Document 99qa4gDkjk52wXZMm0eORopM6

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT Uni n Carbide Corporation 270 Park Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10017 MEMORANDUM /TO: Dr. S. G, Austin^ Mr. N. E. Bolton Mr. J. B. Browning Mr. M. G. Dial Jr. Mr. Damon Engle Mr. A. S. Hart Mr. R. J. Hughes Mr. M. C. Lewis' Dr. T. A. Lincoln Mr. A. C. MacLeod Dr. R. E. Pyle Mr. E. E. Tarika Mr. H. F. Tomfohrde III Dr. H. M. D. Utidjlan Mr. A. G. Voress Mr. R. W. Wesson CC: Mr. L. A. Agnello Ms. A. D. Haughton Mr. G. D. Holt Ms. K. A. Richards July 25, 1980 % In case you did not see them, attached are articles In the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and New York Times on the epidemiology study at Texas City. RL:vp Attachments ucc 054091 THE WASHINGTON POST July 24, 1980 Cancer Outbreak Found in 2 Chemical Plants ' Page 1 By Victor Cohn and Joanne Omang Wistlneton po*t fluff Writer* 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-1 the huge industry that makes chemi cals from oil. In 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 9 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 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. 1 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 cancer." Damon Engle, manager of Union ; Carbide's Texas City plant, agreed that the cancer incidence may be 1 higher than the national average but | 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 cancers might be vinyl chloride, which is associated with the glioblas-| toma multiforma type of cancer being ! found. But some of the victims had no i exposure to vinyl chloride; the NIOSH researchers said. Tony Mazzocbl of the Oil, Chemical 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 Gulf 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 represent** Mazzochl said. - Petrochemicals involve more than 30,000 workers in Texas alone and bring in about $3 billion annually ac cording to state figures. The Houston Chamber of Commerce reported last year that six of every 10 pounds or gallons of U.S. petrochemical produc tion come from the Texas Gulf Coast. Dow's Freeport plant which covers 4500 acres and employs 7000 persons is the biggest one there. OSHA. and NIOSH officials are planning a joint conference on the problem possibly in October involv ing government industry and the sci entific and mediml worlds. The situa tion "is something we didn't know 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 haa 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'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 in late 1978 from a brain cancer victim at Union Carbide. Ironically, that victim's cancer bad spread from another part of his body. So he is not officially considered one of the victims. Bnt it's important for workers to speak up. Waxweiler said. "If we hadn't heard from that worker," he said, "we wouldn't have known about Un ion Carbide. We wouldn't have known about Dow or any of it." Working with Texas doctors and health officials and with Union Car bide--a company that has been "highly and unusually cooperative," Alexander said--Alexander found 18 tumors among 9,000 people who had worked at the Texas City plant since 1958, 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. Andenon 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- ; eat products, including antifreeze, S chlorine, latex, ethylene, vinyl chlo- j ride and other industiial chemical j building blocks. ucc 054092 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL July 25, 1980 High Incidence of Brain Tumors Found I In Texas Plants of Carbide, Dow Chemical i By a Wau. Stwkkt Joikkai. Sta ff Reporter review led to the discovery of 35 brain-can-! WASHINGTON - Federal investigators cer victims among the 40,000 Dow Chemical have discovered an unusually high incidence employes since 1942. of brain tumors among petrochemical work OSHA and NIOSH officials are planning to ( ers employed by Dow Chemical Co. and hold a symposium with industry officials on Union Carbide Co. in Texas. the brain-cancer problem. Mr. Waxweiler Forty-three cases of brain cancer, all but said, but a date hasn't been set. Meanwhile, one of which have been fatal, have shown up he continued, "it would be wise for the among present and past employes at Dow tpetro-chemical companies) to look at their Chemical's Freeport facility and Union Car own death-record files for brain cancer." bide's Texas City plant.-The findings are In New York, a spokeswoman for Union likely to lead to an Intensified government- Carbide called the latest findings "an in industry search for the cause. terim report" and noted that the study is ex - "We have an indication of a twofold in pected to take another year or two to com creased risk of dying of brain cancer if you plete. She said the company is cooperating worked at Dow Chemical," said Gordon fully with government investigators. "Cur Reeve, an epidemiologist for the National rently, we have no reason to believe there is Institute of Occupational Safety and Health any correlation between these tumors and in Cincinnati. At Union Carbide's plant, he any occupational exposures." she said. said, "the increased risk varied from none In Midland. Mich:, a spokesman for Dow to up to three times" the normal level in the said it is "inappropriate at this time to draw population, and depended on how long a any conclusions" because the series of stud worker was employed there. ies isn't completed. He said the studies so Scientists from NIOSH and the Labor De far haven't shown anything conclusively partment's Occupational Salety. and Health connecting brain cancer to the workplace or Administration have been studying the two chemicals. Texas plants for more than a year. But so The spokesman said, "At Dow's Texas far. the investigators don't have any leads division, we are talking - about approxi as to what chemical or chemicals might mately 24 deaths, out of more than 40,000 have caused the cancer, said Richard Wax- employes, over a 40-year period of observa weiler, another investigator. However, he tion. The last death from brain cancer in added, 13 of the 18 Union Carbide victims volving a Dow employe, or former employe, had worked at the plant for more than 13 occurred in 1977. Those are not epidemic years. ' proportions. " Where the Victims Worked Dow said it has been cooperating with To try to pinpoint the cause of the tu OSHA and NIOSH in the investigation and mors, federal and industry scientists are plans to meet with scientists from those studying where the victims, all male, agencies In Texas on Monday. worked in each plant. The NIOSH officials said they may have some firmer hypotheses Looking at Other Groups later this year. A recent National Cancer Institute study The investigation grew out of a complaint of workers at three Texas oil refineries also in late 1978 to OSHA by a Union Carbide em found higher-than-normal rates of cancer of ploye with brain cancer. The subsequent the brain, stomach, liver, pancreas, lung comparison of local hospital records for and skin. Brain tumors had the bigbest inci brain tumors with Union Carbide personnel dence. Consequently, the institute "is look files turned up 18 cases among the 9,000 in ing at a number of other groups" of chemi dividuals who had worked at the plant since cal, petrochemical and pharmaceutical in opened in 1941, Mr. Waxweiler said. This workers, said Linda Rudolph, a health con sultant for the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union, wlilch sought the original study. Since last August. NIOSH and Union Car bide have been studying 40.000 former and current workers at three Carbide facilities around South Charleston. W.Va., to deter mine the effects of chemical exposure on their health. A limited study had showed "an unusual distribution" of certain types of cancer among 819 deceased employes, in cluding nine cancers of the central nervous system. "From what we know now, we don't see any similarity" between the West Vir ginia and the Texas situations, said Mr. Waxweiler of NIOSH. Both NIOSH and the National Cancer In stitute are part of the Department of Health , and Human Services. ucc 054093 THE NEW YORK TIMES July 25, 1980 Brain Cancer Discovered in Petrochemical Workers SpaCUl u Tkt N>* Yk IttM Administration said that a lack of avail causing agents, according to officials of WASHINGTON. July 23-- A "high'* to- able funds had delayed investigations ficials of the occupational safety agency. cidence of brain cancer among the na into the magnitude of the incidence of A spokesman at the Department of tion's petrochemical workers has led to cancer in plants at Beaumont and Port Health and Human Services' National In suspicion here that chemicals may lie at Arthur, Tex; Louisville; Charleston, stitute of Occupational Safety and Health the root of the problem, according to Fed w. Va., and San Francisco. said that vinyl chorlde was originally sus eral work-safety officials. "With varying levels of proof, we be pected of bring the brain-cancer causing Investigators for the Department of lieve each of them represents an exces agent. But the spokesman said that fur Health and Human Services and the De sively high" incidence of the disease, said ther research turned up cases of the can partment of Labor have confirmed an "excessively high" incidence of brain Dr. Victor Alexander, a medical officer cer in workers not exposed to the chemi- with the Labor Department agency. csl* cancer in at least seven petrochemical plants in