Document 4aZaL06q57qGJYyKwgVZrXzRx

; _v Monsanto P FROFHH VH B - L O C A T I O N - F M O N I D. R. Bishop - F3EE - 4-2891 i /vtO -1" DATE 3URJECT : August 5* 1983 REFERENCE f T O : T. M - Bistline - E2ND 6. Roush - G2WG ce. J . F. Hussey - F3EA G. D. Ingenthron - F3EB W. J . McCarville - G3WG J. T. Nolan - DIA L. J. O'Neill - F3EE M. C. Throdahl - 0U> I would appreciate a prompt review by you and the carbonee^of the attached draft reply to the August 4 New York Times , article on Nitro (also attached). In order for our response to have any impact, it needs to be sent _out early next week. , "777 Thanks, in advance for your prompt attention. DRB:ec Attachments P.S. I've already discussed this with the reporter and, for what it's worth, he has apologized for screwing it upf I f f f 10 r HEV. B /7 7 ) C10208 Monsanto Monsanto Company 8 0 0 N. Lindbergh Boulevard S t. Louis. Missouri 63166 Phone: (314) 634-1000 August 5, 1983 PUBUC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT DRAFT Letters to the Editor THE NEW YORK TIMES 229 West 43rd Street New York, N.Y. 10036 Dear Editor: Your August 4 article, "Dioxin Leaves Mark on a City Called Nitro..." is flawed in its discussion of health studies of the workforce at Monsanto1s plant there. Your reporter inadvertently misinterpreted the facts when he stated that "One study, however, by Robert W. Baughman in preparation for a 1975 Harvard University doctoral dissertation, produced results differing with those (Monsanto-sponsored) studies." The facts are these: The results cited as being produced by Mr. Baughman were not "produced" by him at all but, rather, were the acute (or short-term) clinical symptoms previously observed and reported by Drs. Ashe and Suskind following their examinations of employees between 1949 and 1953. They also reported, by the way, that all these initial symptoms, except some residual cases of the skin disease, chloracne, gradually cleared up. These short-term clinical symptoms were further documented in a mortality study, co-authored by Dr. Suskind, which was published in the January, 1980 issue of the Journal of Occupational Medicine (attached). All of the Monsanto-sponsored health studies focused on the chronic (or long-term) health effects of exposure to dioxin. Any attempt to infer, as the article clearly did, that there is something controversial about short-term results differing from longer-term findings reflects a gross misunderstanding of the subject. (\ " -.-J 2- - Finally, Mr. Baughman's work was not a "study" of Monsanto's Nitro workers, as your article further implies but, rather, a review of the acute symptoms, previously reported by Ashe and Suskind. We would appreciate having the record corrected on this matter. Sincerely, CC: Mr. William Robbins 570 Lindsey Drive Wayne, Pa. 19087 George Roush Jr., M.D. Director, DMEH Cl0210 T H E N E W YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, AU G UST 4, 1983 1 2 --------------------' Dioxin Leaves Mark on a City Called Nitro, but Extent of Impact Is at Issue By WILLIAM ROBBINS S patialto n * Not YartTbOM NITRO, W.Va., July -- The toxic dioxin has left Its m ark on this city of 8,500 people, but just how deeply or extensively is at issue. It m arks men like E. W. Miller, who dropped In the other day at Diehl's Res taurant (m Main Street. Mr. Miller, 74 y ean old, retired for health reasons from his job a t a chemical plant sev eral y ea n ago. He stopped to talk with a younger m an who continues to work a t the plant, although be says he does not feel like doing so. Both men are marked with the scan of chloracne, a skin condition resem bling common acne but often far more severe and persistent. Chloracne is the figrt and m it vfalhie effect of exposure to dioxin, a contaminant formed in some chemical manufacturing pro cesses. But the younger man and 178 present and form er employees at the plant assert In a lawsuit scheduled for trial in October that dioxin has also left a heritage of suffering, debilitation and ^ death. In reply, the Monsanto Company of S t Louis, operator of one of several chemical companies that form N ltro'i principal economic foundation, ac knowledges the link between dioxin and chloracne, but says Its studies have found no evidence that exposure to d!niii produces long-term health prob lem s. The case is but one of a growing num ber that are focusing attention on diox in's hazards and its unknowns. Millions of dollars is being spent to dean up dioxin deposits that have been found In Missouri and New Jersey; millions more is a t stake in a joint lawsuit In which Vietnam veterans claim dam ages for being exposed to the defoliant . Agent Orange, which was contami nated by traces ofdioxin. Suit Involves a Herbicide In the Nltro case, the lawsuit Is based on the medical records and recent examinations of several current work ers, others such as Donald B. Stover, Jam