Document GeERLDbMQyG7eYkwQ96r3Gkv

flHS COOUE8-K>CKy4;|lIO*Y. fEMLAHY , WI Nader group asks government to ban use of vinyl chloride "Beauty parlor operators and con WASHINGTON -- Ralph Nadert sumer* are using the vinyl chloride," he Health Research Group asked the federal said. "This chemical may represent sooth government yesterday to ban the use of er thalidomide," Wolfe said. Be did not vinyl chloride in aerosoliied cosmetic*, identify any product brand names. pesticides and other household product*. The Natter petitions to ban the chem 1 Several cases of a rare tlTer cancer icals in aerosols were sent to the Food have been found among vinyl chloride workers ia * B F. Goodrich Co. chemical plant in Louisville, and in a plant oper ated by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Niagara Fails. Vinyl chloride, a basic chemical in the plastics industry, is the foundation for hundreds of consumer products. - i and Dreg Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Envi ronmental Protection Agency, In letters to the three agency beads, the Nader group asked them to make publie the brand name* of all aerosol consumer products and cosmetic* that contain vinyl chloride. ^ i Dir. Sidney k. Wolfe, director of the research group, said s tigaifieaBl amount of vinyl chloride is used as a propellant in aerosol container*. | Wolfe told a Senate Health subcom mittee that a source in . the cosmetic in dustry informed him that vinyl chloride is going Into suds cosmetic tnwali as haJrsprar*. ... . 24250002 BFG29749 i*ln West Virginia, England ; r ...........-....... --------------------n ________________ _ _____ "i TBE. CDIJKIEE'JQUKUL, 2 more deaths tied to FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 33, 1934 USK3 *' ' By KEITH RUNYON CMrWr-NamsI UM WrtUr '.-I polyvinyl . "Angiosarcoma. the rare liver cancer ..that caused the deaths of at least five %nploy of the polyvinyl chloride msnu- (acturins unit of the B.F. Goodrich Co. in Louisville. reportedly killed a worker In West Virginia .i years ago and another However, Ute teats conducted so far - more recently la Great Britain. have not proved that ths monkeys have . . A spokesman for the Union Carbide angiosarcoma.. .Corp. In South Charleston, W. Va,, saht Their conditions, according to Block, . lost night that an employe of the plant's will be closely watched to sec If, and bow fast, tbe angiosarcoma develops. It may polyvinyl chloride division who died in 1968 had angiosarcoma. ontucky bu possible to relate tbe time the dlsesso develop* In the monkeys to its rate of And the medical conaultaat to the Ken progression in humans. tucky Department cl Labor, conferring Block said that be, Kentucky's Labor with cancer researcher* In Cincinnati jev Commissioner James Yocom. and other terday. learned of the death o( an em officials of that department who visited ploye of England's Imperial Chemical Ltd. Another polyvinyl chloride worker In West Germany also Is said to have died of angiosarcoma. The Union Carbide spokesman report ed that medical records of 723 present ) and past employes were screened to tie- The Kettering institute, which con ducts epidemiologic studies (Involving diseases in groups of animals), initiated * study in 1888 to determine the relation ship. if any, between aerooateolysis, a : bone disease, and polyvinyl chloride, ac-j cording to Block. } the Cincinnati facility hope that the Uni versity of Louisville Medics! Behoofs, cancer researcher* can participate in the., study. He said a meeting between offi cials of the two schools is in the offing. Goodrich has announced that five of its employes died between 1G84 and tut De cember of angiosarcoma. Another man ; termine whether any had suffered from 8.K, Goodrich financed that study, said who worked in tbe polyvinyl chloride di angiosarcoma. The persons screened Block, but the official observations ended vision has developed the cancer, but la worked in the polyvinyl chloride units in 18 months ago when the funding stopped. still living, South Charleston and in Texas City, Tex. Vinyl chloride, the gas from which poly- ' The firm is investigating the Hnk be Of those reviewed, the records In dicated that only one man -- who worked in the South Charleston plant from 1344 to 1862 -- was a victim ef the rara dia1 ease, the spokesman said. Meanwhile. Dr. J. Bradford Block, con; sullant to the slate labor department which la investigating the Goodrich em ployes' deaths, yesterday visited the Ket vinyl chloride Is derived, was injected tween angiosarcoma and the men's work Into the monkeys* paw*.