Document EvJZoBBwvEeKeQ1aYBy0Gz8dL

I H*?.CH 1st, 1??4 1 |A 6 TH LOUlSVair TIMES, TSSDAY, MARCH 1, W 9 t. * a %si'=sa^isS iil i Sf %?%M if* g I ff ; StaS-' V68& %B V ^5?%*# f5 I ;--:S j? Jf 3 . a W>sV>S3^S S i5=? %J=C=s3 -^s By DONALD >1. HOUGHTON - ' sod DENNIS TOUTS " ' VJas^S rr=*f Sisg WrNr* chloride Worker in 1963. At that time, Goodyear said its investigation was con- Uniting. A chemical worker *l tbs Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co, plant in Niagara r"Ails, N, .. died ia 1961 oi a me form of easeer of Ibo liver siauinr to Uis caricer that The 1961 death was of a chemical oper ator In a vinyi-chlorido processing area who had been exposed to the chemical for 35 years. killed at kart five 5. T. Goodrich Co. em The 1961 death is also the earliest now ployes ia Louisville. under investigation for a possible link with the worker's exporare to the cbemi- i Goodyear today conUmed a check of cals. The five known Goodrich deaths oo- ; its tftsdieal records uncovered the death canr4 between 1964 and last Docerabtr < from htm&saiot-Ttdothej soma. * reiativejy and the- first three were reported by tfce j-ars cancer vl the liver, TL*e company company in Sale January. noted lst medics! suthpriiie. consider ft to be jiraiisr to ahcioiwvonsx. At leart five Goodrich employes hire tiiecumbed to 5S>osroK&& and e sixth it hospital ized with it, A sooting has been scheduled tensorrow ia YVaashington at which medical au thorities will attempt to establish fi better yet of procedures for eatii*r detection to liver problems among rinyi- and poly* ) - Tho Louisville cestt-s of worker* tx- vjftyjchloride workers. Another group pssod to vinyl znA poiyrinyl chloride-- Of medical experts will be meeting with, two dicmicals basic to the pisstic* indus officials oi the Center for Disease con try--have sparked art international in- trol and the National Institute for Occu rcrfissSoa oi a possible link between the pational Safety and Health. SKraiCih and liver diseases. Ur. Joseph Wagoner, director of field Earlier this week GoodyCir scknowl- studies and clinical investigations for the . edged that the inUlal review of its Ni agara Falls health records b*d revealed a 1970 death from a hematoma, or mails- National Institute, said the investigators haven't ruled out the possibility that \ * mat center, of the liver ceils end two other diteases caused by the exposure * am i cirrhosis oi the liver, one of to the chemicals iavolvcd in the rnfnuist- ' which had proved fatal to a polyvinyl- taring process may be found. Copies to: A. Vittone R. D. Scott J. L. Nelson H. Waltemate B. M. G. Zwicker G. Pow / , W. J. Wilcox/ P. J. Weaver E, B. Osborne R. P. Kenney/A. L. Hatfield/C. R. Flynn Date: J't/"7^ From: E. W. Harrington T o o ^ iv z m 1 1 March 2nd, !SjN TH iO'JlSVJUC TIMES, SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1974 Af Goodrich Ti~r-' -r ~ .1 r.-------------- olarif -- - \k9 ^y f* P & ^ t* I '4s^ a YpS/je*, S4 |H *B?k 5 ; ' 3 si ! -fej s W S *e S V %# S gpf^r^ Ma a SrDF-yKK POLITH shown signs of ebnormsUHea la two mi DOSAW H. KOCCMTOA* earlier tests had shewn positive cancer Leyawf* VM Wrtttr signs in a liver-scars test but he said com A $tvs.^:b B. F. Gcywicicb -empsoyc hs* been diagnosed * hsving angiosarcoma, & rare cascw o? the liver. . The 44-j-f.v-oia Louisville chemical worker* eanaliloa *w diagnosed folloH-. Jag surgery. He is the- second local man pany medical officials had not pinpointed the type of cancer involved. Liter the company informed Or. J, Bradford Bloch, mecicai consulUnt to the Kentucky Do* ptiS.ment of Labor, that the- man had angiosarcoma. to he horgiuliied with the rare disease tferi list year killed only si American* Testieg et employe* Increase* assssrdirg ;o Use test record> available, Fire e<ajcal worker* at she firm's Bells Lane plant died r-f the disease si 'various times between 1554 and Iasi De cember. Word of the deaths has sparked tn tntertEUvnsi exansiostio.