Texas, West Virginia, Kentucky "We don't have much information Vinyl chloride was found to be the about chemicals causing brain cancer. cause of liver cancer among petrochemi and California. Dr. Alexander added. cal workers in industry studies published They said that they had discovered 25 i brain-tumor cases, 24 of which were "These chemical plants may have 50 to 100 chemicals that they use more than a in 1974 and 1976. ; fatal, among workers at a Dow Chemical plant in Freeport, Tex. Eighteen fatal- j lties have been discovered at a Union ; Carbide plant in Texas City, Tex., the au thorities said. 1 The incidence of brain cancer among million pounds of during the year," he said. "It's important to recognize the magnitude that a small number of work ers can handle." He said that "at least a dozen" known cancer-causing chemicals were found In most petrochemical plants. the workers in the two Texas plants is The investigation began in 1979, after a twice that of the general population. victim of brain cancer at Union Carbide Spokesmen tor the two agencies cau filed a complaint with the Labor Depart tioned that the results were still tentative and that no firm scientific conclusions ment. Of the cases under investigation, all the should yet be drawn. reported victims ore men. Women work A spokesman at the Department of ers are in a minority in the Industry and Labor's Occupational Safety and Health ! may be less susceptible to brain-cancer UCC 054094 UNION CARBIDE INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION 270 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10017 To (Nome) Division Location Floor Number Copy to /S. G. Austin J. B. Browning T. A. Lincoln A. C. MacLeod R. R. Rankin J. W. Whittlesey A. Haughton Dai* July 2, 1980 Originating Dept* Ftoor Number Answering letter date Subject *% The attached story appeared in the Washington Post this morning. I believe we got a fair treatment overall and one bouquet. We are watching this area very closely, especially in view of the implications on the law suits filed by Texas City people. AGV:j sg A. G. Voress 0 ucc 054095 huddm had gr bar to be cs arose with tm number belong] eiti Section of --the only dipt o! the Khomcls ton since fomu between the U; were severed I. One Algerian yesterday that u an employe did not epic Another entbo. dined to be Mi lin Interests Hi Unt and only l< the ml of the See ATtHC Six hilled, . Harris Survey; Cancer Outbreak Found at 2 Texas Plants By Victor Cohn and Joanna Ooisog ess--though there art several under Louisville. andSan Francisco, ta well Reagan, 61-33 Waoiaeiaa tM txxtt Wthata suspicion. as one In Canada. Arne*i I Ronald ttaactn bee oat of the largest lead* recorded by the Harris Survey at the start of a campaign--61 percent to 13 percent over President Car' ter among likely voters nation wide, occorning to result! broadcast last night fleagoo's uda*. in the survey (alcrit Just alter last week's Rapublican National Convention, is ool as great as Cartel's W-to-17 lead aver then presi dent ford at the same point In the 1876 campaign. The latest poU asked a choice only between `.teasoa and Car ter, without mention ol Hep. John B. Androod. DrUiili ox Pope A9 A atrlous outbreak of brain cancer baa been discovered tn two Texas pe trochemical plants, and federal olftdats fear they may find a high Inci dence of breln earner elsewhere In the bugs Industry that tnalut chemi cals from oil. fn a probe that started ta early 1819, 36 brain-tumor casts -- M of them fatal so far--hire been discov ered among recent and past workers at a Dow Chemical plant tn Freeport. Tex. Eighteen other fatal cases turned up at a Union Carbide plant In Texas City, Tex. Both plants art In the Houston-fialveston area, which Is thickly dotted with ptonls that make or process pe trochemicals- But so fer, federal litres. tlgutori have not been able to pin point s guilty chemical--or, more The braiiHtancor Incidence among workere In the plants tn the last 38 years fa twice the normal level In the general population. Dr, Richard Waxwefler of Urn National Institute of Occupatlooal Safety end Health (KIOSK; said yesterday. All of the victims ire men. Few women work la the plants. Investigators from the two federal agencies Involved,--the Labor De partment's Occupational Solely and Health Administration IOSHAI and the Department or Health ami Htintnn Services' ,MOSH--have not yet been able to took In detail at other plants, though they hive started some Inves tigations. Thcv have report*, they said, of pos sible concentration* of similar brsm cancers in plants at Beaumont and There'a no reason to suspect all pe trochemical planti." Wsmaller said. But Dr. Victor Alaxaodor of OSltA said there may be "five or six others" at least, and J. William Lloyd. OS1IA epidemiologist, sold. Than may be any number of chemical plants in volved." Spokesman for Dow and Union Car bide noted that the results to for are Inconclusive. "W* mo no common thread that would suggest (that) expo sure to any particular materiel or lo cation tn the ptanr is Involved, said James Hansen for Dow. "There Is nothing vo tar to connect the work place to the brain cancer." Dsmon Engle, . manager of Union Carbide's Texas City plant, agreed that the cancer Incidence may to hrgtier than the national average but By h W iiiUm Iranian n hosUgss ta mock exscut herding a gf bmy court; gain it s wa sounds with Ing to relish The eplsw said to hav high-level S riels recent!' Ihe y-yeir-o who was fr .artier this likely, a group of chemicals or a proc Port Arthur, Tex.; Charleston, W. Vs.; -See CANCER. AT, Col. t UCC 054096 i j, V**-- * 0> ,> JJ o ervoirLahe I lias Cleared Study of 2 Petrochemical Plants Finds THE WASHINGTON PC Twice the Normal Rate of Brain Cancer I j tmical Hunt ' .. ttly 23 (AP)--Utility official* '! to reactivate pump* at Lake | tetlme thlt wk after tech| td that Uwy found no detect-, * | toxl chemical* In water nm* ' I cm Ui* lake, which aupplit* | t percent of It* water. ' at the aUte' dapartment of lory la Auatln teated the sainw of arscnlo and two harbf 3 and J, 4. 5, TP--Out may' ; roa chemical cumlitm buried s. ? 1 la aafe, and there fa no qittsI u purity, Wa hava satisfied j it thera la no threat from thd S at are being removed- from (Tom Taylor, director of water Della*.. ester* water service from Lake twaau now and the weekend,*' :o*Ur, director of the date . truant'* water hygiene division, ! u water samples were taken Point, Lskwiew, South Tawa* < * Water Supply Corp., Greenarea, and the Daltu Gut Side tea abowed no datactsUa level* i chemicals and meet V.3. Eo- j Protection Agency regulation* . calth Department (tarutarda lor i i!ir, laid Potior. . rliji minin'cr fUy Jackson i*ld I turn on pump* at Lakt Tawa* me Tha ursday. ' CANCEH, From At be* not ret been proved higher than incidence In the area. "If it It, waVe juit a* anxious aa anybody to get to the bottom of It," he said. Whan the sjttdy began In 1P7P, re. aeacdtec* suspected Uiat the cause of ths cancora might be vinyl chloride, .which la associated with the gUobiastome multtforms typ* of cancer that is Lb* prodomtnant on belay found. But some of the victims hod no expoaunt to vinyl chloride, the NIOSS re* aaacchers said. Tony Manochl of the OH. Cheeiical end Atomic Worker* Union aeid pre liminary reporta boa ether etedtee 'found hlghcr-tbon-nomal rate* of brain and stomach canter* among pe trochemical workers along tha Texas Golf Coast, and at a mult the union and the National Cancer Institute are studying the entire iodaatry. Eventu ally 00,000 worker* will bo checked, he said. "There U a cancer epidemic among American worker* and certainly among the workara we repreanat " Mattocbl said. Petrochemicals Involve more than 30.000 workers In Texas alone and brine la about 83 bUfkxi azumiMy, ac cording to state figsues. The Houston Chamber of Commerce reported last year that six of every 10 pound* or gallons of CA. petrocfeqfrtca! produc tion come from the Texan Gulf Coast Dow'* Fsvoport plant, which cover* 4400 acres and employs 7,000 persons, la the biggest one there. OSHA and NIOSH officials ere planning a Joint conference u (ha problem, possibly in October, Involv ing government Industry and tha sci entific anti medical worlds. The aitua- tton Is something w# didn't know about before," said Dr. Irving Scllkoff of Mount Sinai Medical Center In Nw York. He la editor of the American dour nal of Industrial Medicine, which will soon publish the first scientific report oa the outbreak, written by a group headed by Dr. Alexender of OSHA. "We Just don't know how wide spread this problem la," sold Sheldon Samuel* AFDOO director of occupa tional health and safety. There has bean no industrywide study of It. Just sa "there Is no systematic epidemiol ogy yet of the American work force" he said. But he said the fact that Dr. Enlah Bingham, OSHA director, "put to gethtr OSHA'* first medical and sci entific team" meant OBKA bod a skilled team to go to Uw Union Car bide plant early )**t year and begin to study the brain tumors. Alexander headed that first Investi gation, which was triggered by * com plaint In Into IOTB from a brain cancer victim at Union Carbide, Ironically, that victim's cancer bad apread from another part of hla body. Bo ho la not officially considered one of the victim*. But It's Important for workers to speak up. Waxwoller raid. "U w* hadn't heard bom that worker" he (aid. "we wouldn't have known about Un ion Carbide. We wouldn't have known about Dow or any of It-" Working with Texas doctor* and health oilldoli and with Union Car bide--e company that hu been "highly (ltd umtnuaily cooparatlvc" Alexauder said--Alexander found IB turnon among 0,003 ptopie who hud worked at the Texas City plant'since 1094, whan the lint victim died. Ho than tavecUgated' "a second plant---which he would. not name-- and found five brain tumor deaths. But two of them people bad alto worked at Union Carbide.' Statisticlaa* at the famed M.D. An- demon Hospital and Tumor Institute In Houston then combed their compu terised Texas death records lor lists of brain cancer victims and their work records. This led the investigator* to the Dow plant, the site of 2ft turnon among more than 30.CKM worker* aloes tbs early lMO*. Studies now are focus ing on company record*to determine where tb* men worked end what chemical* they were exposed to in the vast complex, which makes 200 dtflarertt products. Including antifreeze, chlorine, latex, ethylene, vinyl chlo ride and other industrial chemical building blocks. Worker* at Union Carbide's plant, had Job* "all over the place," Waxwelter bald. One of tho lew common denominators wa* that 13 of tb* 18 victims had worked there mors than 19 yearn , The Texas plant stadia*, and the studies of worker*1 background*, nr* still not complete, federal investiga tors uld. But "we strongly suspect.