Document 704mG64xaXLd8GrqLK4nK4ppe

INVESTIGATION OF APPARENT INCREASED PREVALENCE OF BRAIN TUMORS IN A U.S.,CHEMICAL PLANT Victor Alexander,M.D..M.S.P.H,.Sanford S. Leffingwel1,M.D., J. William Lloyd,Sc.D..Richard J. Waxweiler,Ph,D.,and Richard L. Miller,M.A\ presentation to WORKSHOP ON BRAIN TUMORS IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OCTOBER 27, 1980 Table I. WORK HISTORY DATA FOR 18 PRIMARY BRAIN CANCER CASES IN A TEXAS PETROCHEMICAL PLANT Case Date of Hire Date of Death 1 12/16/40 05/15/64 2 05/18/41 02/19/66 3 07/29/41 05/18/76 4 11/30/41 12/13/65 5 07/09/44 10/28/79 6 09/18/44 05/21/74 7 09/18/46 03/07/79 8 09/26/46 03/22/73 9 09/21/48 07/02/75 10 03/02/49 06/05/71 11 01/25/50 01/13/68 12 10/19/50 05/14/74 13 10/23/50 02/18/80 14 09/19/51 01/08/74 15 04/27/53 10/03/56 16 08/17/53 04/05/62 17 08/21/53 05/05/71 18 10/30/53 12/21/78 Length of Age at Employment Death (years-months) 51 3-6 56 24-8 66 31-8 55 20-4 59 35-0 55 0-1 55 32-3 63 26-6 49 2-1 61 22-3 66 16-7 59 17-1 57 28-10 52 22-3 33 0-1 30 8-7 44 17-3 49 .24-8 Job Title Department Operator Operator Foreman Operator Boi1ermaker Operator Laborer/Oiler Operator Pipefitter Operator Equip. Operator Operator Operator Machinist Machinist Ueighmaster Operator Ueighmaster Production Production Maintenance Production Structural Shop Production Maintenance Production Maintenance Product ion Maintenance Energy Systems Production Machine Shop Maintenance Shipping Production Shipping 01320 EP^ Table II. CURRENT PLANT WORKFORCE BY COUNTY OF RESIDENCE County of Residence Galveston Harris Brazoria Other Total Type of Employee Hourly Salaried 1,389 44 41 7 1,481 609 110 15 4 738 Source: Data provided by company. Total 1,998 154 56 11 2,219 Perce 90.0 6.9 2.5 0.5 100.0 EPL 01321 Table iii . DEATH CERTIFICATE AND MEDICAL RECORDS DATA FOR 18 PRIMARY BRAIN CANCER CASES IN A TEXAS PETROCHEMICAL PLANT Case 2 t3 7,, 5 6 7^ 8*/ 9 10 11 12 13 14 15./ 16s nj 18 Race/ Sex WM WM UH WM WM WM BM WM WM WM WM WM WM WM WM WM WM WM Residence Galveston Galveston Harris Galveston Galveston Galveston Galveston Galveston Harr i s Galveston Galveston Galveston Galveston Galveston Harris Galveston Ga1veston Galveston Place of Birth Texas Missouri Texas Texas Louisiana Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas New Mexico Norway Texas Texas Texas Louisiana Texas Texas Cause of Death Death Certificate Redical Records Carcinoma of Brain Malignant Brain Tumor Brain Tumor Brain Tumor-Meningioma G1 ioblastoma Brain Tumor-Glial IVt G1 ioblastoma G1 iob1astoma Astrocytoma Malignant Glioma Glioblastoma G1 ioblastoma 81 ioblastoma Glioblastoma G1 ioblastoma Brain Tumor Malignant Glioma Brain Tumor G1ioblastoma (MR)* Meningioma (A) Glioblastoma (A) Meningioma (MR) G1ioblastoma (SP} No Records Available Glioblastoma (MR) G1ioblastoma (SP) Astrocytoma-Grade I (SP) Glioblastoma (MR) Glioblastoma (A) Glioblastoma (SP) Astrocytoma-Grade IVt(MR) Glioblastoma (A) No Records Available Glioblastoma (A) 61ioblastoma (SP) Glioblastoma (A) Source: MR-Medical Records; A-Autopsy; SP-Surgical Pathology. tAstrocytoma Grade IV and Glial IV are equivalent terms for Glioblastoma multiforme. EPL 01322 Table IV. BRAIN AND OTHER CNS CANCER MORTALITY, 1950-1969: AVERAGE ANNUAL AGE ADJUSTED RATES PER 100,000 Location White Male White Female Black Male Uni ted States 4.4 2.9 2.3 Texas 4.3 2.9 1.9 Galveston County 4.5 2.9 2.5 Harris County 4.5 3.6 2.0 Brazoria County 3.1 3.9 1.2* B1 ack _Fi 1.5 1.5 2.1 1.9 1.5 Based on one case. The range of U.S. rates for white males for states with >10 deaths from 1950-1969 was 3.1-5.4. The range of Texas rates for white males for counties with >10 deaths from 1950-1969 was 2.3-10.8. Source: U.S. Cancer Mortality by County, 1950-1969, National Cancer Institute, DHEW Pub. No. (NIH) 74-615, Bethesda, Maryland, 1974. 01323 BP!* Table V. EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN CARCINOGENS 2- Acetylarainof1uorene Acrylonitrile 1-Aryl-3,3-Dialkyltriazenes Azoethane* Azoxyethane* Azoxymethane Butylnitrosourea CycasIn 1,2-Diethyl hydrazine Diethylnitrosamine* Diethyl Sulfate* Dimethylbenzanthracene* Dimethyl Sulfate* Transplacental carcinogenesis. Elaiomycin Ethyl Methanesulphonate Ethylnitrosobiuret* EthyInitrosourea* 1-Methyl-2-Benzy1-Hydrazine* Methyl Methanesulphonate Methyl nitrosourea* Methylnitrosourethane (in trap 1acental) Procarbazine* Propane Sultone Propylene Imine Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids Vinyl Chloride Table VI. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES: CLUES TO HUMAN BRAIN CANCER ETIOLOGY Aluminum Workers Asbestos Insulation Workers Anti-Convu1sant Use Farm/Rural Residents Geographic Clustering Kentucky, Rhone Valley Halomethanes in Drinking Water Lead Smelter Workers Machinists Oil Refinery Workers Pattern Makers Petrochemical Workers Rubber Workers Toxoplasmosis Vinyl Chloride Workers EPL 01325 tudM* ros r Cancer Outbreak Found at 2 Texas Plants By Victor Cohn and Joanne Omang Wtihlntton Pott Sttff Wrtttrt A serious outbreak of brain cancer has been diacovered in two Texas pe trochemical plants, and federal offi cials fear they may find a high inci dence of brain cancer elsewhere in the huge industry that makes chemi cals from oil. Ill a probe that started in early 1979, 25 brain-tumor cases -- 24 of them fatal so far--have been discov ered among recent and past workers at a Dow Chemical plant in Free port, Tex. Eighteen other fatal cases .turned up at a Union Carbide plant In Texas City, Tex. Both plants are in the Houston-Galveston area, which is thickly dotted with plants that make or process pe trochemicals. But so far, federal Inves tigators have not been able to pin point a guilty chemical--or, more likely, a group of chemicals or a proc ess--though there are several under suspicion. The brain-cancer incidence among workers in the plants in the last 24 years is twice the normal level in the general population, Dr. Richard Waxweiler of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) said yesterday. All of the victims are men. Few women-work in the plants. Investigators from the two federal agencies involved--the Labor De partment's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Department of Health and Human Services' NIOSH--have not yet been able to look in detail at other plants, though they have started some inves tigations. They have reports, they said, of possible concentrations of similar brain cancers in plants at Beaumont and Port Arthur, Tex.; Charleston, W. Va.; Louisville, and San Francisco, as well as one in Canada. , "There's no reason to suspect all pe trochemical plants," Waxweiler said. But Dr. Victor Alexander of OSHA said there may be "five or six others" at least, and J. William Lloyd, OSHA epidemiologist, said, "There may be any number of chemical plants In volved." Spokesmen for Dow and Union Car bide noted that the results so far arc inconclusive. "We see no common thread that would suggest [thatj expo sure to any particular material or lo cation in the plant" is involved, said Janies Hansen for Dow. "There is nothing so far to connect the work place to the brain cancer.' Dnmon Engle, manager of Union Carbide's Texas City plant, agreed that the cancer incidence may be liiher than the national average hut See CANCER, A7, Col. 2 Study of 2 Petrochemical Plants Finds Twice the Normal Rate of Brain Cancer EPL 01326 CANCER, From A1 tion "is something we didn't know I has not yet been proved higher than about before," said Dr. Irving Selikoff Incidence in the area. "If It is, we're of Mount Sinai Medical Center in just as anxious as anybody to get to New York. the bottom of It," he said. When the study began in 1979, re searchers suspected that the cause of : the cancers might be vinyl chloride, which is associated with the glioblas toma multiforma type of cancer that is the predominant one being found. But some of the victims had no expo sure to vinyl chloride, the NIOSH re searchers said. Tony Mazzochl. of the Oil, Chemical v and Atomic Workers Union said pre liminary reports from other studies found hlgher-than-normal rates of' brain and stomach cancers among pe trochemical workers along the Texas . Gnif Coast, and as a result the union .. and the National Cancer Institute are studying the entire industry. Eventu ally 60,000 Workers will be checked, he Said. "There is a cancer epidemic among 1 American workers and certainly among, the workers we represnet," Mazzochi said. Petrochemicals involve more than 30,000 workers in Texas alone and . bring in about $3 billion annually, ac' cording to atate figures. The Houston He is editor of the American Jour nal of Industrial Medicine, which will soon publish the first scientific report on the outbreak, written by a group headed by Dr. Alexander of OSHA. "We just don't know how wide spread this problem is," said Sheldon Samuels, AFL-CIO director of occupa tional health and safety. There has been no industrywide study of it, just as "there is no systematic epidemiol ogy yet of the American work force," he said. But he said the fact that Dr. Eulah Bingham, OSHA director, "put to gether OSHA'a first medical and sci entific team" meant OSHA had a Skilled team to go to the Union Car bide plant early last year and begin to study the brain tumors. Alexander headed that first investi gation, which was triggered by a com plaint ili late 1978 from a brain cancer victim