- Since these in ing environment. AD of tfe men who died jection* in 1808. they have,languished in of tbe disease worked at some point la their cages while the scientist* wait to see ths polyvinyl chloride production unit. if disease sets lo. Polyvinyl chloride has been manufac Recent tests indicate that- the monkeys tured commercially for more than 35 developed not only bone problems, but yean* It is used to produce items such aa also abnormalities of the livor., phonograph records, some food contain- .era, wire insulation and floor Ule. tering Institute of the University et Cin cinnati. where research involving mon keys may shed light on the cause and treatment possibilities for angiosarcoma. BfO^150 & oO o Cri 1 ` The Cincinnati Post aad TUbm-Sut wuhwfar.MK^im of P"3p* J'tf . Oriniag it the' word for ti* story off to a group of mearcben a Ktsteriae human tragedy tisri llagere these essay' 'vl*besito*y."i ' v-r yara after the old Cmrfasai.Cheeaeal Sense workers and fesasar wttot Co. moved away cran town. . say the cscsoniy reads --tWc <f* No, ft is more than duffing. We caofm to having felt a how d moral rage es Richard Gibe&u's scholarly and balanced series oo the specter of bessi<8ne unfolded in vs local news pages re cently. . - , farts to notify teryjaa wl sas'gd have bess'exposed.-Others, teiasag oa* whs ^esd mad af Hs wwtii^j tMeSm* with the tb sad'whs still Sves here, told H?a Post &ey cmr heard sheet Jgsvsa's 11-year* study i their fafiew workers. - : v. Apparently It was not widely known or accepted to this country until the 1350? that benzidme, a compound used in the production cf dyestuffs, bad been closely linked to cancer of the bladder. Doctors la Europe sounded warnings a* arty as 1*29, but American workmen were being regularly and unknowingly exposed to benzidine as late as 195&, Not until last July, it seems, was there a public disclosure of the benzidine i epidemic of 1958. That was when Zavon'si study of the epidemic was published in tbe Archives of Environmental Health. Tbe study identified Cincinnati Chemical only as a "local chemical plant" Such disclosure could be called "public" only; by straining the definition. 4! THAT WAS the year an employe of Cincinnati Chemical, a division of Toma River Chemical Corp., was found to bave Madder tamer. Twenty-five men who had boot making the stuff were examhied by doctors. Four were found to have caacer of tbe bladder; two had nonmalignant tumors. Medical records indi- catc three others had ameers confinsed ia 1957. "limited swveillance" of this "oriiti* ta] exposed gnwFwot on onta im U anvooe may be thanked for pulling the self-serving cloak of secrecy from; tins episode it is a termer enplojw of tbe! National Institute for Occupational Safo- ty *nd Health (NTOSH). Ia a cooyersa-j t* with Gibean, be told of having leani- d of a study of a "horrendous" local example of job-related hazards. .| hi fairness to those who somehow! . failed to tec this m human as well asj statistical terms, it's true that the Da tioo'sannual toll of job-related death and< iundertheleadership of Dr. Mitchell 'Zavotv then anassocU^ of VCs Ketter- ing Laboratory. By that tin*, however,' the company bad been gone from Cndnpat! mote than a decade. Tbe 630 people worked for it herein various^- disease has only recently received tbe atteotwo it has long deserved. Society today demands a hher dtgree of confar-public welfare. People have a right to decide for themselves what ha*, ardstbey are waling to risk on tbe Job, ; ties had retired or taken other jobs. ' Contrast tie conduct of Toms River] Even though their exposure *f>qd Chemical