Document Bygd1yDvjoXL8gq5BZR6Kkjjj

( Newspaper cutting from Dagens Nyheter of November 12th lv '. Is plastic also a cancer risk? Eight workers at Stigens Fabriker outside Gother.hur7 havcancer since 1962. This is an alarmingly high figure - : r i r.: at a company with only a couple of hundred employees. men have all been working very long with this company an.-i : were between 40 and 65 years. The Industrial Welfare Safety i' ; is now going to investigate whether there are any connect: . these accidents and the working milieu. / 4 At Stigens Fabriker there is no asbetos but they have v: chemicals with codes or with foreign descriptions, moot: y unV.r to the workers. These eight men are not connected to .each their work fields neither did they die of the same sort ct c.i.v.- The investigation will be rather complicated. There are v.tr: vj . of cancer involved such as leukemia, lungcancer and kidney special product is referred to usome of the workers had h mr with plastics. Especially in the case of 2 men who had lc-uk Mr B Bucht at The industrial Welfare Safety Board says the: it known that a special type of cancer in the liver can be caunc-d vinyl chloride. If this is the case at Stigens one does r.ct r.c sure, as there are only reports from relatives at hand er.d r.ot medical evidence. As to dyeing it is not known that ready-mace colours could be causing cancer. However some basic ingredients are suspected to cause cancer. Around 2000 people in Sweden are working with armed plasm in the yachting industry and especially with Styrene. -m Styrene is a solution easily set on fire and it is used when pr plastic. The smell is very strong and it also irritates the eye- well as the respiratory organs. Styrene is also crying cu_ the and irritates. Styrene comes into the blood stream, z'r.roup; or when inhaling. Sofar one has thought the most dancereus wit Styrene was that it influences the brain and nerve syc\ A F-, investigation shows that someone working with Styrene c elev. reactions than normally. This is when 200-300 ppm are four.: at working area. Some countries have lower limit values. TSA aru Germany for instance have 100 ppm but Sweden anc manv cthtru ha 50 ppm as the limit. Soviet has 1.2. RSV 0006491 ..aNSLATION CONTftD ./ Pt*i;C 2. But especially within the yachting industry these limits areexceeded. There is no real proof sofar that Styrene is causing cancer hut the suspicion is enough to start a big investigation. It will a difficult task as the Styrene is turned into Styrene-epoxy ins the body. One has not yet been able to follow this procedure ;;u it is known that epoxy causes cancer. The styrene epoxy geos int the urine and when it has left the organism it is no longer z'r.c dangerous epoxy. There are no prooved cases of Styrene causing cancer. But it can take up to 10-20 years before realising i-. As to asbestos the case is clear and there is no point in waicir. too long for Styrene. English scientists showed in the 1950 that it is possible tr.zz Styrene epoxy causes cancer. Russian scientists showed.last year that female rats, which had been given small doses of Styrene, got their foetus poisoned. In Sweden last year an investigation prooved that germs exposed to Styrene got chromosome damages. T fear is now that Styrene can cause genetic damages. The problem is now to tie all loose ends together to get proof for or against Styrene . The question is - are the limit values too high? /mj RSV 0006492