- said Al exander, that tho cause of tot turnon may bo not a slngla chemical but "a chemical process"--exposure to ell or tome of the many step! that lead to a ingle cbumlcat product. Or. ha said it may be more than one procaes In volving the 333 or so chemical* com monly found In a modem petrochemi cal factory- 2C iimucK AHSFABl A beau bethpr* rks-bptf fashion. cjvKimlty vakws i Cfuk'i ar.d ttf dotilt, VMt Ja^ynwiig., Sunday. June 29.1980 fchc Balias Ulonung -jXcfagf- TO: ^Dt, Susan Austin (3) R. L. Frantz From: D. L. Engle High cancer rates found in Texas coastal Markers # ; .This is the first of two stories on ? cancer along Texas' GulfCoast? To- J*v/~ . day's story looks at cancer* in'the petrochemical industry. * By CHUCK COOK . ' .- ' ..-Scientists involved in at iyasf four, separatestudies have uacov* ered alarmingly high levels of can- cer among workers at Texas Gulf Coast petrochemical plants. ? The studies, probably the most far-reaching look at cancer in the - petrochemical industry, show im creased brain, stomach, blood and lung cancer* at eight chemical .. plants and refineries..^,- t f Some of the findings include: ' An increase in Stomach, kid* f ' ney and brain cancers? leukemia,. and multiple myeloraafbone mar- ' t, row 'cancer) among ^workers- itv,-^^-- three Gulf Coast pctroleum:refin-- ' 4; ing and petrochemical plan^. - An increased incldencsftof - ... blood cancer-and other blood disbr-^ "'.~4 ' t j *' "*********"*" ders among workers* at two Texas refinery, ite ofstotnacfi cancer frisk of certaln^ancers." the NO re- * Gulf Coast synthetic rubberplants.7" "in white ers who'had been af ^ poft ^d!*The ^TMort td6` said High rates of an often-fatal ithe plantfo&O yeais^WasAtimes^fUrthur-studies-nreNwceMary to brain tumor among workers .at, 'what researtfprs expected. ' ......support and clarify thesel } three Texas chemical plants. fetjfce rate central^..ner,vbus sys-^-'c Dr. Sharon'.Itay- ai.dl t LL % The findings -- mosf of which tCfltCADCCrTM" 3llWt^tfinmaees unoiimrmieall. ,M'Xm*' j'whao*rWldhtiga aon tthhne ffApllllnoWw-.upaprvey of are part of preliminary reports'-^'7 ~1 -Attheni hyGnlfOil Corp. re- , - Tefinery: workers. She saiq^ancon- already are prompting .a response?, finery, mo: .hanthreetimes the ventionai means are being tuaj to from the American Petroleum Insti normal stoudch cancer rate was . track down former refinery woij tute (APIX which in February be found', among both : white enders. She said the search goespo far V gan it Own study of canceramong nonwhite wbwers with more than.. t- as to rely on family Bible records to petrochemical workers: f ,% 'V 10 years onrBie }oh,-`Lung'caffcer - verify dates of deaths. There is also Steve Swenson of API said the k among nonwWte workers was thtjee -j. considerable time .being, (spent study will remain confidential but times tbe nomal rate,.the study re- :, going through death certificates will he utilized in the event a "de Vealed. yj ^ t . * , and interviewing physicians who fensive posture" is needed; At the' Mobil Oii'Corp. refinery r- may: have treated affected OCAW - The. National Cancer, Institute near Beaumpfit, almost twice, the;?!: members. - .< (NCI) recently released findings of usual amount! of luhgcancer'was >:y;v^She said the -follow-up to the its study of deaths of 3,i05 Texas discovered! ye * .'^-.Torigluatsurvey has proved "suppor- members of tbS Oil, Chemical and ?Jn additioij the aurvey. showedV^tivetodaia")^ the original survey, Atomic Workers-' International' .marked increases in`brain cancer at"** in'a separate study. National In- Union who died between 1947 and Texaco anci Mob'll.- ' il. * stitute for Safety and Health 1977.. . " '- * "The study suggests that workers (NIOSH) researchers have *estsIv At Port Arthur's Texaco flagship in this industry are-iat increased " y ' See FIRESTONE on page 6A TT V '{ ucc 054098 D1U Now* DTi4 Woo A worker leaves the Texaco refinery in Port Arthur. UCC 054099 Firestone refused records to researchers ------------------------- --------------------- ------------------- ;at I' ucc 054100 ' Continued from Page 1A. ' lished what they believe is a defini tive link between synthetic rubber plant workers and high blood can cer. NIOSH researchers studied 2,756 workers at BF Goodrich and Texas- U.S. Chemical synthetic rubber plants in Port Neches. They found 10 blood cancer vic tims among those interviewed, where 1 would have been normal. Although the results w4re signif icant, NIOSH officials say their study was less than complete. It only included white males who worked at least six months be tween 1943 and 1976. Nine other in dividuals who did not meet criteria for the NIOSH study were also found. ' In addition, researchers did not7 find records on 88 employees of the plants, and these workers were counted as being alive. A spokesman for NIOSH said the study was also incomplete in other areas. It did not include workers prior to 1950 at the Texas-05, plant, be cause records from 1943 to 1950 al legedly had been destroyed. NIOSH researchers also needed -- but were refused access to -- So cial Security records from the Fire stone Corp., which operated the Texas-U.S. plant during the 1940s. According to a NIOSH spokes man, these records could hold sig nificant information since five of the nine leukemia cases in the Goodrich plant occurred in work ers who started between 1943 and 1945. Another problem NIOSH experi enced in conducting the survey was obtaining information on opera tional procedures which may relate to exposure of the workers to can cer-causing materials. In 1946, the Goodrich plant had a major process change, NIOSH's Dick Lemen said. He said NIOSH does not have enough information to draw conclusions on what effect the change may have had. Lemen said investigators found the plant switched methods of han dling chemicals, which possibly re duced the exposure of workers to cancer causing substances. Another problem encountered^ in the survey is that information on exposure levels at the plant are sketchy prior to 1976, according to Lemen. A report prepared by Dr. Ted Meinhardt, senior author of the NIOSH report, stated, "Occupationalhealth hazards in this industry were considered minimal or non existent until early in 1976 when representatives of the Port Neches local of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union became con cerned with a number of leukemia cases (among) members who were employed in SBR (styrene-buta- i diene rubber) plants." But, studies as early as 1948 linked SBR exposure to cancer, and_ had indicated the Goodrich plant was one of the worst in the nation as far as levels of exposure were concerned. Two researchers at Johns Hop- i kins University conducted a study 1 among 10 SBR plants and found the synthetic rubber process resulted in exposure of workers to buta diene peroxide, a known cancel- causing agent. % A peroxide analysis showed the- Goodnch plant had the second- i highest amounts of butadienes ! peroxide of all plants in the natioif ] with 1560 parts per million in air samples. j This compared with an average of 150 to 700 ppm at other plants. Results of two other studies indi cate there may be a strong tiny be tween cancer and the petrochemi cal industry. Health researchers have found a brain cancer cluster among work ers at two Texas City plants which produce vinyl chloride. Although company officials say there is no definite link between vi nyl chloride and brain cancer, workers at the Union Carbide Corp. plant show an unusually high inci dence. Sixteen brain cancer cases have been found among workers at the 1 plant, and federal investigators are 1 continuing to sift through company | medical records. At the nearby Monsanto Chemi cal Inc. plant, five more cancer cases have been discovered through a medical records search. A spokesman for Union Carbide said the company feels drawing any conclusions from the federal find ings is premature. He said many of the deaths took place before the government recognized and man dated controls for hazardous chemi cals, such as vinyl chloride. Last month, Dow Chemical Co. released results of a medical study which showed higher than normal rates for brain cancer among its workers at the Freeport plant. Dow