Document JNnNqQBz6VxZoayep1X2p7BO

ER SURVIVAL SPECIAL S^'ION--PAGE 11 ,i-l 'SjTEE Jf >r.Tf1 J Ig; fwrmrpTl V*. TV-'K'I. It SPRINGFIELD'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER THE ALTERNATIVE IN THE PIONEEfl VALLEY VOL. IX N0.23 JANUARY 20,1902 32 PAGES ,r.n i.L.r '-1 --"> J< :ri* I K.v.r^i-. A v.yv.y I.... iwgpij L<:\- *h mmm m kCSE33S fiit; iTH * r mPi Mwbssm Monsanto's Cancer Cover-Up Till* repo11 by Don Mkhak and Paul Bush li ihc second of three anklet that wilt appear In ihc Advocate on the Monsanto Company*! Springfield operations. This ankle reveal$, lor tlie firs! time) Ihe dciaih of a systematic effort by Monsanto to deny it! employees Information about exposure to dangerous chemicals. The results in the latest in a string of studies of mortality among Monsanto workers wiu published In a lUnton Glob* anldc last week by Mkhak and Hush. Predictably, that Independent study, which was. conducted by Dr. Kenneth Kosenman of the University of Massachusetts and demonstrated a link between workplace caposure and cancer among workers, was refuted by Monsanto In local papers. It's not the first lime. Since 1976, there have been six studies of Monsanto workers and, with the exception of Ihe company-funded studies, Monsanto executives have disputed Ihe results. By now a clear pattern has emerged. Monsanto says that these studies are complkaicd mailers, that the methodology is not right or the source of Ihe data Is suspect. Yet Monsanto refuses to cooperate In the Independent studies and, as Bush and Mkhak's siory makes evident, the company even aiicinpis to obstruct the siudies by denying access to data. If that pattern--damaging studies followed by Monsanto's rebuttal--Isn't enough to make people suspicious that the comiuuiy is hiding something, then Ihe documents uncuvcrcd by llush and Michuk should leave no room for doubt. Oik document, written by a Mon santo personnel manager, describes corporate policy as giving "as limited a response as possible" to union rc<|itcui; that "whenever possible.. .union rct|ucsts should be resisted." Despite Monsanto's efforts to obfuscate the results of the si tulles, Ihe facts are simple. Vinyl chloride is a recognized carcinogen. Not even Monsanto disputes that. Workers at Monsanto have been excised to that substance, sometimes In iptamiiks suffickm to bitoxkau iIumii, since the company began using the substance in 1941. Despite these iiKonirovetlibk facts, the company persists in its assetlion ilui tlicic "is no evidence of adverse health effects." Clearly Monsanto is protecting Itself and deliberately trying to misfcad Ihe public and Its employees. And h Is doing so at ircincnttmis cost to Its workers, many of whom have toiled hi the Springfield plant most of their adult lives. The Issue now, said Dr. Irving Sdikulf, a noted occupational health phytkian, "it the company's legal, ethical, and moral obligation fot the surveillance of these people atul for iltcir treatment when they become ill." ' Jonathan Harr IMPROVE YOUR . LSAT GMAT GRE SAT SCORES HgiqucayMiuciw )<l iSnUqy , UtowK cooetanq , MartMlt iCornpMtwroS* curtaXxn .Piocltc. M d Clones now fqrmlngtn Amhatit Hartford Hew Hasten Co> now FREE detoded brochure RHONE, Moiioctsusetis 739-3940 Connecticut 731-1690 Sexlon \ HARTFORD Educottonnl ^ \*HEV HAVEM Ccnlers V SPRINGFIELD `Anu'ilni'N leiMlIttu t*X(X"rls In ts-M |trt*| mraattilti>n` 89285 iSW CLEARANCE SALE!! z 50% OFFENTmE T0 STOCK After m years at 108 Federal St. we are moving to 28 Federal St. (corner of Ames & Federal, Gre'enfleld, across from Bill's) We don't want to move it so we'll sell it to you for less. Belts a Bags Quality as seen through the Craftsman's Eye M773-3191 BE IEPWAHB EVANS GmenfleldLii 3-- 3S VALLEY ADVOCATE JANUARY 20.19(12 Happy New Year -Agaln- JOINUSIN CE1 ffDHATtON OF . THE CHINESE NEW YEAn JANUARY 18-24 CHOOSE FROM OUR REGULAR MENU OR ANY OF SEVERAL FESTIVE DISIIES . FROM CHINA. 50 Main St. Northsinpt on Full Lh|uor Service 586-5708 R&S 158259 Csncer Ccr/ar-sJp (Continuedfrom /'tig* /> On May 17, 19SO In the UaytlMc Medical Center. Chnrles Giroux became the 27th U,S. worker to die of liver angiosarcoma, a rare and final liver cancer. The diieatt it known to have four causes; exposure to. vinyl chlorides is the best-documented. Giroux's obituary noted he was a member of the '`Monsanto 25 Year Club," but not that he retired as the senior worker In Monsanto's vinyl chloride division, where he worked for 15 of his 51 years whh the company. The company teineinbcred Giroux in a printed announcement to employees posted tt> months after Giroux's death. Springfield Want Manager Janies Shriver said only; "You should know that we recently became aware of the ifeath of a former Monsato Springfield employee who hail an angiosarcoma of the livtr. As you know, this form of cancer has been associated with exposure to vinyl chloride." Not far from where Chnrles