es R. Phillips, and William C. Wil son, who are retired workers, or the heirs of others such as Cleo Smith, who died recently after joining the litigants In the lawsuit. The litigants contend that they era suffering varied health problems re sulting from exposure to a dioxin con tam inant In a herbicide named 2,4,5-T, which Monsanto produced a t its plant here from 1948 to 1969, and exposure to some other chemicals. ;.rvr"T7 -j The contaminant la tits herbicide, goes by the scientific name 3,3,7,8-tetrachlorodlbenzo-p-diorin, o r TCDD, which has been described as the most Unde poison ever produced by man. It is the most potent of the 79 compounds " I felt pretty good about producing a weed killer," said Mr. Stover, visibly agitated, sitting with his wife and a 36year-old daughter in the gloomy in terior of one of hundreds of homes built here In World War I for workers producing nitrocellulose, an ingredient In the maMng of gunpowder and the source of the town's name. " I didn't know it was a man-ldller, too." The litigants say their conditions contradict repeated scientific reports of failure to prove Hnfai between dioxin and long-term organic damage In humans, though cancer and damage to kidneys, liver and nerves have been produced in laboratory n im ai in ex perim ents using dioxin. The complaint charged that health problems resulting from exposure to the chemicals had Included, besides chloracne, various farms of cancer, heart disease, m ental Illness and nerve and kidney damage. In a response filed In 1981 the com pany denied allegations of damages. In its latest filing, the company asked that the suit be dismissed, asserting that Its claims were barred by a statute of limi tations. Trial Is to begin O ct 24. "The Monsanto employee group has been one of the most medically studied populations in the world," Dan Bishop, -a company spokesman, said today. "At least three separate health studies have been conducted on employees at this location, and other than the skin, condition chloracne no long-term | health problems that could be assod-' ated with exposure to dioxin have ever been found there." P art of the literature on effects of, dioxin exposure is based on studies that were begun after an industrial aeddent in 1949 a t the Monsanto plant here th at resulted in the exposure of hundreds of workers to the dioxin. Exposure 99Y ean Ago Cited Both the wife and the daughter of Mr. Stover, a 72-year-old retired Mom^nto employee, suffer health problems that they attribute to exposure 30 years ago to Mr. Stover's work clothing. * Mr. Stover complains of aches, pains, organic damage and nervous .tension, and he says he often breaks into tears without apparent reason. Mr. Phillips has had several operations fori ta k fn ^ q i^ n and lives in an artificial | environment to aid his breathing. Mr. Wilson, whose thickened and corru gated skin, deeply pitted with chloracae scars, hongs In folds on his face and arm s, attributes a diagnosis of brain dam age to dioxin exposure. All say they rarely feel able to leave borne long enough to visit p laca like Diehl's R estau ran t. The suit against Monsanto was first filed in 1961 by 32 current and former employees and members of their family or heirs in Federal D istrict Court In Charleston, the state capital, about 15 miles from here. It bos since been amended as others have joined the suit, and subsequent revisions have simplified the complaint, which origi nally asked for 12.65 billion in dam ages. "Monsanto Is terribly disappointed that these em ploye saw fit to take this action," Mr. Bishop, the company spokesman, said. "We will vigorously protect our interests and reputation as the litigation proceeds." T hetirst findings of the studies of the plant came in the 1960's from one fi nanced by Monsanto and conducted by Judith Zack, a company epidemiolo gist, and Dr. Raymond Susklnd of the University of O ndnnatl. They said they had found no abnormal number of deaths as a result of cancer or heart disease among the workers exposed In the accident A later and wider study conducted for the company in 1960 confirmed the earlier results, though It found a high rate of bladder cancer among Mon santo employees. "This finding," It said, "reflects the established and previously documented association be tween exposure to paraamlnobyphenyl (PAB) and cancer in man. PAB was used a t Nltro from 1941 to 1952. It was discontinued when its cancer-causing potential was confirmed." The moat recent study of Monsanto's work force here, conducted by Dr. Sus klnd, produced no evidence of long term health effects other *h* chlo racne among workers who had produced 2,4A*T, according to a pre lim inary report released by Monsanto in 1962. Reached at his office In Cincinnati, Dr. Susklnd declined to discuss the re sults of that study, saying he was still assembling his data in preparation for