Document B8Gkb4kNDGqkYGdR7N5a1JBg8

er-yinyl link rai Continued From Page One vestigations uncovered at least two dozen deaths of chemical workers from the un usual cancer, which attacked their livers. Seven of the known deaths were among workers at the Goodrich plant on Bells U.S. occupational safety agency, the Society of the Plastics Industry, a leading trade group, has disclosed that Maltonl has found that animals given small amounts of vinyl chloride with their food develop angiosarcoma. The U.S. representative said that ac The cancer was produced in the thymus gland in the neck of the animals. Researchers' reportedly favor the'study of this gland In many cases because of its rapid development during the early years of an animal's life. The researchers have found that angiosarcoma produced by ex Lane. The most recent death occurred cording to the information the agency has posure to vinyl chloride is generally not Tuesday. Two other employes here are received, one experiment performed by' detected until human beings nave been being treated, for the disease. Maltoni involved the addition of 50 milli ' exposed to it for at least 10 years; . Up till now, however, the hulk of the grams of vinyl chloride to each kilogram pressure has been on reducing exposure of food given to laboratory animals. to the chemical, not on looking into what, (There are 1,000 milligrams in a gram happens to people who eat food that has and 1,000 grams in a kilogram, which is been packaged in plastic.' about 2.2 pounds.) The animals devel However, federal regulators did pan. oped angiosarcoma in about 45 weeks. , the use of plastic bottles by the liquor When the ratio of vinyl chloride, lo industry after it w^s found that liquor food was lowered to 16.6 milligrams -per stored in the bottles for several months contained up to -2Q parts of the chemical per million parts of the product Vinyl chloride apparently was leaching out of kilogram -- a'third the dosage -- the animals showed signs of angiosarcoma in 150 weeks, the spokesman said. t: The difficulty with vinyl chloride for the chemical, plastics, and food industries is that thei chemical is extremely un stable. Even when stablized in the form of polyvinyl chloride or so-called PVC, the vinyl chloride has a tendency to break down in tiny'amounts. As the re search on liquor bottles indicated, the vinyl chloride has a tendency to leach out into surrounding materials^: r Polyvinyl-chloride packaging is . ex- the containers into the liquor. The feder al regulators claimed the ban was only precautionary and allowed distillers to sell off liquor that already had been bot tled in plastic. ,: - - - * ' ' ", The plastics industry has already begun research on developing a plastic that will not leach out the vinyl chloride into the material being packaged. _A. According to the spokesman for the ; . ... _J.4J& > ... * of food- A 15 - *THE tOUISVJllE TIMES, THURSPAY, MARCH 13, 1975 . . # ,, 1 v-- :r. . li .' ` * , tremely popular in the food industry, , where it is used in bottles, jars, wrappers and trays used to hold meats. It is also used in. plates, cups, eating, utensils, and chemical In a material. (By contrast, Below 25 parts of vinyl chloride per mil-t. levels of vinyl chloride-In the air are .hon parts of air, the respirators are op-? normally calculated in' parts par million, * not billion.) yy*;7 -~ r- ; food-storage containers. . - , 14 i The B. F. Goodrich Co., in a letter to .The chemical firms that convert- vinyi - . the Food and Drug Administration last ; .month, reported that it could endorse the chloride gas into tiny pellets of polyvinyl-1 chloride, have embarked, on crash proJ use of plastics in the food industry "pro grams aimed at reducing exposures to the. In addition to the seven angiosarcoma. vided there is no detectable monomer (in- chemical. Regulators have cut the max deaths and two workers who are being this case, vinyl chloride) migrating to the imum permissible exposure to 50 parts of treated fqr.tbe.disease here, seven more*' , *ood." (A monomer is a type of <*emiaS the gas per million parts of air.-- a 10th : Of the. Industry'deaths occurred at a Ca-'^ compound.) ; u ,. * * - . the previous standard -- and after April nadian plant now operated-by Goodrich.!-^'. ,. ,, '. , ' Suggest new'techuique . . ,(ti . ,, y.; \. , 1> the industry was to cut operating levels to less than one part per million. How The Goodrich spokesman, however, noted that six of the employes worked for tber:'/- Goodrich suggested an analysis tech-- mque that permits the detection- of ee' little as 50 parts of the chemical per bit-' lion parts of the material being-tested!'A' spokesman noted that "this is the pracr tical definition of zero" presence of', the L______________- ----- '.V /' ever, the industry is waging a legal fight against the April 1 deadline. . - A spokesman for Goodrich yesterday wad the operating levels at the Louisville. plant have been cut to less than six parts per million. .The firm plans' to use res pirators when levels within the plant rise.- - 1 * ' ` ` ~ ' * : % - -r 1 * , -,.r firm that sold the plant to Goodrich and'' the seventh was. ill at the time of thw - 'V plant transfer. ^le said that while other Employe cm-' cer deaths have been investigated by Ca- iinadian experts, none -of the others have ,* been confirmed by autopsies, v.-.-. v*- r. "fe* - r "V"' EC- 2443