Giroux Is buried in Indian Orchard's St. Atoysius Cemetery lies tire older grave of Clarence Messier. Like Giroux, Messier was exposed to vinyl chloride and other chemicals at Monsanto where he worked as a kettle njtcraior for 29 years. Messier died on November 29, 197], while still working Tor the vinyl chloride division. Ills death Cer tificate lists "cause of death" as "post necrotic cirrhosis," art unusual diagnosis meaning cirrhosis discovered after death, liven more unusual is that "Cooky" Messier was not a drinker. Liver angiosarcoma, however, is commonly misdiagnosed as cirrhosis. In an unpubllfi/ctl otil-of-coitri agreement reached in 1976, Monsanto settled a w ofhei s' compensation claim Piled by Messier's widow, a claim concerning "liver disease" linked to vinyl chloride cx|Misurc. Vinyl chloride (VC or VCMJ is a colorless gas used to make the second-most widely, utili/cd U.S, plastic. VC is u proven human carcinogen and has been classified us a "hu/.-minus air pollutant" by the federal Environmental Protection Agency ll l'A). It rie lYrngstrom. who worked at Monsanto for IByean, says Budding IS E> worker* ttted to eompluln about poor ventilation. 'but oft they ever kept teding ns wur, `Aw, it uin'l going to hurt you. ` Weft, it ain't going to hurt you. he laid. "it`% going to kiltytm." fTobey photos) The Louisville physician spotted the cancer potential of VC only because it caused an escccdiagly tare tumor, llte chemical has since been linked to cancel of Hie lung, brain and oilier organs, ami in a host of other heallit problems, including pneumoconiosis. Acctuding to the fil'A. VC causes at least twice as many cases of cancel at other body sites as cases ol liver angiosarcoma. Levels as low os lb ppm arc now lecognimt os cancer-causing, ami many cx|>erix consider the present USItA limit uf I ppm toil high. " there is mi way to demonstrate the safe level ol a car cinogen," says l>r. losepli Wagoner, founcr chairman of NIOSII's Occupational Carcinogen Committec. l;or 26 years ol'liciuls at the Springfield plant were rct|tiired to folluw no standaid other than an indusiry rectmunemlcd limit of 500 ppm. Designed to prevent explosions rather than occupational disease, even litis level was routinely exceeded. In 1965 an explosion, rocked port of building 66 when a spark ignited VCM usetl to |troducc I'VC. Men jimi|ied from second ihsor windows in escape llte (lames, and nly abet this in cident was the VCM ti|icralion moved In a separate building. Wotkcts say they were constantly threatened by fumes from pooily ventilated reactor kellies, suffering ftum dfMiness, nausea, numimess and even fafanlng. In a letter to Moiitumo after a state in spection la 1966, Mass, liuicau of Occupational hygiene IUreaor Harvey Elkins wrote, "Personally, I am not con vinced that small but measurable amount! of this gas |VC| ate not present most of the lime in llte areas where ttic rcactots ate in operation." At the bottom uf llte In spector's report are noted the words "Have had men overcome." When data collected by Monsanto was forwarded to NfOSII in 1976. levels of VCM in certain areas ul the Springfield plant were reported at high as 65(61 ppm. Monsanto used two production processes' to make I*VC* In Springliclil. In Department 60, VCM was polymerized into a line pane resin, and into larger l`VC polymer panicles hi llnitdiugx 61, 66 and 91. hi Deportments 61, 501 and 516, I'VC was cotii|kmiuled into various products, including lilm and powder, hr building 65. "Ac this thing progressed," explained Erie Wcngsirom, who worked for 16 years In building 65, "ymt'ic talking hImiii a II H MHMHMM |(IHHNHI|1 III M ` molecular tlA monomer! which when prcssnrlml i*ed with plasticizing chcmicili forms molecular chains (pulymcii) of polyvinyl chloride resins li'VC). I*VC It usually a while (traimlar powder that is molded and shaped Inin a variety of products, including plastic pipe, (thorntgraph records anil house siding. Monsanto first produced I'VC at Springfield In 1941. Ily 1965, 20 percent of the plant's workforce was involved in VC polymerization and I'VC fabrication, and in 1911 peak production was reached with 110 million pounds of I'VC produced. I-our years later, Monsanto made "a business decision'* and phased out the entire VC operation In Springfield. Workers say they were laid the shutdown resulted from the overwhelming cost of new health and safety regulations. As local wotken were laid off in 1911 and 1914, Monsanto Company enjoyed record profits, planned millions of dollars worth of capital ex penditures for 1915 and 1916, and had recently expanded I'VC production capacity in Japan, Mexico, and Spain. Since 1914, the VC departments have been at the center of an unresolved cancer controversy In Springfield. The plan! has been surveyed, monitored or studied by the or VCM exposure," Monsanto VicePresident Monte Throdatil wrote lit a 1974 teller