at Union Carbide. Ironically, that victim's cancer had spread from another part of his body. So he is not officially considered one of the victims. ' Chamber of Commerce reported last But It's important for workers to t year that six of every 10 pounds or speak up, Waxweiler said. "If we hadn't gallons of u.S. petrochemical produc heard from that worker," he said, tion come from the Texas Gulf Coast. "we wouldn't have known about Un- Dow's Freeport plant, which covers 4- - ion Carbide. We wouldn't have known 500 acres and employs 7,000 peraons, about Dow or kny of ft." : is the biggest one there. Working with Texas doctors and OSHA and NIOSH officials are health officials and with Union Car planning a joint conference on the bide--a company that has been problem, possibly in October, involv "highly and unusually cooperative," ing government industry and the sci- Alexander said--Alexander found 18 entific and medical worlds. The situa tumors among 9,000 people who had worked at the Texas City plant since 1956, when the first victim died. He then investigated "a second plant"--which he would not name-- and found five brain tumor deaths. But two of these people had also worked at Union Carbide. Statisticians at the famed M.D. An derson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston then combed their compu terized Texas death records for lists of brain cancer victims and their work records. This led the investigators to the Dow plant, the site of 25 tumors among more than 30,000 workers since the early 1960s. Studies now are focus ing on company records to determine where the men worked and what chemicals they were exposed to in the vast complex, which makes 200 differ ent products, including antifreeze, chlorine, latex, ethylette, vinyl chlo ride and other industrial chemical building blocks. Workers at Union Carbide's plant had jobs "all over the place," Wax weiler said. One of the few common denominators was that 13 of the 18 victims had worked there more than 15 years. The Texas plant studies, and the studies of workers' backgrounds, are still not complete, federal investiga tors said. But "we strongly suspect," said Al exander, that the cause of the tumors may be not a single chemical but "a chemical process"--exposure to all or some of the many steps that lead to a single chemical product Or, he said it may be more than one process in volving the 300 or so chemicals com monly found in a modem petrochemi cal factory. id/lsJf. r^s-f y/-* Cancer Out' reak Found at 2 Texas Plants By Victor Cohn and Joanne Omang Withinrten Pott BUM Wrltirt A serioua outbreak of brain cancer has been discovered in two Texas pe trochemical plants, and federal offi cials fear they may find a high inci dence of brain cancer elsewhere in the huge industry that makes chemi cals from oil. lit a probe that started in early 1979, 25 brain-tumor cases -- 24 of them fatal so far--have been discovered among recent and past workers at a Dow Chemical plant in Free port, Tex. Eighteen other fatal cases .turned up at a Union Carbide plant in Texas City, Tex. Both plants are in the Houston-Galveston area, which is thickly dotted with plants that make or process pe trochemicals. But so far, federal inves tigators have not been able to pin point a guilty chemical--or, more likely, a group of chemicals or a proc ess--though there are several under suspicion. The brain-cancer incidence among workers in the plants in the last 24 years is twice the normal level in the general population. Dr. Richard Waxweiler of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) said yesterday. v. All of the victims are men. Few women work in the plants. Investigators from the two federal agencies involved--the Labor De partment's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Department of Health and Human Services' NIOSH--have not yet been able to look in detail at other plants, though they have started some inves tigations. They have reports, they said, of pos sible concentrations of similar brain cancers in plants at Beaumont and Port Arthur, Tex.; Charleston, W, Va.; Louisville, and San Francisco, as well as one in Canada. , "There's no reason to suspect all pe trochemical plants,'' Waxweiler said. But Dr. Victor Alexander of OSHA said there may be "five or six Others" at least, and J. William Lloyd, OSHA epidemiologist, said, "There may be any number of chemical plants in volved." , Spokesmen for Dow and Union Car bide noted that the results so far are inconclusive. "We see no common thread that would suggest [that] expo sure to any particular material or lo. cation in the plant" is involved, said James Hansen for Dow. "There is nothing so far to connect the work