Document 71EnoMv27vr1DQQmjk80DxoOR

HM DDODD ^, ft - l^nfP '/iwri muGciarea ior nasties Worked Continued From Page I, Col. 8;m' ^ labor end manage- one of them rould tom I VC, FOR YOUR INFORMATION FOR YOUR PILE* FOR YOUR COMMENT* PLEA*E MAN OLE PLEAtE TAKE UR WITH ME FOR YOUR APPROVAL PLEASE REPLY WITH A COPY TO TMff OFFICE PLEASE PREPARE J MY SIGNATURE PLEASE RETURN DATE tionship between this cnemicai and the illnesses he was seeing in the workers. His suspicions have led the Government to de clare an "occupational-health' emergency and seek ways to protect workers. They have also spurred extensive studies by Continued on Page 66, Column 6 wiuoox a oisai mTM sue auxmlACturen (WG-AJ4EXI -- AAvu -------------- inei.. m CievoUnd this week. be the culprit, they cxplamo' edcral, industry end oiitcr scientists to define the cause of the problem and how extensive it may be. Vinyl chloride, a simple mole Accordingly, ihe institute, as well as Goodrich and the Manu facturing Chemists Association, has begun intensive studies of It is also possible that snr thing peculiar to the Louissd workers -- either now or . the past -- accounts for (hr cule of carbon, hydrogen and thousands of workers -- past susceptibility to this rat chlorine, is the foundation for and much of the modem plastics in and -ldosi-rv Lore* numbers of vinyl- present, dead and alive -- a variety of laboratory ini 1 determine the nature, tumor. Doctor's Prediction chloride molecules can be joined extent and cause of illness However, Dr. Creech, ft to form a polymer, a chemical among vinyl chloride workers. one, docs not think so. "I thin chain lace. resembling a beaded neck Production Forces Emergency Action Although these studies will take many months, snd in some when we look we'll find angir sarcoma of the- liver all ovr the world wherever vim chloride is used," he said in Some 6,500 workers in 51 cases years, to complete, at a telephone interview. He ba'r American plants and many more hearing today in Washington his prediction on a previoc thousands of European workers the institute will recommend experience. are involved in the production emergency corrective action to A decade ago, he said. I of vinyl Jiluride or polyvinyl the Occupational Safety end discovered that some of tL chloride, a white powdery Health Administration, which is Louisville workers had a peci chemical resembling sugar, considering new regulations to liar condition in their finge. i In addition, tens of thousands protect workers Of American workers partiei vinyl chloride, exposed to called acroosteloysis -- sin destruction of the bone at ri pate in the conversion of these The current Federal standard fingertips. Industrywide su: raw materials, vinyl chloride allows workers to breathe as veys disclosed that this was and polyvinyl chloride, into much as 500 parts of vinyl fairly common worldwide pre countless products, including chloride per million parts of lem, typically occurring in t1- paints, construction pipes, furn air. a level thet readily causes workers who cleaned the hup iture, upholstery, draperies, liver damage in animals, ac reector tanks where the cor well coverings, floor tiles, table cording to a study published version of vinyl chloride t cloths, toys, clothing, footwear, 13 years ago by a Dow Chemi polyvinyl chloride takes place. food packages, garden hoses, cal Company scientist. The Subsequent changes in clca- Phonograph records, dentures, Government did not act upon ing practices have virtual ottles and pharmaceutical this finding. Several com eliminated this problem, D products. In turn, hundreds ofpanies, however, including Creech said. millions of consuimers in every Groodrich, stiffened their plent The 51-year-old Kentuck'. industrialized society art e* standard to 50 parts per mil bora surgeon added that tf posed to these products. lion, one-tenth the permitted liver caneer probably showe Thus, when Goodrich officials level. up in Louisville first "becau; conveyed Dr. Creech's observe- However, one study thawed we are one of the oldest plant tions to the National Institute that at certain points of the --1940--and the workers hav for Occupttionel Safety end polyvinyl chloride operation been exposed longer to.iiny Health three weeks ago, the workers mty be temporarily ex chloride." He said recojmitic situation was regarded as "a posed to vinyl chloride levels of of the problem was aided b serious emergency to be im up to 1,500 parts per million. the fact that the same phys mediately end fully investi In Europe, where 75 per cent cian saw all the cases. gated," Dr. Marcus M. Key, di of the world's supply of vinyl 'But had the cancer been rector of the