Corp. nice 1958 with B. F#i years ago, tbe 25 workers ad others not Goodrich Ca, a firm which is Involved at m the study have continued to develop present in a similar situation. .j j Madder tanor*. At least one ease occur- A RARE CANCER of the liver is the] red within the past year. Medical opinion specter that hangs over the louasvfliai understandably is divided in atcalioas as pUm of B. F. Goodrich, four workwkj complicated as this. But respecXabie an- who <Sed of that disease bad bees ex- thortfy apparently can be marshalled to posed to vinyl chloride in the production argue that exposure to becridine,for $8 of polyvinyl chloride. Goodrich jwblidy days carries wfih it a latent risktor up to . disclosed the..situation, pledged to- year*. . ' tooperate with NIOSH and is notifying; ;* GIVEN THIS possibility--maybe femSia of wort*tof subfwpieat devefc! even probatality--that people who work cpmenta. v . ] with benzidise get cancer, were warn- As commendabte as these new atti-. tat Widely spread? The answer is a ;tadare,assignificantadtfcey stand'to! dxckh^XO-AsGibeaarepoited: ' lean's long fight to gain some voice in : **Fbr 15 years tbe harvest of tsssxn his own datwy. ttay are snail solace to i tono^g Cincinnati Chemical woriters re- of bena&ne and hundreds of : mafrwri essentially a private chreskfe. *i- hazardous indostrial materials. Beyond conpany rircles, the shay was We're not suggesfhag that medical known to several Cjacamati urologists searches rush into print at each flicker , who treated the workers, to state sgen- f susplcks. But the bsa*y of tins chy4 cks with responsibility tor investigating could do witfws another chapter as darfcvj and approving compensation claims and ' as that of the (Ttxinoati Chemical Q>. ISLCZOdH 24250004 L z<;l6ZO&& 24250005 I~ I$u|A HUM. Ssppa*'.. ! mu* ww jo (tuoj iej ( . ohm *a.(0{da taoqe i*axr.of-^*ynoO m ttuayi %m*o. mam Xq pav*d< M*> *FR ) IV P(&1 pWRJ TP*f; qttf aqt 4poj* ca oouspSKMO qwwoagv 0 VStflP PPt* *Kj; Booajws opnng pNoputsf pwuj? :; |Xte}Jk. hum itOM mag aujuuimp saeraa! ai*q 03* ta<o{U3 uu -9* vJ<Ksas4aiQ3 i.ttau-vaA jaqm'ta* jo oon^nmsf w Jiupim *} t |ta>5 *tJ m `*ni-^Vd-<l *P x**jx ts -- *2 *i8a4iuivaj ' mtinwr h*qmi I ?i f paisanbai n iCp&isi 9ii80i apuogqd jitojil tut *rx VHvnsaij *j.vaiHi `Tvv?.ior-K3mrioo agt, r THE WASHINGTON POST February 22, 1974 COSMETIC COMPLAINTS by Nancy L. Ross The cosmetics industry yesterday told a Senate health subcommittee it had an excellent safety record -- only 9,700 injuries last year ~ and no additional regulation, especially pre-marketing clearance by the Food and Drug Administration, was necessary. Testimony came on the second and final day of hearings to revise cosmetics laws. Under questioning by Senator Thomas Eagleton (D-Mo.), J. Richard Edmonson, chairman of the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, did concede, however, that industry could live with mandatory registration of manufacturers, filling of formulas with the FDA and reporting of verified complaints. Industry representatives balked when the senator asked them to respond to a subcommittee questionnaire detailing the total number of complaints they received annually, brand names of the offending products, the total value of their advertising budgets compared to their safety testing budgets and how much they had paid out in damage suits. Companies seemed willing to comply only on the condition the information not be made public. Earlier, consumer advocate Ralph Nader had accused the industry of contradicting itself. He said: "On one hand, they tend to minimize adverse reactions from cosmetics and boast of how safe they are. But at the same time, they strongly oppose mandatory programs of adverse reaction reporting with public disclosure and don't want the government forcing them to prove their products safe." BFG29753 (more) 24250006 i 2--THE WASHINGTON POST/ The Health Research Group, a Nader organization, yesterday asked the government to ban vinyl chloride, a propellant for aerosols, including inexpensive hairsprays. A derivative of vinyl