Appendix B of the FTC Consent Order to fire, insurance, government and building code audiences in compliance with Paragraph D of the Consent Order (see Public Affairs Bulletin No. 10, November 1974) MCA STUDY DISCLOSES PLASTICIZERS HAVE VERY LOW LEVEL OF TOXICITY Research sponsored by 17 chemical companies under the direction of the Manufacturing Chemists Association (MCA) has found that phtaUc acid esters (PAEs, -- used mainly as plasticizers in making plastics products and wrappings) appear to have a very low level of toxicity. The study, conducted by Dr. Rolf Hartung, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Michigan, apparently disclosed that no problems attributable to PAEs have been noted due to constant low level exposures of the general population. However, "at higher occupational exposures, occasional mild skin irritation has been noted. The study also reports that "earlier concerns of effects from PAEs migrating from medical devices to biological tissues have lessened." -4 - SPl-26547 Attachment to Public Affairs Bulletin No. 2__ February, 1975 SUMMARY OF COURT OF APPEALS DECISION ON VINYL CHLORIDE STANDARDS On Friday, January 31, 1975, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (New York) unanimously upheld the standards on vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) promulgated October 4, 1974, by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The standards had been challenged by The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI) and by nine manufacturers of VCM or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin. The nine companies were: Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Tenneco Chemicals, Inc., Union Carbide Corporation, Firestone Plastics Company, The B. F. Goodrich Company, Uniroyal, Inc., The Diamond Shamrock Chemical Company, Inc., and General Dynamic Chemical Co., Inc. The government was joined in its defense of the standards by the AFL-CIO and by the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO, a separate organization. Both participated in the case as intervenors. The appeals panel consisted of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark and District Judges Frederick van Pelt Bryan and Kevin T. Duffy. Mr. Justice Clark wrote the 22-page decision. The following is a summary of the basic arguments advanced by SPI and the VCMPVC industry in opposition to the standards and excerpts from the Court's reply to those arguments as contained in the written decision: 1. Petitioners1 Argument: The standards are technologically infeasible with known methods of control, and thus violate the basic OSHA law. The Court's Reply: "We cannot agree with petitioners that the standard is so clearly impossible of attainment. It appears that they simply need more faith in their own technological potentialities, since the record reveals that, despite similar predictions of impossibility regarding the emergency 50 ppm standard, vast improvements were made in a matter of weeks, and a variety of useful engineering and work practice controls have yet to be instituted. In the area of safety, we wish to emphasize, the Secretary is not restricted by the status quo. He may raise standards which require improvements in existing tech nologies or which require the development of new technology, and he is not limited to issuing standards based solely on devices already fully developed." 2. Petitioners1 Argument: Available scientific and medical evidence does not necessitate the establishment of a one part per million (ppm) standard in order to protect worker health. The Court's Reply: "...the ultimate facts here in dispute are 'on the frontiers of scientific knowledge,1 and, though the factual finger points, it does not conclude. Under the command of OSHA, it remains the duty of the Secretary (of Labor) to act to protect the workingman. -More- SPI-26548 2 and to act even in circumstances where existing methodology or research is deficient. The Secretary, in extrapolating the MCA (Manufacturing Chemists Association) study's finding from mouse to man, has chosen to reduce the permissible level to the lowest detectable one. We find no error in this respect." 3. Petitioners' Argument: The standard would force nearly all employees in the PVC resin industry to wear cumbersome, uncom fortable, potentially unsafe respirators nearly all of the time. The Court's Reply: "To be sure, respirators have their drawbacks. These problems were detailed at the hearings and recognized by the Assistant Secretary (for OSHA). Self-contained and air-hose type breathing equipment is bulky, expensive, and infeasible for full-time use, as well as potentially hazardous in terms of trapping, restricted mobility, and over exhaustion of workers. But the fact remains that they effectively eliminate exposure to VCM, and they are already being used by some PVC companies in the cleaning process and at other points In production with good success. "Like Che industry's claims about the impossibility of achieving compliance through technological means, petitioners' claims of dire consequences from the requirement of respiratory protection are exaggerated. It does not appear that full-time use of respirators is necessary..." 4. Petitioners' Argument: Because exposures in the PVC fabricating industry are already extremely low, the application of all aspects of the standard to this segment of the industry is unjustified. The Court's Reply; "If, in the future, the monitoring under the standard indicates that the VCM level among fabricators is suffi ciently low and that the sporadic, unpredictable exposure of these workers to residual VCM has been controlled, the fabricators might well be excluded or included in a separate, less rigorous standard. Certainly if PVC producers were able to eliminate all residual VCM from the resin before it is delivered to the fabricator, there would seem to be no reason for their inclusion. But this would be for the Secretary to decide on appropriate application or on his own motion, and, as the record presently stands, their inclusion is amply justified." -More- SPI-26549 - 3- 5. Petitioners' Argument; That section of the standard requiring a "cancer suspect agent" warning label on all containers of PVC resin is unjustified and unnecessarily alarming and exceeds the Secretary's statutory authority. The Court's Reply: "...compliance is time-phased and, if the petitioners find that they cannot comply for reasons beyond their control, OSHA permits the amendment of standards. Upon application and sufficient proof of such a situation, we feel certain that the petitioners would obtain relief at the hands of the Secretary. This is especially true of the 'cancer suspect agent* labelling require ments which petitioners urge are beyond statutory contemplation. We think that the Secretary is simply 'fighting fire with fire' and using the labels to bring the danger of vinyl chloride forcibly to the attention of the workers." In the concluding paragraph of the decision, the Court stated: "It is our conclusion that the challenged aspects of the Secretary's vinyl chloride standard are supported by substantial evidence in the record and that the petition for review must be denied." The Court added, however: "Taking into account the delay occasioned by these petitions, we think that a reasonable 'lead time' is appropriate and therefore order that the Secretary's regulations, rather than being effective January 1, 1975, shall become effective sixty days after the date of this order and that the time requirement as to respiratory protection contained in (the standard) is re-scheduled accordingly." The standard will thus go into effect April 1, 1975. ### SPI-26550