institute, told a chloride is produced, signs of more common one, such a liver disease have been found lung cancer. I probably wou! T in a large percentage of ex not have realized there wa f posed workers, according to any problem in the first place. foreign language reports dating Dr. Creech said. to the early nineteen sixties, Dr. Selikoff noted that tk tmpect of Italian Report "plastic era--now about 3. But it took a report in 1970 years old--is just coming e //m. r>'wrJ of an Italian laboratory experi age in terms of latent period ment to shake up the vinyl for the onset of disease amor chloride industry. Rats exposed exposed persons. He said h r*>. to very high levels of the chem interest in the problem extends. ical developed cancers of the beyond the workers to the gen skin and lungs. eral public, who may he ev This prompted the European posed to vinyl chloride tha industry to begin its own stud leaches out of finished prod ies. one of which has report ucts. edly resulted in angiosarcoma "The workers are the *ca of the liver in rats exposed to niries'," he remarked. "The low levels of vinyl chloride -- give us hints of ivhat we miph lower than the United States find in the population at large. standard of 500 parts per mil Accordingly, Dr Edward Fc- lion. rand of the New York C,t;. Prof. Centre Msltoni of the Environmental Protection, At' University of Bologna, who did ministration has begun to ar.:- W. A. X the experiment, is expected to lyze hundreds of consumer prod describe his results to the hear ucts for vinyl and polyviny ing in Washington today. chloride. FEB 1 9 1974 "With this finding, we have We don't know if these find come full cycle," Dr. Irving J. ings will have any relevance t- Selikoff remarked at the Cleve the public," Dr, Fcrrand com land meeting. "We have can monted, "but we don't want tc cer fn the vinyl chloride be caught without mformatior workers and apparently the if something (urns up " - identical tumor has been repro It is this sort of prophvlacti: duced in animals exposed to approach that Dr, Selikoi' the chemical," said Dr. Seli would like the institute tkoff. who is director of environ, adopt. "The NIOSII WLr mental medicine at Mount and staff are nu -is l.n^e aSinai School of Medicine here. they should be," > told th=_ Nonetheless, Dr. Selikoff and iCievcIan.l m- institute scientists said thcyitute has lien were -keeping an open mindjing and dome about the cause of the problem'.shouldn't nnlv II. hu: if r: Some 50 or 60 different chemi- fighting. It -tv VI I cals besides vinyl chloride are aniicip.iie in-- nl .' used in these plants, and any oif benuv i!u s ASI 000012049 I , ii | ---* t - - -- -- --" {hi i/TUyidd '"'I bsut 50 him with a public forum, vi'- ar.il dire My in front! Mr. U u-ki conrcdcd'uL'/ j-' U.; >' i letter th-it it was pernikif ' i.i, t ij c,i Lct/n t> return indictments In thi K t With C nri-.y 1 i*wy:r. r. t ofvircor* , h.; Cue! r.rt it r.^2.J 1- i;,* t.-s.r.ony was held or. mein Watergate case without the I r.'.n nf the tGspital center obtaining further information. :.i <'uivnt..v.i Miami. Mr. Nitron Tills tats Involves the June 17, j ;gr:i*-J ts participate In order 1372, bresk-ln at the Demo-/ *o t-r mate his proposal for na cratle national hsadquartsrs at tional health Jvurcsce and to the Watergate complex and the iTtlcrrcctc hit approval of the subsequent White House eoverr.:cJ;rd in which tha J75-mil- up. iou, autc.::at:d facility is being However, he emphasized, h:i!?t--without Federal grants "The materiel is important to i'r. ' .`"'ly in h at with Federal loan guaran a complete and thorough inves n w.hnt Mr, tons. tigation and may contain evi- 1 his Wife Ln There was a heavy security Continued on Page 12, Column 4 f. t?rdiy and detail. and the 2,500 invited rentunyi--h iieets were cordoned off on 3' re whether the hospital property. Several Liver Cancer Alert fnfsion order, hundred others, who formed the n kiow where bulk of the anti-Nixon demon Declared to Protect these stration, gathered on 14th he looked! Street before the Dade County Plastics Workers tw of the So* Public Safety Department build ( was landing ing facing the hospital. airport sigx The demonstrators, who re By JANE E, BRODY iTtu.'