Document 6bx1aqqgZE4v2QB31NkbwRxX4

* Copied for: Mr. Dr. S. G. Austinv' Mr. J. H. Barrett /The Houston Post/Sun., April 1, 1984 TC > Pr. D. H. Glenn We&s Mr. J. B. Leverton Mr. F. S. Provenzano Brain cancersMr. R. C. Wise Ms. A. P. Yalcinkaya Mr. R. L. Yeltpn remain mystery Researchers have only suspicions about studying chemical plant case . . . . * ii fir j EUBOti) 8CAELETT Fret Enrireumrat Writer t Federal health reaearchera, while yearaof studlea turned up no prat, stffl have a "gut feeling" that yet-unidenttfted chemical exponr* qpyUwKcaiwed excees train dwth*' M chemical plants and raflnarlea along the uppre Texas Gulf CoaiL . The reeearchera, however, believe an? aW rii^ical exposures oc- rnirWI^--ft ago when standard* wer* lire strict, and any danger prabaMy to longer exists. ftiiwiwj up the results of medi cal tlslaclive work that began In 1979 and la am continuing, Dr. Gordon R. Rmw of the National Institute for Occupations! Safety and Health In Cincinnati said be and his NIOSH colleagues are still suspicious about the brain cases "I don't mean we're suspicious that the companies Involved are cov ering up anything," Reeve said. "W* are Just suspicious that given the methods available for the stud>ln, our gut fading is that at Dow leal and Union Carbide and ran* of the Beamount-Port Arthur 'plants, smrothtng happened there, at leant in the pad. But we can't pin It dawn." RanearehsT Breve la the toad au thor of a NDBH report, recently cleared for release, that summarizes the findings of brain cancer studies done by NIOSH and the affected In dustries over the past five years. The studies turned up 86 brain cancer deaths at eight refineries and chemical plants In the Houston area and other Texas coastal regions. At two chemical plants, Dow In Freeport and Union Carbide at Tex as City, NIOSH said the studies "dearly Indicate" excessive brain cancer deaths -- about double the expected number -- at least in cer tain categories of workers. But the companies' researchers have pointed out that exhaustive re views of the Jobs held by the brain tumor victims showed no pattern of exposure to any specific chemicals known to cause brain cancer. 'Chance occurrence*? The companies maintain the clus ters of brain cancers therefore were. In the words of a Union Carbide offi cial, a "chaflfce occurrence'' not re lated to the workplace. However, the just-released NIOSH review notes that a large number of the train cancer fatalities Involved long-term workers at the plants. The victims Included some workers hired as far back ai the 1940s, when work place standards allowed much great er exposure to chemicals than ta ndw permitted. At Union Carbide, NIOSH found 19 brain cancer deaths, or double an expected 9.6 deaths. Among workers with 10 to 15 years on the job, the 11 deaths were more than triple the ex pected 3.2 fatalities. At Dow Chemical, a total of 25 deaths did not greatly exceed the expected 21.1 brain cancer fatalities. But for Dow workers with 20-plus years on the job, or who were hired from 1940 to 1944, brain cancer mor tality was about double the expected rate. These patterns lead Reeve and his co-reviewers, Drs. William E. Halperin and Philip J. Landrigan, to be lieve that if chemical exposures caused the brain cancers, they prob-l ably occurred under past conditions' that may no longer exist. The series of NIOSH studies began at Union Carbide in February 1919, after a complaint by a plant worker to the Occupational Safety and1 Health Administration about brain cancer cases at the plant At that Ume, the National Cancer Institute was finding brain cancer deaths at three Beaumont-Port Ar thur refineries, and those initial find ings ted to a broader joint study by the NCI and NIOSH. That study burned up 33 deaths -- about double the expected number -- at the Gulf, Texaco and Mobil refineries. As the NIOSH review notes, Gulf and Texaco also conducted their own studies and, using a different and APR 41984 S. G. AUSTIN, Sc.D. UCC 053784 supposedly more accurate method of said, "it was discovered that 33 per calculation, concluded the brain cent of all brain tumor deaths deaths were not excessive In in . . . Brazoria County were listed number. on the certificates as former Dow Reeve and Us NIOSH colleagues, .Chemical employees." however, are not certain the so- thus another cluster of brain can called cohort studies used by the oil cer deaths was detected at Dow. companies were really more accu The next step was so-called case rate in these Instances. control studies in which the Job his Different potential tories of brain cancer victims are compared with other unaffected "What Gulf and Texaco did was ..workers in an effort to detect any study their wbole array of union and ' chemical cause of the cancers. contract workers, everybody except At Union Carbide, the company office and clerical workers," Reeve and NIOSH conducted separate case said, "and then could be a vastly control studies, while Dow and Tex different potential for chemical ex aco carried out their own studies. posure among these different None turned up evidence of any groups." chemical link to the cancers. Mobil also announced it would However, the NIOSH report sug conduct its own study, originally gests a chemical linkup may have scheduled for completion In late gone undetected because chemical ISO. A Mobil spokesman said last and refinery workers frequently ro week the study Is still Incomplete, tate to different Jobe and workers in but the results should be ready in a different Job categories may have few months. similar chemical exposures. Meantime, while studying the "It Is possible that all workers, Union Carbide cases, NIOSH beard both (brain cancer) cases and con reports of more brain cancer deaths trols had similar exposures," the re at two Texas City refineries -- port noted, adding that this would Amoco and Marathon. Subsequent confound efforts to link particular checking showed no excessive Jobs to specific chemical exposures. deaths at those refineries. But In Investigating the two refin Inaccurate data? eries, the NIOSH report disclosed, The NIOSH reviewers noted that NIOSH looked at Brazoria County the work history records used in the death records. studies may have been Inaccurate. "Qi^te unexpectedly," the report "The main function of personnel records Is to meet payroll and book-'' keeping requirements," they said, "and not to provide the basis for aa epidemiology study that may be con ducted 30 or 40 years In the future." Reeve said NIOSH now has no fur ther brain cancer studies planned or in progress. The NCI, however, is now funding a massive two-year study of 500 new brain cancer cases along the Texas, and Louisiana coasts. The study wllL try to determine If Industrial work ers have an abnormal dare of the brain cancers in the total coastal population of 5.5 million -- and what may be causing them. In addition. Union Carbide and Texaco are updating their initial worker studies which went through 1977. The new studies will track any additional brain cancer deaths through 1982. Dr. David Glenn, a Union Carbide, health specialist, said the company baa found about five additional brali\. cancer deaths, but company statisti cians do not believe that an exces sive number. I Reeve said he doubts there will ever be a positive answer to what caused the brain cancers In the Tex as plants. "We may be lucky enough In the future to discover a chemical cause by looking at another plant," he said. "But that Is not a high probability." ucc 053785