place to the brain canoe*'." Damon Engle, manager of Union Carbide's Texas City plant, agreed that the cancer incidence may be ,' niiiher than the national average but See CANCER, A7, Col. 2 Study of 2 Petrochemical Plants Finds EPL 01327 Twice the Normal Rate of Brain Cancer CANCER, From A1 tion "is something we didn't know has not yet been proved higher than about before," said Dr. Irving Selikoff incidence in the area. "If it is, we're of Mount Sinai Medical Center In . just as anxious as anybody to get to New York. the bottom of it,'' he said. When the study began in 1979, re searchers suspected that the cause of : the cancers might be vinyl chloride; which is associated with the glioblas, toma multiforma type of cancer that is the predominant one being found. But some of the victims had no expo sure tb vinyl chloride, the NIOSH re searchers said. Tony Mazzochlof the Oil, Chemical ,, end Atomic Workers Union said pre liminary reports from other studies found higher-than-normal rates of brain and stomach cancers smong pe trochemical workers along the Texas ; Gnlf Coast, and as a result the union . and the National Cancer Institute are studying the entire industry. Eventu ally 60,000 Workers will be checked, he said. "There is a cancer epidemic among - American workers and certainly ... among, the workers we represnet," Mazzochi said. Petrochemicals involve more than 30,000 workers in Texas alone and . bring in about S3 billion annually, ac; cording to state figures. The Houston . He is editor of the American Jour nal of Industrial Medicine, which will soon publish the first scientific report On the outbreak, written by a group headed by Dr. Alexander of OSHA. "We just don't know how wide spread this problem is," said Sheldon Samuels, AFL-CIO director of occupa tional health and safety. There has been ho industrywide study of it, just as "there Is no systematic epidemiol ogy yet of the American work force," he said. But he said the fact that Dr. Eulah Bingham, OSHA director, "put to gether OSHA's first medical and sci entific team" meant OSHA had a skilled team to go to the Union Car bide plant early last year and begin to study the brain tumors. Alexander headed that first Investi gation, which was triggered by a com plaint hi late 1976 from a brain cancer victim at Union Carbide. Ironically, that victim's cancer had spread from another part of his body. So he is not officially considered one of the victims. ; Chamber of Commerce reported last But it's important for workers to i year that six of every 10 pounds or speak up, Waxweiler said. "If we hadn't gallons of U.S. petrochemical produc heard from that worker," he said, tion come from the Texas Gulf Coast "we wouldn't have known about Un , Dow's Freeport plant, which covers 4- ion Carbide. We wouldn't have known 500 acres and employs 7,000 persons,. about Dow or any of it." | is the biggest one there. Working with Texas doctors and OSHA and1 NIOSH officials are , health officials and with Union Car planning a joint conference on the bide--a company that has been problem, possibly in October, involv- "highly and unusually cooperative," ing. government industry and the sci- Alexander said--Alexander found 18 ' entitle and medical worlds. The situa tumors among 9,000 people who had worked at the Texas City plant since 1956, when the first victim died. He then Investigated "a second plant"--which he would not name-- and found five brain tumor deaths. But two of these people had also worked at Union Carbide. Statisticians at the famed M.D. An derson Hospital and Tumor Institute In Houston then combed their compu terized Texas death records for lists of brain cancer victims and their work records. This led the investigators to the Dow plant, the site of 25 tumors among more than 30,000 workers since the early 1960s. Studies now are focus ing on company records to determine where the men worked and what chemicals they were exposed to in the vast complex, which makes 200 differ ent products, including antifreeze, chlorine, latex, ethylene, vinyl chlo ride and other industiial chemical building blocks. Workers at Union Carbide's plant had jobs "all over the place," Wax weiler said. One of the few common denominators was that 13 of the 18 victims had worked there more than 15 years. The Texas plant studies, and the studies of workers' backgrounds, are still not complete, federal Investiga tors said. But "we strongly suspect," said Al exander, that the cause of the tumors may be not a single chemical but "a chemical process"--exposure to all or some of the many steps that lead to a single chemical product Or, he said it may be more than one process involvfng the 300 or so chemicals