* i ceived the permission of the As physician ' for th BJ. id belonging; police to picket, wen an as Goodrich chemical plant in from him fn sortment of dissidents--senior! Louisville, Ky., Dr. John L. fr 2, Cohrnm 1 ]Continued cm Pag 13, Column 1 Creech' Jr, examines all em IT 4i,, S3JS1 .. SJT ',! ployes returning to work after !an illness. He was struck re Kidnapping View cently by the Urge number of serious liver ailments among the weriten, compared with ta-d h-djze. Miss "In the fust place," he said, patients he saw In hi* private "we don't know where she is. surgical practice. " pre'Idenf and In the second place, a state Dr. Creech searched his mem ^s Francisco ment like that is an antagonis ory and worker records and ^Bndcrstood tic one that I don't think has discovered that in the Ust five well-being; any place in the negotiations years four employes had died ltl:e minds of we're Vying to conduct out of angiosarcoma of the liver, es--including) hers. * an extremely rare cancer. All Si of InvcsU-| "And to make a statement |the affected workers, he found, been worsting that you're going to bust in were directly involved In tha r gat back bis and shoot-the place up from Production of polyvinyl chlo Tj abducted Washington I believe Is damn ride from vinyl chloride, a apartment in near irresponsible," Mr. Hearatl gaseous organic ' chemical ot think Mr. ilion to have told a news conference on the known to damage the liver at laws of bis home hare. high concentrations. A tape recording containing! The doctor respected a rela preliminary ransom demands tionship between this chemical CEX was received by the Heants and tha illnesses he was seeing and Was broadcast Tuesday. In [in tha worker*. His suspicions IS-Sl it,. Mist Hearst. a 19-year-old have led the Government to de ...i.-tu-a Wl u p ......u student at the University California, in a message to of her clare an "occupational-health" emergency and seek ways ta Hi * father said, "It's really up to protect workers. They hive also' .-..1.J| you to. make sure., that these spurred extensive studies by Wr.trtlw ,., H J .'*......IT a rneM,nii.: I Continued on Page 68, Column 4 Continued on Page 68, Column 6 ....... to, *#* JI * iV ? ' yj Ch/i tr/ f/* i \ ASX 000012050 1 :, f nn: jpies. Friday, February t>T't974 unary to Mid-March Alert IsDeclared forPlastics Workers continued From Page 1, CoL g meeting of labor and manage one of them could turn cut to ment in Cleveland this week. be the culprit, tk:y espiainsJ.- ederal, industry and other scientists to define the cause of the problem and how extensive Accordingly, the institute, as well u Goodrich and the Manu It is also posable that some thing peculiar to the Louisvilty it may be. Vinyl chloride, a simple facturing Chemists Association, mole has begun intensive studies of workers the past -- -- either now or in account! for their, cule of carbon, hydrogen and thousands of workers -- past susceptibility to this . .raj*, chlorine, i* the foundation for and present, dead and alive --much of the modem plastics in' end a variety of laboratory ani dustiy. Large numbers of vinyl mals to determine the nature, tumor. Doctor's Prediction At .. chloride molecules can be joined extent and cause of illness However, Dr. Creech, foe, to form a polymer, a chemical among vinyl chloride workers. one, does not think so. "I think ' chain lace; resembling a beaded Production Forces neck Emergency Action , Although these studies will take many months, and in some when we look we'll find tngio-; sarcoma of the liver all'over the world wherever Vinyl* chloride is used," he said, in a' Soma 6,500 worker* In 51 cases years, to complete, at a telephone interview. He based* American plants and minymore hearing today In Washington his prediction on a previous, thousands of European workers the institute will recommend experience. . Tlx * tvt TlmM/H*. , 1*74 pplled by the National Weather Service, show ( from normal temperatures and from normal are involved in the production of vinyl chloride or polyvinyl chloride, a white powdery chemical resembling sugar. In addition, tens of thousands emergency corrective action to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is considering new regulations to protect workers exposed to A decade ago, he stift ho. discovered that some of. thpLouisville workers had e pecu liar condition in their fingers, called acroosteloysls --, slow of American workers partlci vinyl chloride. destruction of the bone at the pate in the conversion of these The current Federal etanderd fingertips. Industrywide JfttC- raw materials, vinyl chloride illows workers to breathe as veys disclosed that this was a. this period for five key cities are as follows: and polyvinyl chloride, into much as 500 parts of vinyl fairly common worldwide prob r, 33.7; San Francisco, 52.4; Anchorage, ftlJ. countless products, including chloride per million parts of lem. typically occurring intne paints, construction pipes, furn air, a level that readily causes workers who cleaned the,,fuigb iture, upholstery, draperies, liver damage in animals, ac reactor tanks wnere the con Ip fact help prison some grant applications and re wail coverings, floor tiles, table cording to a study published version of vinyl chloride^#.