undertook the study after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found 1C; cases of brain tumors among work? ers. OSHA also found 33 brain tumoc deaths in Brazoria County, includ ing Dow workers. U "We are concerned, but we seti: no cause for alarm," Ralph Buell; safety and health manager for' Dow's Texas Division said. The average incidence of brain ` cancer for white male Americans is 1L5 cases per 100,000 population, ac cording to the NCI. A report prepared this year by a Citizens Environmental Coalition task force charges Texas tradition ally has been extremely lax in proj _ tecting workers at industrial sitesc^ CEC is an environmental action'' group funded in each state by the- U5- Environmental1 Protection! Agency. The report shows that prior to .the Implementation of OSHA in; 1971, Texas spent only 2 cents a year per worker for industrial health in spection, less than any other state. ^ Oregon led all states by spending^ S2.ll per worker to ensure safe' working conditions. After passage of the act whichJ created OSHA, Texas' Occupational1; Safety Act (which did not cover tox-" ics), became a dead issue. Although this act still exists on the books, it is neither funded nor implemented." Instead, OSHA has assumed its func-' tions. The CEC report charges the ; Texas Department of Health,"... strongly supports the concept of vo luntary compliance." and never lev-' ies a fine for violations. With the exception of Firestone, all companies mentioned in the * studies are participating in a follow- - up survey. "We are making all records'; available, and helping in any way ' we can," said Jim Gatten, a spokes-'* man for Gulf. Dr. Itaya said the methodology' used in the Texas survey of refiner ies is being viewed as a possible ba- s sis for other occupational-relatedr disease studies. "We (OCAW) are looking -at ,, other industries," she said. "We are. considering using the methodology of the Texas refinery study in the thA*Tnj*nti4i/<at in/4t1Ctr*V and nth< ers. ucc 054101 Former industrialist seeks >i `elusive9 cancer links, By CHUCK COOK stiff wrtw NV PORT ARTHUR, Texas -- The sallow complexion, reserved atti tude and wrinkled brow belie the tenacity of Bodie Pryor. Every day, unless he is experi encing one of his "sinking spells," Pryor roams the halls of hospitals, rummages relentlessly through fil ing cabinets at the county records building or spends hours on the phone searching for what he calls "an elusive ghost" Pryor, a retired petrochemical company executive, has leukemia. He is looking for causes of the dis ease. ` "I read the obituaries; I inter view families. I go to hospitals. I hear street talk about people who may have leukemia, and I go inter view them," Pryor said. `Tit keep on searching until the day 1 die," Pryor said as he proudly exhibited carefully organized re cords of occupation-related dis eases. The records -- an extensive card index and stacks of yellowing newspaper clippings -- contain in formation on leukemia cases. Pryor said his files contain names of more than 170 persons in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of Jefferson County. Two years ago, when fellow em ployees presented him with a gold watch at his retirement from Gulf Chemical Co. (formerly associated with BFGoodrich, Inc.), Pryor was keeping the secret of his disease even from his best friends. He had worked with some of them the en tire 36 years he was with the com pany. "I have seen what they do to peo ple who get the disease -- they are outcasts, and sometimes they are even terminated," Pryor said. At his retirement, co-workers toasted Pryor as one of the best in dustrial hygienists the plant ever had. As administrator of environ mental affairs, Pryor had gained the insight to know exactly what to expect if he announced to the com pany management he had leukemia. "When I was working there, a lot of information crossed my desk that made me more intensely aware of what SBR (styrene-buta diene rubber) exposure could do," Pryor said. "If I had not been in that job--in charge of health prob lems -- I would have been just an other casualty." Butadiene peroxide, a known carcinogen, is one of the key bypro ducts of synthetic rubber, the ma jor -product of - the Port Neches BFGoodrich plant Pryor said he collected names of about 70 leukemia victims who ei ther worked at; or lived near, SBR plana or refineries. He discovered an unusually high incidence of blood and lymph gland cancer among former stu dents of Port Neches-Groves High School, which is located near two SBR plana. His findings -- four leukemia deaths among male students where statistically one would be normal, and four cases of lymph cancer led to an investigation by the Texas Department of Health and the Na tional Center for Disease Control. Although the two agencies ac knowledged the Incidence of the disease was high, they said they found no correlation between ex posure to emissions from the SBR plena and leukemia or lymph can cer. But, as a result of the study, Pryor said a "suspicious" Incidence of leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and lymphatic cancer waa found amoung female studena, and a fol low-up study is under way. William Townsley, a Beaumont attorney, labeled the Port Neches study "a sham." "They (health agencies) used the excuse that they do not have the resources to do the type of study that is required," Townsley said. "But I have talked with people from the Center for Disease Con trol and they didn't think much of what the state did. Neither did the University of Texas School of Pub lic Health." Because of his tireless search \ for leukemia causes, Pryor said he has become an outcast in the heav- | ily industrialized community where he lives. "People, some who were at one time close friends, treat me like I had the plague," Pryor said. "They will not talk to me, and the people at the plant do not want me to talk to any of the employees." Pryor said it took almost two years for company officials to get his pension payments started. He said he kept getting "lame" excuses as to why he was not receiving pay ments. "Then one day, I threatened to go public -- take my case to the me dia -- and suddenly 1 had all my back pay and was on the pension program," Pryor said. "They deliv ered it airmail special delivery." Because of his background in the industrial health field, Pryor said he suspected long before his leukemia was diagnosed that some cancers were jobrelated. But com pany officials weren't interested in hearing his theories, he said. From his exhaustive research, Pryor said he believes he has estab lished a possible link between job related exposure and increased cancer rates in chemical and petro chemical workers. He said he also discovered five ' cases of leukemia among employees at a small coastal shipyard. In his quest for more informa tion, Pryor said he has encoun- UCC 054102 X > tered many people who won't talk and followed leads that didn't pan out. But that hasn't stop him. While looking for cancer re lated to the petrochemical indus try. Pryor said he has talked to oth ers who have ideas about causes of their cancer. "1 talked to this medical student from Kansas City at M.D. Anderson (Hospital in Houston) the other day, and he thinks his disease may have been caused by too much ex posure to formaldehyde," Pryor said. "Another one, a young man from the (Rio Grande) Valley, was a flagger for a cropdusting service. He says he got bis from pesticides." Pryor's records are meticulous. He separates cases that may have no strong relationship to environ mental factors from those where a person may have been exposed through job or residence to sus pected carcinogens. Pryor said he has no outside funding for his research. He is planning speaking engagements to try and raise funds. Even if he doesn't raise money, he said he will raise awareness. "I've found out that publicity and lawsuits are the only thing the big companies will listen to," Pryor said. Townsley said he believes the information Pryor has developed should be "solid gold" to anyone wanting leads to cancer causes. "But they (Pryor's studies) will only be of benefit if people who are charged with public health respon sibility utilize them." Townsley said. "So far they haven't shown a willingness to do that. "Pryor is an extremely intelli gent man. He knows what he is doing. But he is dealing with a sub ject -- occupational cancer -- that is taboo with management people." Pryor said he knows he has an uphill fight and feels that, despite his mild success in identifying pos sible cancer causes, he is getting very little support. "I feel like the little Dntch boy with his finger in the dike," he said. ucc 054103 Sunday, June 29.1980 iTlir Dallas iUnming ^Vftng, To: ^Dr. Susan Austin (3) R. L. Frantz From: D. L. Engle High cancer rates found iri Texas coastal workers This is the first of two stories on cancer along Texas' Gulf Coast. To day's story looks at cancer in the . petrochemical industry. .By CHUCK COOK Scientists involved in st least four separate studies have uncov ered alarmingly high levels of can cer among workers at Texas Gulf Coast petrochemical plants. The studies, probably the most far-reaching look at cancer in the petrochemical industry, show in creased brain, stomach, blood and lung cancer- at eight chemical plants and refineries.. Some of the findings Include: An increase in stomach, kid ney and brain cancers, leukemia, and multiple myeloma (bone mar row cancer) among workers in three Gulf Coast petroleum refin ing