com monly found in a modern petrochemi cal factory. AW.FA r'oif Cancer Outbreak Found at 2 Texas Plants By Victor Cohn and Joanne Omang Wublnfftftn tMt BUff Wrtttt* A serious outbreak of brain cancer has been discovered in two Texas pe trochemical plants, and federal offi cials fear they may find a high inci dence of brain cancer elsewhere in the huge industry that makes chemi cals from oil. lA a probe that started in early 1079, 25 brain-tumor cases -- 24 of them fatal so far--have been discovered among recent and past workers at a Dow Chemical plant in Free port, Tex. Eighteen other fatal cases .turned up at a Union Carbide plant In Texas City, Tex. Both plants are in the Houston-Galveston area, which is thickly dotted with plants that make or process pe trochemicals. But so far, federal inves tigators have not been able to pin\pOlnt a guilty chemical--or, more likely, a group of chemicals or a proc ess--though there are several under Louisville, and San Francisco, as well suspicion. , as one in Canada. , The brain-cancer Incidence among workers in the plants in the last 24 years is twice the normal level in the general population. Dr. Richard Waxweller of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) said yesterday.. i All of the victims are men. Few women work in the plants. Investigators from the two federal agencies involved--the Labor De partment's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Department of Health and Human Services' NIOSH--have not yet been able to look in detail at other plants, though they have started some inves tigations. They have reports, they said, of pos sible concentrations of similar brain cancers in plants at Beaumont and "There's no reason to suspect all pe trochemical plants," Waxweiler said. But Dr. Victor Alexander of OSHA said there may be "five or six others" at least, and J. William Lloyd, OSHA epidemiologist, said, "There may be any number of chemical plants in volved." . Spokesmen for Dow and Union Car bide noted that the results so far are inconclusive. "We see no common thread that would suggest [that] expo sure to any particular material or lo cation in the plant" is involved, said James Hansen for Dow. "There is nothing so far to connect the work place to the brain cancei-." Damon Engle, manager of Union Carbide's Texas City plant, agreed that the cancer incidence may be /higher than the national average hut Port Arthur, Tex.; Charleston, W. Va-; See CANCER, A7, Col. 2 Study of 2 Petrochemical Plants Finds Twice the Normal Rate of Brain Cancer CANCER, From A1 tion "is something we didn't know worked at the Texas City plant since has not yet been proved higher than incidence in-the area. "If it is, we're just as anxious as anybody to get to the bottom of it," he said. When the Study began In 1979, re searchers suspected that the cause of ' the canters might be vinyl chloride; which is associated with the glloblas.1 toma multiforma type of cancer that is the predominant one being found. But some of the victims had no expo sure to vinyl chloride, the NIOSH re searchers said. Tony Mazzochlof the Oil, Chemical f, and Atomic Workers Union said pre liminary reports from other studies found higher-than-normal rates of brain and stomach cancers among pe trochemical workers along the Texas Gnlf Coast, and as a result the union and the National Cancer Institute are studying the entire industry. Eventu ally 60,000 Workers will be checked, he said. . about before," said Dr. Irving Selikoff of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He is editor of the American Jour nal of Industrial Medicine, which will soon publish the first scientific report on the outbreak, written by a group headed by Dr. Alexander of OSHA. "We just don't know how wide spread this problem is," said Sheldon Samuels, AFL-CIO director of occupa tional health and safety. There has been no industrywide study of it, just as "there is no systematic epidemiol ogy yet of the American work force," be said. But he said the fact that Dr. Eulah Bingham, OSHA director, "put to gether OSHA's first medical and sci entific team" meant OSHA had a skilled team to go to the Union Car bide plant early last year and begin to study the brain tumors. , . . \ 1956, when the first victim died. He then investigated "a second plant"--which he would not name-- and found five brain tumor deaths. But two of these people had also worked at Union Carbide. Statisticians at the famed M.D. An derson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston then combed their compu terized Texas death records for lists of brain cancer victims and their work records. This led the investigators to the Dow plant, the site of 25 tumors among