Document B8nrrBYmYDgeNe5nwzR8NxkmJ

U,S. Unit Defends Vinyl Chloride Curbs9 Saying They Arent Too Hard on Firms By a Wall 3THJEKT Jouhnal Staff Reporter WASHINGTON - A Labor Department report disputed the plastics industry's claim that a proposed government standard for re stricting handling of vinyl chloride would force numerous plastics plants to close. The industry has contended that the pro posed ruling, which would bar exposing workers to any "detectable" amount of the chemical, can't feasibly be met, and the in dustry warns that adoption of the ruling would close down the large part of the plas tics industry that uses vinyl chloride and its derivatives as raw materials. But the government report says flatly that evidence to date doesn't indicate "that promulgation of the proposed standard will stop vinyl chloride production and use." The report, a draft version of an environ mental Impact study an the proposed strict vinyl chloride standard, was made public yesterday at the start of k week of hearings on the standard. The hearings are expected to be dominated by plasUcsrindustry spokes men questioning the scientific research on vinyl chloride and warning of economic dis ruption if the standard is issued. Vinyl chloride, a gas, is thought to be re sponsible for 31 world-wide cases of a rare and fatal liver cancer, angiosarcoma. Tens of thousands of U.8. workers ere directly and indirectly exposed to the chemical daily because it is the base product from which companies make polyvinyl chloride, a pow dery substance used to form a multitude of everyday plastic products. In April, the Labor Department cut workers' allowable exposure to vinyl chlor ide to SO parts per million in the air they breathe. Hie proposed rule being debated at the hearings would slash that further, bar ring any "detectable exposure." The study concedes that "production in some plants could be curtailed if re-engi neering is required," and it predicts "mar ginal" companies may need federal loans to help pay for Improvements. But it says equipment needed to meet the standard doesn't necessarily need to be elaborate, and much progress can be made by Improv ing "poor housekeeping and inadequate CgPnpml Tlrp maintenance." It concludes that "the tech nology appears to be readily available," and thus "substantial development costs" won't be needed. The contradictory industry position, which warns of economic chaos, was at tacked at the hearings by the AFIsCtO as "blackmail." Peter Bommarito, president of the United Rubber Workers Union, said, "This country survived for nearly two hundred years without polyvinyl chloride and we can survive in the future without it." But he also disputed industry contentions that the standard would end polyvinyl chlor ide output, saying older plants-can be al tered, and in new plants the task of meeting the standard is a problem "characterised by the will, not the ability, to do the Job." Mr. Bommarito also accused the indus try of trying to whip up a '`hysterical" pub lic relations campaign predicting the de mise of the industry, and he said the AFLCIO will call for a cugtewlonl investiga tion of the industry's public relations effort. The Industry also proposed its own stan dards for handling vinyl chloride. Instead of barring any "detectable exposure," It urged gradually decreasing exposure ceilings, starting with <0 parts per million this year In polyvinyl chloride plant* to be decreased to as parts in late 1975. In plants handling raw vinyl chloride, the Industry plan calls for a 3S-parta-per-milUon celling th& year, decrearing to 10 parts per million by 1977. in both kinds of plants, ac tual average exposure over an eight-hour day would be less than the full ceiling, due to differing emissions of the chemical at dif ferent times of day. There also was evidence at the hearings, however, that even- average exposures below a lO-parts-per-milUon level can cause disease. Dr. Irving Selikoff, noted occupa tional health researcher, reported ha has found noncancerou* liver dlwaaee among workers at a Dow Chemical CD. plant in Michigan where levels of average exposure last year were generally below 10 part*. He cautioned, however, that it wasn't known whether the diseases we& contracted before or after exposure was dramatically lowered by Dow In the early i960*. UCC 093831