and petrochemical plants. An increased incidence of blood cancer and other blood disor Nla Mniitf ItnKcnt ders among workers' at two Texas refinery, thejnte of stomach cancer risk of certainbancers," the NCI re- 1 Gulf Coast synthetic rubberplants., in white workers who1 bad been at pori said. The report also said High rates of an often-fatal `the plant fonsO years, was 4 times further studies - areN^ecessary to ' brain tumor among workers at what researchers expected. * support and clarify these'flndings." ; three Texas chemical plants. . The rate ter central nervous sys ' ' Dr. Sharon Itaya ok Houston is The findings -- most of which tem cancer-ms 3Wtimes normal ^working on this follow-upAirvey of are part of preliminary reports -- . At the nearby Calf Oil Corp. re- refinery workers. She saidtjmcon-: already are prompting .a response finery,:moreBhan three times the ventional means are being iuwb to from the American Petroleum Insti normal stomach cancer rate was track down former , refinery woi ) tute j[API), which in February be found. among both white and ers. She said the search goespo far 'v gan it bwn .study of cancer among nonwtilte woifcers with more than as to rely on family Bible records to petrochemical workers, f - 10 years on*the jo6. Lung cancer' verify dates of deaths. There is also Steve Swenson of API said the . among nonwhlte workers was three considerable time being spent study wiJJ remain confidential but times the normal rate, the study re going through death certificates will be utilized in the event a "de vealed. and interviewing physicians who fensive posture" is needed. At the Mobil Oil'Corp. refinery may have treated affected OCAW The National Cancer Institute near Beaumont, almost twice the' members. ' .* - (NCI) recently Released findings of usual amount of lung canper was t- .vr.She said the follow-up to the its study of deaths of 3,105 Texas discovered: :*1 >- * .4 ; 'original survey has proved "suppor members of the Oil, Chemical and `-In addition, the survey showed tive to-data" in the original survey. Atomic Workers International marked increases in'br&in cancer at In'a separate study, National In Union who died between 1947 and Texaco anti Mobil. . * stitute for Safety and Health 1977.. ` - "The study suggests that workers (NIOSH) researchers have'estab- At Port Arthur's Texaco flagship in this industry are -at increased See FIRESTONE on page A UGC 054105 Delias Mm: David Woi A worker leaves the Texaco refinery in Port Arthur. ucc 054106 Firestone refused records ------------------------ to researchers * `---- - s------ --________ _______ _________ ____________ uj: ^ rUut rcMacaI U<"v / t Continued from Page 1A. lishe'd what they believe is a defini tive link between synthetic rubber plant workers and high blood can cer. NIQSH researchers studied 2,756 workers at BF Goodrich and TexasU.S. Chemical synthetic rubber plants in Port Neches. They found 10 blood cancer vic tims among those interviewed, where l would have been normal. Although the results wire signif icant, NIOSH officials say their study was less than complete. It only included white males who worked at least six months be tween 1943 and 1976. Nine other in dividuals who did not meet criteria for the NIOSH study were also found. representatives of the Port Neches local of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union became con cerned with a number of leukemia cases (among) members who were employed in SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber) plants." But, studies as early as 1948 linked SBR exposure to cancer, and. had indicated the Goodrich plant was one of the worst in the nation j as far as levels of exposure were jconcerned. Two researchers at Johns Hop- jkins University conducted a study i among 10 SBR plants and found the synthetic rubber process resulted 1 in exposure of workers to buta- J diene peroxide, a known cancel J causing agent i>| Administration (OSHA) found 115 cases of brain tumors among work ers. OSHA also found 33 brain tumor deaths in Brazoria County, includ ing Dow workers. U "We are concerned, but we sees-' no cause for alarm," Ralph Buell; safety and health manager for' Dow's Texas Division said. The average incidence of brain' cancer for white male Americans is 11.5 cases per 100,000 population, ac cording to the NCL A report prepared this year by a Citizens Environmental Coalition task force charges Texas tradition ally has been extremely lax in proj tecting workers at industrial sites-.^ CEC is an environmental action group funded in each state by the; ; | * In addition, researchers did not A peroxide analysis showed the 1 US. Environmental Protection! find records on 88 employees of the plants, and - these workers were Goodrich plant had the second-", highest amounts of butadiene1 ] Agency. The report shows that prior to counted as being alive. A spokesman for NIOSH said the peroxide of all plants in the nation^ with 1560 parts per million in air the i-implementation of OSHA in; 1971, Texas spent only 2 cents a year study was also incomplete in other samples. per worker for industrial health in areas. This compared with an average spection, less than any other state.. It did not include workers prior of 150 to 700 ppm at other plants. ___ Oregon led all states by spending' to 1950 at the Texas-U.5. plant, be cause records from 1943 to 1950 al Results of two other studies indi $111 per worker to ensure safe' working conditions. '1 legedly had been destroyed. cate there may be a strong link be After passage of the act which ` NIOSH researchers also needed , tween cancer and the petrochemi created OSHA, Texas' Occupational;; -- but were refused access to -- So cal industry. Safety Act (which did not cover tox-j cial Security records from the Fire Health researchers have found a ics), became a dead issue. Although stone Corp., which operated the brain cancer cluster among work this act still exists on the books, it is 1 Texas-U.S. plant during the 1940s. ers at two Texas City plants which neither funded nor implemented. According to a NIOSH spokes produce vinyl chloride. Instead, OSHA has assumed its func man, these records could hold sig nificant information since five of Although company officials say there is no definite link between vi tions. The CEC report charges the the nine leukemia cases in the Goodrich plant occurred in work nyl chloride and brain cancer, workers at the Union Carbide Corp. ; Texas Department of Health," strongly supports the concept of vo ers who started between 1943 and plant show an unusually high inci luntary compliance," and never lev- * 1945. dence. I ies a fine for violations. Another problem NIOSH experi Sixteen brain cancer cases have With the exception of Firestone, enced in conducting the survey was been found among workers at the 1 all companies mentioned in the' obtaining information on opera plant, and federal investigators are | studies are participating in a follow- - tional procedures which may relate to exposure of the workers to can continuing to sift through company I medical records. up survey. "We are making all records' - cer-causing materials. available, and helping in any way ` In 1946, the Goodrich plant had a we can," said Jim Gatten, a spokes- ' major process change, NIOSH's Dick Lemen said. He said NIOSH does not have enough information to draw conclusions on what effect the At the nearby Monsanto Chemi cal Inc. plant, five more cancer cases have been discovered through a medical records search. man for Gulf. Dr. Itaya said the methodology' used in the Texas survey of refiner ies is being viewed as a possible ba- ^ change may have had. Lemen said investigators found the plant switched methods of han dling chemicals, which possibly re duced the exposure of workers to cancer causing substances. Another problem encountered in the survey is that information on exposure levels at the plant are sketchy prior to 1976, according to Lemen. A report prepared by Dr, Ted Meinhardt, senior author of the NIOSH report, stated, "Occupational health hazards in this industry A spokesman for Union Carbide said the company feels drawing any conclusions from the federal find ings is premature. He said many of the deaths took place before the government recognized and man dated controls for hazardous chemi cals, such as vinyl chloride. Last month, Dow Chemical Co. released results of a medical study which showed higher than normal rates for brain cancer among its workers at the Freeport plant. Dow undertook the study after the Occupational Safety and Health sis for other occupational-related- disease studies. "We (OCAW) are looking nl. Other industries," she said, "We are considering using the methodology of the Texas refinery study in the , pharmaceutical industry and oth- , ers." ! were considered minimal or non- i existent until early in 1976 when | ucc nr a a U>iiu8 Former industrialist seeks > 'i 6elusive? cancer hnks\ By CHUCK COOK Staff Wr1tr of Th Nwt "When I was working there, a lot of information crossed my desk PORT ARTHUR, Texas -- The sallow complexion, reserved atti tude and wrinkled brow belie the tenacity of Bodie Pryor. Every day, unless be Is experi encing one of his "sinking spells," Pryor roams the halls of hospitals, rummages relentlessly through fil that made me more intensely aware of what SBR (styrene-buta diene rubber) exposure could do," Pryor said. "If I had not been in that job--incharge of health prob lems -- I would have been just an other casualty." Butadiene peroxide, a known ing cabinets at the county records building or spends hours on the carcinogen, is one of the key bypro- I phone searching for what he calls "an elusive ghost" Pryor, a retired petrochemical ducts of synthetic rubber, the ma- | jor product of the Port Neches ! BFGoodrich plant _ t company executive, has leukemia. He is looking for causes of the dls-: ease. ' "I read the obituaries. I inter Pryor said he collected names of about 70 leukemia victims who ei ther worked at or lived near, SBR plants or refineries. view families. 