more than 30,000 workers since the early 1960s. Studies now are focus ing on company records to determine where the men worked and what chemicals they were exposed to In the vast complex, which makes 200 differ ent products, including antifreeze, chlorine, latex, ethylene, vinyl chloride and other . industrial chemical building blocks. | i ' i ! "There is a cancer epidemic among 1 American workers and certainly among, the workers we represnet," , Mazzochi said. Alexander headed that first investi gation, which was triggered by a com plaint in late 1978 from 4 brain cancer victim at Union Carbide. Workers at Union Carbide's plant had jobs "all over the place," Waxwciler said. One of the few common denominators was that 13 of the 18 ' Petrochemicals involve more than Ironically, that victim's cancer had victims had worked there more than 30,000 workers in Texas alone and spread from another part of bis body. 15 years. - bring in about $3 billion annually, ac- So he is not officially considered one The Texas plant studies, and the ; cording to state figures. The Houston of the victims. studies of workers' backgrounds, are . Chamber of Commerce reported last But it's important for workers to still not complete, federal investiga i year that six of every 10 pounds or speak up, Waxweiler said. "If we hadn't tors said. gallons of U.S: petrochemical produc heard from that worker," he said, But "we strongly suspect," said Al tion come from the Texas Gulf Coast. "we wouldn't have known about Un- exander, that the cause of the tumors Dow's Freeport plant, which covera 4- . - ion Carbide. We wouldn't have known may be not a single chemical but "a 500 acres and employs 7,000 persons, about Dow or kny of it." , chemical process''--exposure to all or | is the biggest one there. Working with Texas doctors and , some of the many steps that lead to a OSHA and NIOSH officials are health officials and with Union Car single chemical product Or, he said planning a joint conference on the bide--a company that has been it may be more than one process in problem, possibly in October, involv "highly and unusually cooperative," , volving the 300 or so chemicals com ing, government industry and the sci- Alexander said--Alexander found 18 monly found in a modern petrochemi entific and medical worlds. The situa tumors among 9,000 people who had cal factory. 01328 ft w IdslSS? r cST y * ir/irio Cancer Out1 reak Found at 2 Texas Plants By Victor Cohn and Joanne Omang Wuhlnitts PMt S'.ift Wrtun A serious outbreak of brain cancer has been discovered in two Texas pe trochemical plants, and federal offi cials fear they may find a high inci dence of brain cancer elsewhere in the huge industry that, makes chemi cals from oil. . lit a probe that started in early 1679, 25 brain-tumor cases -- 24 of ' them fatal so far--have been discov ered among recent and past workers at a Dow Chemical plant in Free port. Tex. Eighteen other fatal cases turned up at a Union Carbide plant in Texas City, Tex. Both plants are in the Houston-Galveston area, which is thickly dotted with plants that make or process pe trochemicals. But so far, federal inves-' tigators have not been able to pin point a guilty chemical--or, more likely, a group of chemicals or a proc ess--though there are several under suspicion. The brain-cancer incidence among workers in the plants in the last 24 years is twice the normal level in the general population, Dr. Richard Waxweiler of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) said yesterday. X Ail of the victims are men. Few women work in the plants. Investigators from the two federal agencies involved--the Labor De partment's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Department of Health and Human Services' NIOSH--have not yet been able to look in detail at other plants, though they have Started some inves tigations. They have reports, they said, of pos sible concentrations of similar brain cancers In plants at Beaumont and Port Arthur, Tex.; Charleston, W. Va.; Louisville, and San Francisco, as well as one in Canada. ( "There's no reason to suspect all pe trochemical plants," Waxweiler said. But Dr. Victor Alexander of OSHA said there may be "five or six others" at least, and J. William Lloyd, OSHA epidemiologist, said, "There may be any number of chemical plants in- vblved," , Spokesmen for Dow and Union Car bide noted that the results so far are inconclusive. "We see no common thread that would suggest [that] expo sure to any particular material or lo cation in the plant" is involved, said James Hansen for Dow. "There is nothing so far to connect the work place to the brain cancer.' Damon Engle, manager of Union Carbide's Texas City