- long prison terms, ports on other projects specifi cloths, toys, clothing, footwear, 13 yeera ago by a Dow Chemi polyvinyl chloride takes plare^ says it cannot prote of either the ey it has spent of projects it cally identified by The Times for L.E.A.A., It was possible to pinpoint at least about $15mlllion spent on projects in food packages, garden hoses, phonograph records, dentures, bottles and pharmaceutical products. In tun, hundreds of millions of csnsulmers in every cal Company scientist.' The Government did not act upon this finding. Several com panies, however, including Groodrich, stiffened their plant Subseaquent changes in tkUnfrt ing practices hive virtually eliminated this problem, DC Creech said. The 51-year-old Kentucky-; on behavior modvtofll-ving behavior modification. industrialized society art standard to 50 parte per mil born surgeon added that the'* Asked how the agency would posed to thesq products. lion, one-tenth the permitted llvtr caneer probably showed-*, t for' such info ma- halt currently operating proj Thus, when Goodrich officials level. up5 in Louisville first "becauar . e Times two melts ects covered by the ban when conveyed Dr. Creech'e observa However, one study ahowed we are one of the oldest planted* swered by the r gen- it did not know what those tions to the National Institute that at certain points of the --1940--and the workers 3iavp>. ty with a cotnj uter ects were, a spokesman for Occupational Safety and polyvinyl .chloride operation been exposed longer to "Vinyl!1 dsome 400 projects "might" somehow t to behavior re- that "some of the details Health twee weeks ago, the workers may be temporarily ex chloride." He said recosflitiop-* have to be Worked" but thsaitut ation wl regarded aa "a posed to vinyl chloride levels of of the problem was aided br.there would be a "caresfeurlious emergency to be tat up to 1,500 parts per million. the fact that the same physf.J screening" by agency hemadediately and fully investig- In Europe, where 75 per cent clan saw all the cases. rediminary review quarters here ana by its re gated," Dr. Marcus M. Key, di of the world's supply of vinyl "But had the cancer been sut, aa w*U as of gional offices. r.rector of the- institute, told a chloride is produiced, signs of more common one. such " >r disease have been found lung cancer, I probably would!; a large percentage of ex- not have realized there wab>*. ed workers,. according to any problem in the first place,?;; ier Reports and Forecast foreign language reports dating Dr. Creech said. ? to the early nineteen sixties. Dr. Seiikoff noted that thV! Impact of Italian Report "plastic era--now aboui 35.., But it took a report u 1970 years old--4s just coming or; of an Italian laboratory experi age fa) terms of latent period?: ment to riteke up the vinyl for the onset of disease arapnt; Ttvwed oeraons. He said his; A$I 000012051 >7 Gfrf ) to Liver Cancer Case Found by Doctors In 2d Plastic Plant By JANE E. BRODY Another case of a rare liver cancer has been found among vinyl chloride workers, this pne at a Union Carbide plant in South Charleston, W. Va. Previously, six cases of the fatal disease, called angiosar coma of the liver, were found among vinyl chloride workers at the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company in Louisville, Ky. The discovery of the disease, which has been described as "a new occupational cancer" by Government scientists, has spurred an industrywide search for liver and other ailments among workers exposed to vinyl chloride, a chemical that forms the basis for much of the mod ern plastics industry, The latest case turned up in a search of employe death rec ords by Union Carbide, accord ing to Dr, Carl Deraehl, the company's associate medical di rector. The victim, whose pri mary cause of death was listed as heart attack with angiosar coma of the liver as a contri buting cause, was 45 years old when he died in 1968. He had worked at converting vinyl chlo ride to its polymer, polyvinyl chloride, for 18 years at the nation's oldest polyvinyl chlo ride plant. Scientists from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have begun a systematic search of death and health records. In a related action, ftalph Nader's Health Research Group yesterday petitioned the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Com mission and the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of vinyl chloride in aerosol consumer products, including cosmetics, hair sprays, house hold sprays and pesticides. /V)/ j Situ if ASI 000012052