Document 50k03BV7eR6Og35wJwXVJ11mz

Government Battle tines dton on vinyl cislorlsle issue Chemical management says workers now have adequate protection from suspected cancer agent; labor wants emergency standard set Chemical management and labor have drawn the battle lines for what shapes up as another bitter struggle over how best to safeguard workers from a sus pect cancer-causing agent. Industry witnesses at a Labor Department fact finding hearing 10 days ago asked that further controls on exposure to vinyl chloride or other chemicals involved in making the monomer or polymerizing it to polyvinyl chloride be set by ordi nary rule-making. But AFL-CIO unions argued that four confirmed liver cancer deaths at a B. F. Goodrich PVC plant warrant issuing an emergency temporary standard. The unions probably have the clout to get this immediate emergency rule as they did for the first 14 carcinogens the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration chose to control. But when OSHA issued per manent standards for these agents, in dustry won on most key issues. It may do so again, for the deaths at BFG may be seen as resulting from very high ex posures years ago when, as one indus try expert puts it. firms were "much more cavalier" toward vinyl chloride's hazards, save for fires and explosions. AFL-CIO is urging that a vinyl chlo ride rule be set comparable to what OSHA's advisory panel asked for the 14 agents which included no measura ble exposure to a carcinogen, other safe work practices, closed systems, and use permits. Besides these controls, the unions want all vinyl chloride and PVC work ers to get periodic medical and lab tests along the lines of an AFL-CIO protocol. Labor also demands that the amount of residual vinyl chloride in PVC resins be cut "to less than 0.01% as quickly as possible." This 100p.p.m. level compares with the 500 p.p.m. to 3000 p.p.m. of monomer now entrapped in resins prior to packaging and shipment. AFL-CIO says. Stressing the safety of current opera tions, BFG, Dow Chemical. Shell Chemical, and the Manufacturing Chemists Association all support the less-immediate route to a rule to im prove upon the current federal ceiling of 500 p.p.m. vinyl chloride exposure. BFG Chemical is implementing "as rapidly as possible" most of the tempo rary, precautionary procedures recom mended. in the wake of the deaths, by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, says the firm's president, Anton Vittone. Jr. The pro cedures cover such items as protective gear, monitoring of plant and person nel, and general housekeeping prac tices. but set no new limits for chemi cal exposures. MCA member firms are aware of the procedures and are reducing employee exposure voluntarily, says Albert C. Clark, vice president-technical direc tor. "Substantial research is now in progress." he adds, that "will provide a firm basis for any standard applicable to VC/PVC manufacture." Regular rule-making "would allow the orderly Rats inhaling vinyl chloride get rare liver cancer tipttfur* lev*!** (p.p.m.) Rats with liver anpiosercomas Number of rets exposed 10,000 6 69 6,000 11 72 2.500 9 74 500 7 67 250 2 67 50 0 64 Atmospheric exposure ol Sorague-Dnwley rats to vinyl chtoriae. tour hours daily, five days a wee*, to* 12 months. Note: No liver angiosarcomas were ooserved m controls or rats exposed similarly to 2500 p.p.m. vinyl ace tate. Source: UnouBiished research by Pro*. Cesare Maiiom. isntuto Di Or.cologia. Bologna. Italy development of data." stresses Richard J. Reynolds. Shell's vinyl chloride manager. BFG's disclosure of first three deaths, then a fourth fatality due to angiosarcoma of the liver among poly merization section workers at its Louisville. Ky., plant created the push for a new vinyi chloride limit iC&EN, Jan. 28. page 6; Feb. 18. page 6>. With out the disclosure, "it is entirely possi ble that the significance of the tumors would not have been realized for sever al more years." admits Dr. Marcus M. Key, NIOSH director. At a Cleveland briefing two weeks ago, he stressed that "an occupational cause or causes {for the deaths] must be presumed." adding chat a "serious situation" exists for PVC workers "throughout the world." So rare that NIOSH believes there are only 20 to 30 deaths a year from it throughout the U.S., angiosarcoma of the liver can be misdiagnosed as cir rhosis of the liver. Such was the case at first for two of the four BFG cases. All four exhibit a concurrent, nonalcoholic cirrhosis, says Dr. Henry Falk of the Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga. The BFG workers had average expo sures of some 19 years to vinyl chloride and 10 years to vinylidene chloride, with variable exposures to such chemi cals as vinyl acetate, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, methanol, and chlori nated solvents. Mr. Vittone says. At first there was "high suspicion" among surviving BFG workers that vinylidene chloride was carcinogenic, observes NIOSH's Vernon E. Rose. Although this question will be probed later, furiher evidence of a link between vinyl chloride and the deaths has been re vealed. Prof. Cesare Maltoni, director of Ist- ituto Di Oncologia, Bologna, Italy, has experimentally created liver angiosar comas in rats inhaling vinyl chloride. The cancers occur down to the 250p.p.m. level, but so far not at the 50p.p.m. level. (Significantly, many firms claim they already operate at this level or will do so soon.) The rats also develop zvmbal glands carcinomas and kidney nephroblastomas at low levels that, along with the angiosarco mas. he has never found in his rats be fore. Based on four BFG cases, the Center for Disease Control concludes that "it seems distinctly possible that the prob lem may be industrywide." Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. New York, N.Y., claims to have found liver and lung changes among workers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber's PVC plant in Niagara Falls, N.Y., similar to those in a West Ger man study of PVC workers reported late last year. At this writing, two more BFG cases, including a death in 1964 with angiosarcoma a contributing cause, have been revealed. An Imperial Chemical Industries case is still uncon firmed by the firm. "What we now know about the rela tion between cancer and vinyl chloride is only the tip of the iceberg because of the long latency period," says Anthony Mazzocchi, legislative director for Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Inter national Union. He may be right. But what corrective steps are taken re mains to be seen. 16 CAEN Feb. 25, 1974 RSV 0006754