Document 8VDmmELRMZMKk3VzqVoamL7m5

fc t MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS ASSOCIATION 1825 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, N.W. WASHINGTON, D. C. 20009 (202) 483-6128 August 26, 1974 To: Technical Task Group on Vinyl Chloride Research Vinyl Chloride Research/Inhalation Management Group Subject: Senate Hearings on Vinyl Chloride Gentlemen: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Subcommittee on the Environment, conducted overview hearings on vinyl chloride, Wednesday, August 21, chaired by Senator John Tunney. Dr. T. R. Torkelson presented the attached statement for MCA describ ing research programs that MCA has been involved in. Other participants are listed on the enclosed witness list. Two developments are noteworthy. One is the announce ment by EPA that it proposes to control vinyl chloride as a hazardous air contaminant under section 112 of the Clean Air Act, as further noted in the following comment from Leonard Eiserer's column in the August issue of the Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association: "EPA'S INTEREST IN VC as a hazardous air pollutant has been heightened by reports trickling in that VC coming from industrial plants may be harmful to health of downwind neighbors. New data from Connecti cut show two cases of people who lived in vicinity of VC plants and who died from liver cancer. Also reported were two deaths of workers who had only mar ginal exposure to VC. One man worked as an account ant in a plant that produces PVC resins, the other in an electrical products manufacturing plant. Ralph Nader's Center for Science in the Public Interest, in petitioning EPA to declare VC a hazardous air pol lutant, as expected, told EPA that "economic factors have no place in determining health standards for exposure to hazardous pollutants."" RSV 0000965 2- - The second was the stress Senator Tunney put on the allegations that MCA and the industry improperly withheld toxicity data on VC from the agencies* and the failure of the press to give further publicity to this controversy. The review article appearing in the attached reprint from the UK New Scientist, is in many respects* a fairer presentation of the facts that has been given by some in this country. Sincerely* KDJ/mb Enclosures Kenneth D. Johnson, Ph.D. Secretary Technical Task Group on Vinyl Chloride Research RSV 0000966