plant, agreed that the cancer incidence may be I'nigher than the national average bnt See CANCER, A7, Col. 2 EPL 01329 Study of 2 Petrochemical Plants Finds i " v;- Twice the Normal Rate of Brain Cancer CANCER, From A1 tion "is something we didn't know . worked at the Texas City plant since - has not yet been proved higher than - about before," said Dr. Irving Sellkoff 1956, when the first victim died. incidence in the area. "If it is, we're of Mount Sinai Medical Center in He then investigated "a second . just as anxious as anybody to get to New York. the bottom of it," he said. When the study began In 1979, re He is editor of the American Jour nal of Industrial Medicine, which will searchers suspected that the cause of . soon publish the first scientific report the Cancers might be vinyl chloride; bn the outbreak, written by a group which is associated with the glioblas beaded by Dr. Alexander of OSHA. toma multiforma type of cancer that is the predonflnant one being found. But some of the victims had no expo sure 46 vinyl chloride, the NIOSH re searchers said. "We Just don't know how wide spread this problem- is," said Sheldon Samuels, AFL-CIO director of occupa tional health and safety. There has been no Industrywide study of it, just Tony Mazzochlof the Oil, Chemical as "there Is no systematic epidemiol f, and Atomic Workers Union said pre- ogy yet of the American work force," . llmlnary reports from other studies he said. found hlgher-than-normal rates of brain and stomach cancers among pe trochemical workers along the Texas * Gnlf Coast, and as a result the union and the National Cancer Institute are studying the entire Industry. Eventu ally 80,000 Workers will be checked, he Said. But he said the fact that Dr. Eulah Bingham, OSHA director, "put to gether OSHA's first medical and sci entific team" meant OSHA had a Skilled team to go to the Union Car bide plant early last year and begin to study the brain tumors. t , plant"--which he would not name-- and found five brain tumor deaths. But two of these people had also worked at Union Carbide. Statisticians at the famed M.D. An derson Hospital and Tumor Institute In Houston then combed their compu terized Texas death records for lists of brain cancer victims and their work records. This led the investigators to the Dow plant, the site of 25 tumors among more than 30,000 workers since the early 1960s. Studies now are focus ing on company records to determine where the men worked and what chemicals they were exposed to In the vast complex, which makes 200 differ ent products,' including antifreeze, i chlorine, latex, ethylene, vinyl chlo ride and other industrial chemical building blocks. 1 "There is a cancer epidemic among American workers and certainly among, the workers we represnet," . .Mazzochi said. Alexander headed (hat first invest]- ' gation, which was triggered by a com plaint in late 1978 from ft brain cancer victim at Union Carbide. Workers at Union Carbide's plant had jobs "all over the place," Wax weiler said. One of the few common denominators was that 13 of the 18 Petrochemicals involve more than Ironically, that victim's cancer had victims had worked there more than 30,000 workers in Texas alone and {spread from another part of his body. 15 years. bring in about $3.biillon annually, ac- So be is not officially considered one The Texas plant studies, and the carding to state figures. The Houston of the victims. studies of workers' backgrounds, are . .Chamber of Commerce reported last But it's important for workers to Still not complete, federal investiga i year that six of every 10 pounds or. speak up, Waxweiler said. "If we hadn't tors said. gallons of U.S: petrochemical produc- . heard from that worker," he said, But "we strongly suspect;" said AJ. ' iion come from the Texas Gulf Coast. - "we wouldn't have known about Un- exander, that the cause of the tumors . Dow's Freeport plant, which covers 4- ion Carbide. We wouldn't have known 1 may be not a single chemical but "a 500 acres and employs 7,000 persons, about Dow or iny of it" chemical process"--exposure to all or | is the biggest one there. Working with Texas doctors and some of the many steps that lead to a OSHA and' NIOSH officials are health officials and with Union Car single chemical product Or, he said planning a joint conference on the bide--a company that has been it may be more than one process in problem, possibly in October, involv* "highly and unusually cooperative," volving the 300 or so chemicals com ing.government industry and the sci- Alexander said--Alexander found 18 monly found in a modern petrochemi '' entitle and medical worlds. The situa tumors among 9,000 people who bad cal factory.