1 go to hospitals. I hear street talk about people who may have leukemia, and I go inter view them," Pryor said. He discovered an unusually high incidence of blood and lymph gland cancer among former stu dents of Port Neches-Groves High `Til keep on searching until the day I die," Pryor said as he proudly School, which is located near two SBR plants, exhibited carefully organized re cords of occupation-related dis eases. His findings -- four leukemia deaths among male students where statistically one would be normal, ' The records -- an extensive and four cases of lymph cancer -- card index and stacks of yellowing newspaper clippings -- contain in led to an investigation by the Texas Department of Health and the Na formation on leukemia cases. Pryor said his files contain names of tional Center for Disease Control. Although the two agencies ac more than 170 persons in the Beau- knowledged the incidence of the mont-Port Arthur area of Jefferson County. Two years ago, when fellow em disease was high, they said they found no correlation between ex posure to emissions from the SBR ployees presented him with a gold watch at his retirement from Gulf plants and leukemia or lymph can cer. Chemical Co. (formerly associated with BFGoodrich, Inc.), Pryor was But, as a result of the study, Pryor said a "suspicious" incidence keeping the secret of his disease of leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and even from his best friends. He had lymphatic cancer was found worked with some of them the en tire 36 years he was with the com pany. amoung female students, and a fol low-up study is under way. William Townsley, a Beaumont "I have seen what they do to peo attorney, labeled the Port Neches ple who get the disease -- they are study "a sham." outcasts, and sometimes they are even terminated," Pryor said. At his retirement, co-workers toasted Pryor as one of the best in "They (health agencies) used ' the excuse that they do not have , the resources to do the type of j study that is required," Townsley dustrial hygienists the plant ever said. "But I have talked with people had. As administrator of environ from the Center for Disease Con mental affairs, Pryor had gained trol and they didn't think much of the insight to know exactly what to what the state did. Neither did the expect if he announced to the com University of Texas School of Pub pany management he had lic Health." leukemia. I Because of his tireless search 1 for leukemia causes, Pryor said he : has become an outcast in the heav- j ily industrialized community where he lives. "People, some who were at one time close friends, treat me like 1 had the plague," Pryor said. "They will not talk to me, and the people at the plant do not want me to talk to any of the employees." Piyor said it took almost two years for company officials to get his pension payments started. He said he kept getting "lame" excuses as to why he was not receiving pay ments. "Then one day, I threatened to go public -- take my case to the me dia -- and suddenly I had all my back pay and was on the pension program," Pryor said. "They deliv ered it airmail special delivery." ] Because of his background in the industrial health field, Pryor said he suspected long before his leukemia was diagnosed that some cancers were job-related. But com pany officials weren't interested in hearing his theories, he said. From his exhaustive research, Pryor said he believes he has estab lished a possible link between jobrelated exposure and increased cancer rates in chemical and petro chemical workers. He said he also discovered five cases of leukemia among employ ees at a small coastal shipyard. In his quest for more informa tion, Pryor said he has encoun- UCC 054109 tered many people who won't talk and followed leads that didn't pan out. But that hasn't stop him. While looking for cancer re lated to the petrochemical indus try, Pryor said he has talked to oth ers who have ideas about causes of their cancer. "I talked to this medical student from Kansas City at M.D. Anderson (Hospital in Houston) the other day, and he thinks his disease may have been caused by too much ex posure to formaldehyde," Pryor said. "Another one, a young man from the (Rio Grande) Valley, was a flagger for a crop-dusting service. He says he got his from pesticides." Pryor's records are meticulous. He separates cases that may have no strong relationship to environ mental factors from those where a person may have been exposed through job or residence to sus pected carcinogens. Pryor said he has no outside funding for his research. He is planning speaking engagements to try and raise funds. Even if he doesn't raise money, he said he will raise awareness. "I've found out that publicity and lawsuits are the only thing the big companies will listen to," Pryor said. Townsley said he believes the information Pryor has developed should be "solid gold" to anyone wanting leads to cancer causes. "But they (Pryor's studies) will I only be of benefit if people who are ' I charged with public health respon- 'i sibility utilize them," Townsley said. "So far they haven't shown a j willingness to do that. I "Pryor is an extremely intelli gent man. He knows what he is doing. But he is dealing with a sub ject -- occupational cancer -- that - is taboo with management people." . i, Pryor said he knows he has an 1 uphill fight and feels that, despite his mild success in identifying pos sible cancer causes, he is getting ; very little support. "1 feel like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike," he said. ucc 054110 Sunday, June 29,1980 i \ She 33all:ia jUnruing ^vTrtng ^ To: /Dr, Susan Austin (3) R. L. Frantz From: D. L. Engle High cancer rates found in /-k m srn m m /* # JThit is the first oftwo-stories on * cancer along Texas' Gulf Coast To- f day's story looks at cancer- in- the ^ petrochemical industry. By CHUCK COOK . ?_ > Scientists involved tn St least four separate..studies have oatovered alarmingly high levels of can- ; cer among workers at Texas Gulf Coast petrochemical plants. The studies,-probably the most far-reaching look at cancer in the petrochemical industry, show in creased brain, stomach, blood and lung cancer* at eight chemical plants andrefineries.; . , ' Some of the findings include: Vf An increase in stbmaqh, kid- j-ney and brain cancers? leukemia, ' and multiple myeloma (bone mar- - row cancer) among workers in- ^ three Gulf Coast -petroleum refin- ing and petrochemical plantsf % ~ - An. increased incidence of ,' blood cancer and other blood diktr- aatr. Mormts, Nw* Crl %*! ders amongWorkers' at two'Texas refinery, the] ite of-stomach cancer" risk ofcertainbancers," the NCI.re "Gulf Coast synthetic rubberplants,; . ; High rates of an often-fatal ' 'brain tumor -among workers' at _ three Texas chemicalplants. The findings --most of which 'are part of preliminary reports'-- in white wiJ cers whoihad been'afr.? port said. The:^report -alsS said 'the plant fb] i yeersiwas A times.. fhrthur , studies'are^ecessary to what resear/ erveSecxpecctteedd.?-''^' " support and clarify thesJNigdings." . ..-The rate centr^knervous sys-.^T'. Dr.-Sharon ltaya of. Houston is - temcani 3WT5mes normals '*!**' ^working onth'e follow-upaiivey of - ^ At the m hyGplf Oil.Corp. n-\ refinery workers. She sau^mcon- . already are promptings response finery..morej ban .three-times the; - ventional means are being used to from the'Amerlcan Petroleum Instt- - normal sti Cancer rate, was . track down former refinery'Wdt') . tute JAPI), which in February be-, . found ( am_ both ; white. end^v - er& She said the search goes50 far V ' - gag it 'own study of cancer among n__o_n_w__n_i_te woi ,:ers~with more than' as to rely on family Bible records to petrochemical workers: - - ` - v 10 years <m|3ie joij, Xnng?caficerv -verify dates of deaths. There is also - fSteve-Swensoa of API said the ^ among nohwlflte workers was thceef ." considerable time being'; spent study wi]} remain confidential bnt , times thenomal rate,the study re- - going through death certificates will be .utilized in the event a "de vealed. & . * *4 ; * . and interviewing physicians who fensive posture" is needed. At theTdqBil Oil- Corp. refinery may have treated affected :OCAW The. National Cancer ' Institute near Beaumobt, almost twice^the*. members. T_ . y: (NCI) recentlyReleased findings of : usual umd^ff. of^lung canoar`Vas; ^>(^he' said: the follow-up to the its study of deaths of 3,105 Texas discovered^ f3 ?- -j/' * ' .^originabstifVey has proved "suppor- members of thd Oil, Chemical and In addition, the survey. showedV^tivntbbita"l[n the original survey. Atomic 1 Workers ' International . marked increases ingrain cancer at-.'.; - In'a separate study, National In- ` Union who died between 1947 and Texaco anclMotflL . * ^ * - stltute' for' Safety and - Health 1977.. * ' * *- - 'The studysuggeststhat workers ^ (NIOSH) researchers have`estab- At Port Arthur's Texaco flagship4 ; in this Industry are jat increased ~ . . 