publication. C1021 SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVF H D n rr-, erupt 30 years after his last exposure, seemed In constant motion, leaning for ward. m tH ng back and hitting his position as be sat on a sofa discussing nil experiences a t the Monsanto plant and what he said had been the results. " I don't have any nerves at a ll/' be said. After snapping at his wife, Virgin ia, over an interruption, be added: "You see how Irritable I get." He was unable to sleep more than a few hours a t night and cried frequently over "any news, or no news at all/* he said, ana medical diagnoses had con firmed heart disease and a lesion in a Meanwhile, be said, he has suffered and amimbnesa in his ngera, toes and the bottoms of his feet. Since 1933, his wife complained, he had shown no Interest in sexual rela tions. "I just have had no sex drive," he aald. Hehad dug 2,4,3-T with a trowel from a production vessel and some of the substance had often contaminated his clothing, which he wore borne, be said. His daughter, Ramona, who sat be side him, nad dark rings dotted with pimples under her eyes, and she turned her bead to display scars and large pus tules behind her ears. "She was always one to climb up in -- > his clothes/'Mrs. Stover said. "She cries at night like her daddy/* Mrs. Stover said. "She has sleeping trouble, too, and it seems like she's al Another Study Is Different ways expecting something bad to hap SOne study, however, by R obot W. Baughman in preparation for a 1973 Harvard University doctoral disserta tion, produced results differing with those studies. That study, conducted among workers exposed in the 1949 ac cident, found resulting symptoms In cluding "severe pains m skeletal mus cles, shortness ofbreath, intolerance to cold, palpable and tender fiver, loss of sensation in the extrem ities, demyefi- natlon of peripheral nerves, fatigue, nervousness, irritability, Insomnia, loss oflibido and vertigo." A study by a Chicago physician com missioned by lawyers for the plalntiffa has produced results sim ilar to those of Mr. Baughman, according some of those Interviewed. A large numberof documents in a vo luminous file In the Nltro case have ac cumulated in the Charleston court, but an order by a Federal judge has sealed sensitive papers from public scrutiny. But an loea of the kind of medical claims the case may produce came this week Is Interviews with six of the liti gants, a form er worker who suffers from problems sim ilar to theirs but has not sued and reviews of published re ports on problems suffered by others. In many instances they reported symp toms sim ilar to those reported In Mr. pen." Mrs. Stover, who said she had undere operations for cancer of the blad, said she attributed her own prob>. lem to contact with her husband's work clothes. Mr. Phillips, 70, w ltfcomplains of ex trem e sensitivity to cold and of breath ing difficulties, has had to five In a house with autom atic controls that regulate heat and humidity. "They were here, here, here, here and here," he said, pointing to places on Ms face, in one ear and on an arm where he said tum ors had been re moved. Mr. Wilson, 76, who bears some of the worst scars attributed to chloracne, said be also suffered from nervousness, shortness of breath and pains In his legs. But the worst discomfort, he said, pointing to the chloracne m arks, came from "these things." Sometimes, be aid, "they feel like pins and needles." Among the litigants with the most serious complaints was Cleo Smith, who died a t the age of 35 before the suit was filed. The cause of death was said to be bladder cancer and heart disease. Mr. Smith had told reporters of at least 17 operations to cut cancerous cysts from his akin. Some were "as big as an egg," he said. Baughm an's dissertation. Those Interviewed included three "As long as Monsanto pays my pen sion and my medical bills I'm satis current workers, all in th eir late 50*s but all three, each of whom complained fied," said Mr. Miller, whose prob of aches, pains and numbness m their lems, he said, have Included cancer of legs, asked not to be identified. the bladder and muscular tension. " I'd One of them , describing a production neversue them ." process, said he had spread 2,4^-T on Maqyworkers worry that an effect of trays in preparation for drying, the suit may be to drive Monsanto out smoothing the layers with his bare of Nitre, according to Larry Ratliff, re gional sub-director of the united Steel For working with the herbicide, be workers of America, theunion that rep said, employees received extra pay of 4 resents the company employees, cents an hour under a contract negoti Mr. Stover, hu face pitted with scars ated by their union. "We called it the of chloracne pustules that continue to T -rete/'h esald . ril'i V r, tn c 03 o ^< H * -1 1 OM a"0 ; 9 m ,, 3 G H- < o 50 ^-w '! O V :, EW C10212 OCTwi.1' C10213