chloride, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has recently been linked to the deaths of five plastics workers in Kentucky. A sixth worker has also contracted the rare form of liver cancer. Dr. Wolfe said he did not know how many personal and household products contained vinyl chloride because no ingredient labeling is legally required on cosmetics. He asked FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt to make the brand names public. Dr. Wolfe maintains a manufacturer he declined to identify told him recently vinyl chloride was still being used in hairsprays. A spokesman for Dow Chemical, which makes vinyl chloride, said it had recommended in Hay 1973 that the propellant not be used for personal products. A spokesman for Aerosol Age magazine said vinyl chloride was no longer in wide use. CTFA presented an ^Arthur D. Little Inc. study showing that review of the 25,000 cosmetics now on the market would take "all of the estimated 1,340 qualified experimental and veterinary pathologists now practicing in the U.S. half of their time for 30 years and would cost $6.5 billion." These figures were challenged by Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe of the Health Research Group, who said the cost would be much less due to duplication of cosmetics and because many marginal products would be eliminated at the very prospect of government scrutiny. -0- BFG29754 n 24250007 BUSINESS POLICIES - THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS, INC. WASHINGTON, D.C. - FEBRUARY 21, 1974 The Health Research Group, meanwhile, petitioned CPSC, the Food and Drug Adminis tration, and me Knvironmom&i Protection Agency to ban the use of vinyl chloride in aerosolized cosmetics, including hairsprays, in aerosolized household products, and in pesticides, on grounds, "there is substantial evidence that vinyl chloride is a carcinogen." The petitioner Is a public interest group funded by Ralph Nader's Public Citizen group. The research group declared: "Vinyl chloride is known to be used as a propellant for aerosols. The chronic toxicity and evidence of carcinogenicity of vinyl chloride monomer for humans has been documented by scientific studies and clinical reports. Immediate action Is necessary to regulate the use of tlie chemical since there is no evidence to show dial human beings can be safely exposed to the chemical. "Vinyl chloride monomer* which is used in making polyvinyl chloride (FVC), has re ceived much attention ih the past few weeks since it has been linked with a rapidly rising nunv- ber of liver cancer deaths among vinyl chloride workers at a single B. F, Goodrich plant in Louisville, Kentucky. In die past few days the sixth case of the rare and invariably ratal can cer--angiosarcoma of die liver--has been diagnosed >n a worker at that plant .* ``Experimental studios have found production of the same type of liver cancer in rats after inhalation of vinyl chloride at doses as low a$ 250 ppm [for 127 weeks], according to an Italian smiiy presented at a Department of l^bor hearing on the chemical last Friday. "According to a publi-slied report, the levels of vinyl chloride--under conditions wftere hair spray is being used-can exceed 250 ppm (Aerosol Age, April 1964, p, 4/). Most industries1-including B. F." Goodrich--say that it ha* u<en tueir practice in recent years to try to keep Industrial exposures down to 50 ppm over an 8 hour day. The federal occupational lieulth standard is currently 500 ppm. '' * The Health Research Group also requested that the Food and Drug Administration immediately prohibit the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) containers to package any cosmetic product which is capable of leaching detectable amounts of vinyl chloride from its plastic container. In letters to the beads of all three agencies, the group requested that the agency make public the brand name* of uH aerosol consumer products and cosmetics presently marketed-- or marketed at any time in the past--which contain vinyl chloride as a propellant so that "exposed people" can inform their physicians. > hO o-0- a o 09 BFG29755 i