7- See FIRESTONE on page 6A . -/> V ucc 054112 2- D*Uh N**c David Wo* A worker leaves the Texaco refinery in Port Arthur. ucc 054113 Firestone refused records i. tV to researchers . i I rS i 0 c: 1o A group of Texaco refinery workers wait on a bench before going to worlr Continued from Page 1A. 'lished what they believe is a defini tive link between synthetic rubber ;plant workers and high blood can- ;cer. - NIOSH researchers studied 2,756 workers at BF Goodrich and Texas* .U.S. Chemical synthetic rubber 'plants in Port Neches. ` They found 10 blood cancer vic tims among those Interviewed, where 1 would have been normal. Although the results wire signlf- ;icant, NIOSH officials say their study was less than complete. ". It only included white males who worked at least six months be tween 1943 and 1976. Nine other in dividuals who did not meet criteria -for the NIOSH study were also found. in addition; researchers did not :find records on 88 employees of the -plants, and . these .workers were counted as being alive. . A spokesman for NIOSH said the istudy was also incomplete in other .areas. 1 \ It did not include workers prior to 1950 at the Texas-05, plant, be cause records from 1943 to 1950 al legedly had been destroyed- NIOSH researchers also needed J-- but were refused access to -- So cial Security records from the Fire stone Corp., which operated the Texas-U.S. plant during the 1940a. According to a NIOSH spokes man, these records could hold sig*" nificant information since five of the nine leukemia cases in the Goodrich plant occurred In work ers who started between 1943 and 1945. Another problem NIOSH experi enced in conducting the survey was obtaining information on opera tional procedures which may relate to exposure of the workers to can cer-causing materials. In 1946, the Goodrich plant had a major process change, NIOSH's Dick Lemen said. He said NIOSH does not have enough information to draw conclusions on what effect the change may have had. Lemen said investigators found the plant switched methods of han dling chemicals, which possibly re duced the exposure of workers to cancer causing substances. Another problem encountered^ in the survey is that information on exposure levels at the plant are sketchy prior to 1976, according to Lemen. A report prepared by Dr. Ted Meinhardt, senior author of the NIOSH report, stated, "Occupational health hazards in this industry were considered minimal or non existent until early in 1976 when representatives of the Port Neches local of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union became con cerned with a number of leukemia cases (among) members who were employed in SBR (styrene-buta diene rubber) plants." But, studies as early as 1948 linked SBR exposure to cancer, and. `ft had indicated the Goodrich plant was one of the worst in the nation as far as levels of exposure were concerned. Two researchers at Johns Hop^ kins University conducted a study* among 10 SBR plants and found th3 synthetic rubber process resultedin exposure of workers to buta- j diene peroxide, a known -cance&l causing agent -'A. peroxide analysis showed th#S Goodrich plant had the secon&jl highest amounts of butadiene^ peroxide of all plants in the natiodf ' with 1560 parts per million in air V samples.,/ :vV:r- v This compared with an average of 150 to 700 ppm at other plants. /, ' TV. .. '' - , Results of two other ttudles indi-: cate there may be a strong link be tween cancer and the petrochemi cal industry. Health researchers have found a brain cancer cluster among work ers at two Texas City plants which produce vinyl chloride. Although company officials say * there is no definite link between vi nyl chloride and brain cancer, workers at the Union Carbide Corp.' plant show an unusually high inci dence. Sixteen brain cancer cases have been found among workers at the plant, and federal Investigators are continuing to sift through company medical records. At the nearby Monsanto Chemi cal Inc. plant, five more cancer cases have . been discovered' through a medical records search. A spokesman for Union Carbide said the company feels drawing any ! conclusions from the federal find ings is premature. He said many of the deaths took place before the government recognized and man dated controls for hazardous chemi cals, such as vinyl chloride. Last month, Dow Chemical Co. released results of a medical study which showed higher than normal rates for brain cancer among its workers at the Freeport plant Dow undertook the study after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found IE; cases of brain tumors among work/ ers. OSHA also found 33 brain turnon deaths in Brazoria County, includ ing Dow workers. "We are concerned, but we sett no cause for alarm," Ralph Buell/ safety and health manager for' Dow's Texas Division said. , The average incidence of brain ` cancer for white male Americans is 11.5 cases per 100,000 population, ac cording to the NCL A report prepared this year by a Citizens Environmental Coalition task force charges Texas tradition ally has been extremely lax in proj tecting workers at industrial sitesc^ CEC is an environmental action group funded in each state by the; Ufv Environmental' - Protection! Agency. t The report shows that prior to the. implementation of ,,OSHA io; 1971, Texas spent only 2 cents a year* per worker for industrial health in spection, less than any other state. Oregon led all stdtes by spending'* S2J1 per worker to ^ensure safe* working conditions. After passage of the act which * created OSHA, Texas' Occupational'' Safety Act (which did not cover tox-`" ics), became a dead issue. Although this act still exists on the books, it IS'' neither funded nor implemented." Instead, OSHA has assumed its func-'* lions. ' The CEC report charges the ; Texas Department of Health," ..." strongly supports the concept of vo- ^ luntary compliance," and never lev- * ies a fine for violations- With the exception of Firestone, all companies mentioned in the** studies are participating in a follow/* up survey. "We are making all records available, and helping in any way we can," said Jim Gatten, a spokes-' man for Gulf. Dr. Itaya said the methodology used in the Texas survey of refiner ies is being viewed as a possible ba sis for other occupational-related disease studies. "We (OCAW) are looking *1 Other industries." she said. "We are. considering using the methodology of the Texas refinery study in the pharmaceutical industry and oxh-. ers" ucc 054115 Former industrialist seeks \/ `elusive cancer hnks\ By CHUCK COOK Still wnttr ol Til* N*w* PORT ARTHUR, Texas -- The sallow complexion, reserved atti tude and wrinkled brow belle the tenacity of Bodie Pryor. Every day, unless he is experi encing one of his "sinking spells," Pryor roams the halls of hospitals,, rummages relentlessly through fil ing cabinets at the county records building or spends hours on the phone searching for what he calls "an elusive ghost" Pryor, a retired petrochemical company executive, has leukemia. He is looking for causes of the dis ease. ' "1 read the obituaries. I inter view families. I go to hospitals. I hear street talk about people who may have leukemia, and I go inter view them," Pryor said. "I'll keep on searching until the day I die," Pryor said as he proudly exhibited carefully organized re cords of occupation-related dis eases. The records -- an extensive card index and stacks of yellowing newspaper clippings -- contain in formation on leukemia cases. PTyor said his files contain names of more than 170 persons in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of Jefferson County. Two years ago, when fellow em ployees presented him with a gold watch at his retirement from Gulf Chemical Co. (formerly associated with BFGoodrich, Inc.), Pryor was keeping the secret of his disease even from his best friends. He had worked with some of them the en tire 3d years he was with the com pany. "I have seen what they do to peo ple who get the disease -- they are outcasts, and sometimes they are even terminated," Pryor said. At his retirement, co-workers toasted Pryor as one of the best in dustrial hygienists the plant ever had. As administrator of environ mental affairs, Pryor had gained the insight to know exactly what to expect if he announced to the com pany management he had leukemia. "When I was working there, a j lot of information crossed my desk that made me more intensely aware of what SBR (styrene-buta diene rubber) exposure could do," Pryor said. "If I had not been in that job--in charge of health prob lems -- I would have been just an other casualty." Butadiene peroxide, a known. carcinogen, is one of the key bypro- I ducts of synthetic rubber, the ma- j jor product of the Port Neches 1 BFGoodrich plant Pryor said be collected names of 1 about 70 leukemia victims who ei ther worked at or lived near, SBR plants or refineries. He discovered an unusually high incidence of blood and lymph gland cancer among former stu dents of Port Neches-Groves High School, which is located near two SBR plants. His findings -- four leukemia deaths among male students where statistically one would be normal, and four cases of lymph cancer -- led to an investigation by the Texas Department of Health and the Na tional Center for Disease Control. Although the two agencies ac knowledged the incidence of the disease was high, they said they found no correlation between ex posure to emissions from the SBR plants and leukemia or lymph can cer. But, as a result of the study, Pryor said a "suspicious" incidence of leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and