Document Exjd5p0xrn1beNJdYmrBn96on

oc (itp/ Di, 1 IndustryI T>ro ; Cry Wolf? Polyvinyl ^By STEVEN RATTNER 1 ' r^`. : I,flic ri I/ I, a irndo assonation representing ncs-hy ill of thf chemical inanufacHirers using vinyl chloride ` gas, a proven i_ju.se of ranver. inarched into federal < court in an attempt lo over turn strict Labor Dcpaitment , Health standards about to - go mto effect "The standard." the ompnnies said in tiuur conn papers, "is simply beyond the compliance capabilities of the industry" They otfered dire warnings of plant closings, job losses, price in1 creases and massive econom ic dislocation. After all, poly vinyl chloride, vinvl cldor- 1 idc's principal derivative, is a SI billion industry turning onl goods ranging Irnm plas tic water pipe lo bologna packaging. The legal appeals piovC`1 futile; industry was loircd lo comply. But one year lat er, not one of the doomsday I predictions has proved ami- rate. 'f All the produce!s are oper- / ating within the strict OccuJ pational Safety and Health \ Administration standards, i'The price of polyvinyl chlbr ide has been running about 10 percent below 1974 highs and supplies are plentiful. i And although one small plant is closing its doors, four new ones are coming on stream. The success of the eompa nies in meeting Government standards denounced only a short time earlier as unwork able has led to renewed ques tioning, particularly in Government circles, of indus try's credibility. ft's hard to suv whether they were crying wnll," says R, M. Kossoti. a plastics cnil- Chloride Health Rules Can Be Met suit ant "I he acid test is lhat in a short period of lime, they have proved that they can lick the problem." Industry executives sav now that they oncos^d the health standards because thev thought, they were unneces sarily strict and they weren't certain they could meet them "We were frankly surprised by some of the results" of the cleanup effort, acknowl edged R N, Wliceler. Jr., a vinvl technical i-upcrmtend cut of Union Carbide Lor-\ piiration Vinyl chloride first became an issue in .lanuaiv. 197-1 vv'lii'u the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Company, a sub sidiary of the big tire maker and the. largest of the pofvv inyl chloride producers, an nounced that it had discov ered that the 1968 death of an employee was due to an giosarcoma, a very rare can cer of the liver Similar discoveries fol lowed. with 17 deaths in all of the industry, and health en forcement officials moved in. OSHA initially settled on a vinvl chioride concentra tion limit of 50 parts per million in plant atmospheres which the industry consid ered fair. In fart, herause of earlier indications that vinyl chloride could cause less m-iions ailments, noariv AV<*o* >v N> .V vVW\ V l* T X' V s? V- w V Continued on Poge 7 ucc 093722