Document DDy4ewppkqnZDmBkjmx648Dva

Manufacturing chemists Association OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH COMMITTEE Minutes of Meeting Royal York Hotel September 23, 1976 Toronto, Canada 9:00 a.m. Chairman christofano convened the meeting at The record of attendance is: MEMBERS PRESENT: E. E. Christofano, Chairman W. V. Andresen M- J. Decerbo E. J. Freeman (for W. S. Ferguson) R. D. Fulwiler L. B. Grant Al. W. Hollis TMS. C. Kelton J. E. Long W. A. McClellan H. L. Northrop (for J. Bolton) R. L. 0`Connell (for M. R. Gasque) J. Peterson C. F. Reinhardt W. M. Smith J. R. Venable M. Freifeld Hercules Incorporated American Cyanamid Company Borg-Warner Chemicals Allied Chemical corporation The Procter & Gamble Company PPG Industries, Inc. Ashland Chemical Company Rohm and Haas Company 3m Company Gulf Oil Corporation Stauffer Chemical company Olin Corporation U.S. Steel Corporation E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. The Dow Chemical company MCA Staff MEMBERS ABSENT: L. E. Cassidy J. W. Hammond E. Q. Hull M. N. Johnson E. J. Kerfoot C. S. Laubly G. J. Levinskas Canadian Industries Limited Exxon Chemical Company Union Carbide Corporation B. F. Goodrich Chemical company BASF Wyandotte Corporation Celanese Corporation Monsanto Company CMA 060344 OHC - 167 GUESTS PRESENT: J. H. Dolbear (part time) T. Ellison R. M. Gelburd G. D. Kirk A. W. Lawrence H. Waltemate (part time) ***** Reichhold Chemicals, Inc. Mobil Chemical Company CIBA-GEIGY Corporation Merck & Co., Inc. Koppers Company, Inc. B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company ******* 1. Minutes of Last Meeting Minutes of the Committee's meeting June 17 were approved as distributed. 2. Membership Recent Board approval of Drs. Smith and Hollis' membership brought the Committee to twenty-three leaving one vacancy. There has been a sudden surge of interest among people wanting to join the Committee. To make room for them, the rotation policy will have to be invoked, hence, it was reviewed briefly. 3. Health and Standards Subcommittee 3.1 Hexavalent Chromium NIOSH has conducted surveys and proposed a standard about six months ago which permitted essentially no exposure. A question was raised regarding the underlying prinicples for NIOSH's labeling of some chromates as carcinogens but not others. The group preferred to wait and see what position OSHA might take before undertaking any action. 3.2 Benzene Dr. Reinhardt commented that a National Research Council study had found an association between benzene and leukemia but that NIOSH had gone a step further and implied a causal rela tionship. in NIOSH's recent update on benzene, which had been mailed to the Committee, an exposure limit of 1 ppm was proposed. This figure is intended to represent the limit of analytical reli ability. CMA 060345 OHC 168 The secretary reported having heard that OSHA in tends to promulgate an emergency guide at 10 'ppm shortly and issue a permanent standard later. This should allow everyone concerned time to have a look at the problem. The NIOSH document was thought to be lacking in several respects. Perhaps the most important was considered to be the absence of a careful epidemiological study since those cited could be faulted. It was noted that some other organizations were interested and active in regard to benzene. These are ORC (Organization Resources Counselors) and API (American Petroleum Institute) A work group was appointed consisting of Dr. Venable as Chairman protem, Dr. Kelton and Dr. O'Connell. An initial charge to them was to try to learn where inhalation toxicology work was being done. 3.3 Personal Protective Equipment As Effective Health Controls The control of auditory impairment through the use of ear plugs was cited as a good case in point. This was easier to accomplish with noise than in other instances since noise can be measured readily. Questions regarding the effectiveness of respira tory equipment were raised and this was proposed as a suitable area for investigation. Another observation probably worth pursuing is that we do not know how to design a good bag-dump-station for dusty materials. In a related remark, Mr. Christofano said that NIOSH has an engineering research division which is funded at ap proximately 3.5 million dollars per year. A work group was formed to pursue some of these ideas with Dr. Rick Fulwiler as Chairman plus Messrs. Decerbo, Andresen and Kirk. Mr. Waltemate indicated the Safety and Fire Protection committee would probably want to participate in this activity, hence, he would be in touch with us regarding a liaison person. This group was given the broad charge of making recommendations as appropriate regarding health protection methods for given risks. its title is to be Work Group on Health Protec tion Methods. CMA 060346 OHC - 169 4. Revision of Safety Data Sheets 4.1 Salt as Emetic - Alternatives Since the decision has been made to eliminate the recommendation in MCA literature to use salt for emesis, it was felt alternatives should be provided. Suggestions included the induction of vomiting by drinking several glasses of warm water and sticking finger down throat, then calling a physician or Poison Control Center. There was general agreement that Syrup of Ipecac was unsuitable in an industrial situation. It was recognized that the opinion of spokesmen for the Poison Control Centers and other experts would have to be taken into account. A letter from Dr. J. E. Weaver, The Procter & Gamble Company, dated August 27 was mentioned by Mr. christofano. Dr. Weaver suggests consideration be given to the use of phosphate "builders", commonly employed in detergents, as emetics. Dr. Reinhardt agreed to formulate a proposed state ment after soliciting the opinion of recognized authorities on health aspects of commodity chemicals. This is to be sent to the Committee as a letter ballot but Mr. Christofano suggested it should be voted on only by physicians. When a statement has been agreed on by the Committee it will be sent to the Labels and Pre cautionary Information Committee. The question of when emesis should be recommended also has to be addressed. Drs. Ellison and Long agreed to develop proposed guidelines on this matter. Dr. Grant cautioned that the final product should be tested to make this type of determination since a simple inspection of the formulation can be misleading. 4.2 Phenol There was nothing new to report. 