} ms^cji record* sad review of safety techeitjaej in playir rueh as the os* m LouisviH* The company sopkesman *1 con. firased report* that tbs number of warsons being given livcr-scan tesu after hav ing shown abnorrosiitie* in earlier test* hss now increased to 23. Previously the company had said there were 18 worker* who required Jiver-scan tests. ttat vinyl sad polyvinyl cbJor* Coverament end company medical au ids, foie issferkis for tbs plastics in* thorities throughout the 6^K>isploye duray. vinyl and polyvinyl Industry are in the Iseaswhilc medics! efforts to develop midst ef reteatch and studio* aimed st ibefier icst-jag iastusds So proriSe earlier ua-rovering any link* between contact detreiioa <4 tb eoeupstiesai disease may with the chemical* and disease* betides have jaiiicrod s setbacks A lver t e=t that the rare liver cancer. tthbUiaU .idar.ites fcsd hpped rjjtpt pro. In the latest case, the chemical worker VHi canr of 2|posspc*.nta was had been at the plant lor SO yean. iJe war gWcs*. to a manber of Goodrich employes. cue cf 55 workers vriso showed tbnormali- As] s& tes-ts, jndifding ii no ad- ties in preliminary test* conducted he- mfenattgi-i i? the other known Jiving vic tween lari October and early Lcctnnber. tim ci tbs iD-v-stc, shewed negative re. Toe man showed positive mult* follow, salts., Lile the seventh victim, tits sixth inf a liver scan snd. after additional tcsU, man's ceadiioa vtv* cc.afinr.ed after a surgery wa* periormed- The `'cperatiag Swr bir-bty, or rsstple, tm removed tabic diagnosis" was angiosarcoma and wrgicssiy. p,4iholosia} elide* of the liver sample Ycp.crcay * Goodrich spokesman con- have been taken for further analysis. Dr. firmed that one t 35 employe* who had Biocfc siid. cn o SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1974 t SECTION B in 7th worker 'at Goodrich - By DAK' KAUFFMAN C*riV-S*e?M4 KtH W*B*r ' - A seversilt B.F. Goodrich employe has a rare liver cancer, in? cancer was discovered ycsiercUy aiierccoo during as eipiorsiorj' operation a s Louisville hospital according to a state oifieiaL The sixth and seventh -rici-ms of the disease, angiosarcoma of the liver, are -still alive. The firsi five died between ~1$S4 and last December. Farther surgery will not be done on .. the two surviving men. bat a form of chemotherapy using internal rasiaiioa may be tried, according to Dr. J. Brad ford Block. The names of the two men haven't been released. ; Slock, who is head of the medical program for the sisic Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said the seventh insn. who is 44. has worked at : the poijrvioyl chloiidc piwtie opera tion st the Belts Lent plant for aboat SOyeat*. ' All of the cancer victims arc long-time employe of the first, and doctor* be lieve the cancers are alines certainly job-related- . A company public relations offlrial - confinaed Isrt night that the operation -was performed yesterday but he said it wu his nndcrslanding that the diagnosis Vras incomplete. Block said hs confirmed . i&e diagnosis with the company physician. Vinyl chloride, a gas used to make .: polyvinyl chloride plastic. ?? the agent suspected Of caofiog lha cancer. : ' Bats capped to the gas t rates a* low ` a* 250 part* per million part* of air have developed malignant tumors. The company" adopted a limit of $0 per million for the gas last summer. Block believe* the cancers prshsbiy . suited irons high exposure to the gas early if! the mens' careers at Goodrich. Goodrich tm the first to announce deaths from the cancer, bat since then other firms have begun to search Useir records and discovered that some of their piratic workers have contracted lbo dis case. ''Yesterday Goodyear Tire and Rubber ; Co, announced that one of its vinyl chlo ride workers died in 1981 of a rare form of liver cancer sitr.ilsr to the Goodrich cancers. The man had worked in the C-sodyesr plant at Niagara Fails, N.Y., for 15 years. Goodyear he* since ceased Its vinyl chloride operation*. It Rill task?* poly vinyl chloride plasic bui purchases the vinyl chloride. Tba Goodrich company makes its vinyl chloride at a plant In Calvert City. K>\, and ships it to LouisviiiC. No d$:ih* or cancers have been reported at the Calvert City plant. Other companies that have reported at toast oat death include Sbt Union Csrside Co. it its plant is South Charles ton, W. Vi., and imperial Cbermeal, Ltd., in England. The seventh man with the rare cancer at the Goodrich plant was in a group of 33 men reeesny transferred out of the polyvinyl chloride operations because blood tests had indicated liver abnormali ties. Further X-rays and other tests also indicated liver abnormalities in lb? one case, Block said, and lha biopsy yesterday confirmed the cantor. A company spokesman said ths liver X-rays of the other 14 men hare shown no abawwalitjes- Tbe company spokesman added that a test which it was believed might detect ajigiotiircma earlier has baa given to 23 employes, including the seventh roan, without showing any peafive results- The procedure, called the slpba-foeioprotein test, hss been used for earlier detection of other kinds of JKar cancer and officials hoped that it also might Indicate the angiosarcoma. 24246003