lymphatic cancer was found amoung female students, and a fol low-up study is under way. William Townsley, a Beaumont attorney, labeled the Port Neches study "a sham." "They (health agencies) used the excuse that they do not have the resources to do the type of study that is required," Townsley said. "But 1 have talked with people from the Center for Disease Con. trol and they didn't think much of what the state did. Neither did the University of Texas School of Pub lic Health." ' Because of his tireless search ' for leukemia causes, Pryor said he has become an outcast in the heav- j ily industrialized community * where he lives. "People, some who were at one time close friends, treat me like I had the plague," Pryor said. "They I jwill not talk to me, and the people at the plant do not want me to talk to any of the employees." Pryor said It took almost two years for company officials to get his pension payments started. He said he kept getting `Tame'' excuses as to why he was not receiving pay ments. .. f "Then one day, I threatened to go public -- take my case to the me dia -- and suddenly 1 had all my back pay and was on the pension program," Pryor said. "They deliv- t ered it airmail special delivery." Because of his background in the industrial health field, Pryor said he suspected long before bis leukemia was diagnosed that some cancers were job-related. But com pany officials weren't interested in hearing his theories, he said. From his exhaustive research, Pryor said he believes he has estab lished a possible link between jobrelated exposure and increased cancer rates in chemical and petro chemical workers. He said he also discovered five ' cases of leukemia among employ-.' ees at a small coastal shipyard. j In his quest for more informa- j tion, Pryor said he has encoun- ucc 054116 tered many people who won't talk He separates cases that may have and followed leads that didn't pan no strong relationship to environ out. mental factors from.those where a But that hasn't stop him. person may have been exposed While looking for cancer re through job or residence to sus lated to the petrochemical indus pected carcinogens. try, Pryor said he has talked to oth Pryor said he has no outside ers who have ideas about causes of funding for his research. He is their cancer. planning speaking engagements to "I talked to this medical student try and raise funds. from Kansas City at M.D. Anderson Even if he doesn't raise money, (Hospital in Houston) the other he said he will raise awareness. day, and he thinks his disease may "I've found out that publicity have been caused by too much ex and lawsuits are the only thing the posure to formaldehyde," Pryor big companies will listen to," Pryor said. "Another one, a young man said. from the (Rio Grande) Valley, was Townsley said he believes the a flagger for a crop-dusting service. information Pryor has developed He says he got his from pesticides." should be "solid gold" to anyone Pryor's records are meticulous. - wanting leads to cancer causes. "But they (Pryor's studies) will I only be of benefit if people who are ' I charged with public health respon- " sibility utilize them," Townsley said. "So far they haven't shown a willingness to do that. "Pryor is an extremely intelli gent man. He knows what he is doing. But he is dealing with a sub ject -- occupational cancer ~ that < is taboo with management people." . Pryor said he knows he has an 4 uphill fight and feels that, despite -f his mild success in identifying pos sible cancer causes, he is getting very little support. "I feel like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike," he said. , ucc 054117 >5 1/12/80 Copied for: Dr. S. G. Austin s Dr. D. H. Glenn Mr. R. R1 tchie Dr. H. H. D. Utidigan Studyji at -W1 By L'KNA SMITH Past Reporter Thirty-three brain tumor deaths f among union workers at three petroleum Port Arthur and Beaumont, The National C tute has reported. r AtoX IVorkera Tnternailonal Unton^wcre^ 7 '(juhlleltv'' givenTt "nd *>ncem "^ng our employees,;' : ;/ ',; ; Researchers, reviewed deaths at'Texaco, 129 at, aS&dtSSf'' * Three- yearaago, OCAW invited NCI ,tq examine lt*iM gulf and. 396 at Mobil. Ouiot die 3,133 deaths examined MnMhre/inerv in Beaumont membership*records to evaluate (or the (list fiijie.cnriyyat, all Ru-ce refliujjples, researchers found 27 brain can- The Hndhags confirm a NCI "bypothcscs-gchorotlngtC for.risks nmSng h large group ?! worker exposed to pe.(^oor cjutes, compared to the normally expected IS fatal- the enrtitrieoa^scfdricinhMSanv f1c9S79 dtShartyfflimiweesete7dP0wSoeikdo%rs infn- i ^tn|iWleumorgaanndizpaettiroonleufomi- ppreotdroulcetus,mliVfeorkuniWon.,f`hUS**lanregaerslvt 1 ;.fileAAsttfrTToeemximaacnlol,fossrccmiieesnnottiissf ttcssanoohbcsswee..r'-vveodd H10i tfna-ttnall bbrraaiinn ttuummoorr creased risks of several cancers, including those affect- ' members In Texas. li ' -J11-.itcases, compared lo an expected 7,5 fatalities from ail - ing digestive and respiratory systems. The greatest in crease emerged in the number of brain cancer'cases.' "Scientists at the National Cancer Institute and the. 'the NCI and NIOSK scientists in their study confirm- ed that 27 of the 33 OCAW members died of cancer. In the remaining six cases, the capspot death .^.listed f causes ot death. Ten brain Ipmcr fatalities were ohserv-). ed among Gulf union members compared to an ex|>ect-. ed 7.5, and 7 Cases were uncovered at Mobil compared' National Institute (or Occupational Safety and Health have found an apparent association between Increased only as brain tumor. * 1 1 -to an expected 3. \ NCI's original study population consisted'of 3,105 j Terry Thomas, NCI's chief project researcher, said risk of brain cancer und employment in the oil refinery ^m` ``P^mlnury" and more iPnHoitsottp*v*'m ^ aonn kNfpUf fppt fikani fl*hHigaUtfWwai, Whv tho ' . ptvo*r*t,toscOieCnAtisWtsloecxcailms iintteTdc2x,t1ts3*3 Fdeoar tihnsoof nAiicttiivcean'licnedr fret*p,`.` , . ' Please see 31 deaths/p*a' ge ISA oC to w 33 deatlis linked h to brainltmnors ( From page! } study Is needed to detera^lf^a correlation can be drawn between brain cancer andexpcsure to petroleum- products. " ;' ' "A lot of other studies heed-vto be dooein other plants. It will take a great deaFmore research- to draw correlations." t ,- '. : The cancer morality rate# among workers who are still employed atthe time ot theirdeath Is always high, er than the expected rate fromajlcauses of death in the population asa-whole, she-notetfc&v * ' . ; "Soraechronicdisabling diseases prevent some Indi- vlduals-from becoming employed; in the first place, or force.them to-etopiworUngfmany years prior to their ' death*) these types ofdeathjTare not as prominent withftr.tbr worker population^ste expiaine<lJThis Is whatwe call the healthy worker effect."' ~ : -She*said researchers wfitbe^examining- the work . histories of the 33 union member*.A. case control study of^stomach caneer- fatalities affiw three plants also is undefcway. . r-j . "The-new results Indicate theremay be an increased > frequency ofstomach:cancecsAndTeukemia," she said. Shortly after Imtiatcaacerstudyremits were releas-. edJastspringtNCTand hnQSEk.Wtth.thecooperation of-" the companies, began in-depth epidemiological studies at the refineries. - . .. The NCTs prettndrary brafibancer findings were presented Oct 28 at a New York Academy of Sciences meedng ln New York. At that ttme. Gulf released the , resultant toin-houaestudy into-die deaths of 4,766 of its employees and retirees thatoecnrred between June 13,, 1935,. and Dbc 3U 1979. The death certificates for 4,600 white males wereexamtottE^?^' ' Gull's study, billed by the company as the "largest B j study of refinery employees ever reported In North 8, , America," included OCAW members as well as other fi. union and nonunion employees, said company spokes- < man Kirk Vogeley. I Using a. different statistical methodology, the Gulf I scientists observed 30 brain tumor deaths compared to , an expected 31 brain tumor fatalities. : "In other words, the risk of these workers dying from brain tumors was essentially the same or slightly less than what would be expected for the total population of the United States," according to a Gulf study. , statement Despite company study results, Vogeley said. Gulf is continuing its Investigation and is participating in four, other studies. Including NCL's., "Wehave cooperated with NCI, OCAW, NIOSH in the: NCI study by providing data and assistance. We will' :continue to work with them'In investigating this impor tant matter," the Gulf statement continued. ' Texaco spokesman Mike McDermott said "studies of; Individual cases conducted to date have failed to con firm any-correlation between work-performed'and cause of death." Texaco and Gulf are participating in a study by the : University of Texas, compiling and reviewing mortality records of workers at several sites In both Orange and ; .Jefferson counties. Like Gulf, Texaco is conducting an ^in-house study. ' --In addition, both companies are involved hr a com- : prehensive American Petroleum Institute study exam- 'i ining 100 petroleum refineries (or adverse health effects in the workplace. . Mobil spokesman John Flint said the company has hired the Stanford Research Institute to "conduct an in- i depth study of our entire mortality experience at the -Beaumont refinery. We will share the results with gov ernment agencies as well as anyone else, including em- | ployees, when the study is complete in late L98L" __ p ucc 054120