4.3 MCA Publication Program The request for comments outlined in Mr. Clark's letter of September 9 was reviewed. In this connection, the eight recommendations of the Legal Advisory Committee were discussed. The strongest support was given to the idea that the MCA staff should be expanded and augmented by help from outside experts as needed. This should speed the process and take much of the burden i CMA 060347 OHC 170 rom industry participants. The development of a bibliography was cited as a good example for applying this type of approach. Seri ous doubt was expressed as to the feasibility of implementing the recommendation to notify purchasers of SDS1s about significant chan ges made in later editions. Overall, the Committee strongly favored the continuation of MCA1s Safety Publication Program. For the record it was unanimously agreed that the Occupational Health Committee recommend that changes be made in the Safety Publication Program along the lines recommended by the Legal Advisory Committee, which will require a considerable expen diture of funds and effort. 5. Proposed Special Projects 5.1 Joint API Study - Mortality of Petrochemical Workers The Secretary reported that discussions were being held with Mitre corporation and Dr. Tabershaw regarding the develop ment of the scope and specific protocols for the captioned project. It now appears that Dr. Tabershaw is best qualified for this task and that he will probably be awarded the contract to proceed. When the initial phase has been completed, the Committee will have to iecide whether to request funds for the study itself from the Board rof Directors. 5.2 Tumor Registry Dr. O'Connell described a proposal of September 17, 1976 from the University of Texas System Cancer Center, M- D. Ander son Hospital and Tumor Institute. He and Dr. McClellan, who also reviewed it, found the proposal to be quite impressive. The cost is expected to be in the range of $200,000.00 to $250,000.00 per year for the first three years. Overall, this proposal appears to be superior to the one received from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in some ways. The Secretary will distribute the document received from M. D. Anderson to the Committee (done). 5.3 University of Louisville The Secretary brought to the Committee's attention a project under Dr. Tamburro at the University of Louisville on the early detection of disease due to exposure to certain chemicals. Initially, a study of vinyl chloride workers is being undertaken but plans call for continuing this work with other materials. Further more, it is felt much of what is learned will be capable of general ization at least for certain classes of chemicals. CMA 060348 OHC 171 The portion of this work dealing with known methods of detection is funded by the National Cancer Institute. A second part of the work deals with the development of new methods for de tection, which is expected to take about three years. The companies supporting the vinyl chloride research under MCA administration have underwritten the first year of Dr. Tamburro's work. However, in view of the potential broad benefits from the total project, it was felt consideration should be given to obtaining wider support for the development of new techniques. The proper route to accomplish this would be by having OHC make such a recommendation to the Board. The rate of expenditure for this project is expected to be $200,000.00 per year. It was decided to await the receipt of at least an initial report on this work before making any recommendations. 6. Liaison 6.1 Safety and Fire Protection Committee 6.1.1 Workshop at Toronto The success of this function scheduled for the fol lowing day seemed assured, the Secretary reported, since the program was a good one and approximately 260 people had pre-registered. 6.1.2 1977 workshop Mr. Pardee, Chairman of S&FPC, said that Committee is developing plans to hold next year's Workshop at the Marriot Hotel in New Orleans. The dates tentatively selected are September 8, 1977 for the Committee meeting and September 9, 1977 for the Workshop. Their chairman for this function is Mr. Dennie L. Dowell. Dr. O'Connell was commended for a job well done in preparing for the ses sion at hand and agreed once again to coordinate the arrangements for the next Workshop. 6.2 Chemical Industry Association The proposed meeting in Great Britain next spring is also planned as a cooperative effort with S&FPC. Mr. Pardee in dicated approximately ten members of that Committee expect to make this trip and five OHC members at the meeting indicated they might participate also. The arrangements with the British, Mr. Pardee said, are still vague and in the formative stages. The thinking CMA 060349 OHC 172 now is that the meeting should take place in April or May and be of about one week duration. It was suggested that separate agendas be developed for safety and health. 6.3 American National Standards Institute Since OSHA may no longer legally rely on consensus standards, it was recommended that OHC discontinue liaison with this organization. 6.4 American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) It was felt the AIHA does carry on some meaningful work in the area of occupational health standards, hence, Dr. Long suggested that liaison with them be continued. 6.5 Labels and Precautionary information Committee It was agreed one good way to keep in touch with LAPIC was to request that minutes of their meetings be sent to OHC officers and for OHC to offer its minutes to their officers. 6.6 Chemical Regulation Advisory Committee group. - Dr. Ellison was named as liaison person with this 7. Gaffey Paper on Epidemiology This paper was modified slightly to satisfy a com ment made during staff review and is now ready for printing and dis tribution as an MCA publication. 8. Miscellaneous Chairman Christofano mentioned a recent letter from Dr. Norton Nelson inviting representation at a planned meeting at NYU Medical Center on dimethylcarbamoyl chloride and its diethyl analog. Some members present were aware of this meeting and expec ted their companies to have representatives present. A symposium on public information in the prevention of occupational cancer will be conducted under National Research Council auspices on December 2 and 3, 1976 in Washington, D.C. Comments and data regarding proposed rulemaking on noise from the American Paper Institute September 7, 1976 were cited. CMA 060350 o OHC - 173 9. Schedule of Future Meetings The following dates were selected for meetings in Washington, D.C. except as noted: December 8, 1976 March 8, 1977 June 28, 1977 September 8, 1977 (in Hew Orleans) December 7, 1977 The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. It MF:ec November 8, 1976 Minutes Subject to Approval Secretary Occupational Health Committee * CMA 060351