opposing OSIIA's exposure standard for vinyl chloride. Company spokesmen have repeated the message after each new study. Last summer Monsanto's Itpldemlology Director, William Gaffey, told local reporters there was "no conclusive . evidence" I hat employee's work with chemicals caused cancer in Springfield. But In two reporta released last October by Dr. Kenneth Rosenman of the UMass Division of Public Health, -researchers Mauachuscits Division of Occupational discovered higher than expected numbers of Hygiene, the National Institute tor- deaths from lung cancer, Hodgkins disease Occupational Safely and Health (NIOS1I), and lymphatic cancer among specific groups the Occupational Safety and Health of VC workers at the plant. The undies Administration (GSHA). the Monsanto were the first In six years to be conducted Company medical department, company- without company funds. They were aHo the contracted researchers at the University of first to examine mortality by worksite, I'iiisbmgh and, finally, the University of something Monsanto claimed was nearly Massachusetts Division of I'ubHc Health. `Impossible to do because of poor record Lvery major study found more deaths keeping. As a result, some of the workers' than expected when competed to either the worst fears about work in areas like' rest of ilampdeu County or the entire U.S. Building IS have been confirmed. During 1 (If 591 deallit over a 26-year period, for contract negotiations with the company In example, 121 were from cancer. Ily using 1916. a member of the union bargaining mathematical tools, epidemiologists were team called BiiHdlng IS "a living death aIile to uncover smalt caoces clusters, such house." "I accused the company right at 26 digestive cancer deaths, which were across the Iward," said John Kemturian, "I significantly above average. In the saihe accused them iliiccily of wlial was in there. way. four pancreatk caneerr out of 51 If I was wrung," he added. "I would have recorded- deaths among workers Ih one VC been liulife lor dismissal, Imt I haven't seen Inukling--Hullding IS--convinced at k'l them do auylhiii|i." one government scientist something was seriously wrong in Springfield. , Monsanto Isas disputed or minkniicd many of Ihese findings, and company officiate have steadfastly maintained that the plant Is sale. "We have found no evidence of any rtluiir I effects attributable to I'VC Monsanto can't do anyihlug in improic Iteatih and safely condition* in departments shut down more than seven ycaitayn. It can begin to moniioi the health of those who may be affected by past exposure to vinyl chloride. After potential victims have been identified, says occupational health physician Dr. Irving Seiikoff, "the Issue Is what is the company's legal, ethical and. moral obligation for the surveillance of Ihese people and for their treatment when they become III." As early as lire 1910s, exposure lo targe amounts of VC was known to be dangerous. In 1949 VC was liukcd to liver damage, but because the findings were reported by Russian scientists Urey were ignored. In early 1914, a Louisville, Kentucky doctor examining B.F. Goodrich workers concluded VC exposure had caused the liver angiosarcoma deaths of at least four workers in one I'VC plant. On the very day of his announcement, the chemical industry released findings front tests first performed hr 1971 and repeated In HO}, which con clusively linked VC to liver angiosarcoma In animals. After tubscipicnl reports in the press, a congressional committee confirmed that tlie ctkcmical industry trade association had withheld that data for It months. A nationwide VC alert was issued by the government, and emergency standards were tel limiting worker exposure to 50 pans per million (ppm!, or 10 limes lower than the previous industry namlaid. Within one year, worker exposure was again reduced to only I ppm over the course of an eight-liour work day. Government sclentHis slut heysin an intensive search for other angiosarcoma victims. I'reviuiisky augiusarcomu had caused the deaths ol only 25 Americans cttch year, bin lire death toll climbed as workers were more closely monitored and earlier deaths re-diagnosed. I he majority of new cases wtre workers ai I'VC plains. |MMIK iHtxM,..... ......... in.......... ........... lloor. It itot lu the tl.iiilnui ys IUa^ 'sing machines) where it was c.sokiJ^B /hcie they put the color in. It kept im^% until it got to a ceiluin dctt.ee which made it like paste. Then it dropped down to the null rolls which pul mure heal on it. It went from one mill roll to the nest and then It) ait extruder, a screw-type, c.im-shali affair that turned it into u flexible pane." Nearly coiiiinumis heating caused adverse working conditions. "Hie fumes were tremendous, especially in tlie winter wlieii . all the doors and winJows were closed," said Harold Williams, a Building 66 worker, wins was occasionally shifted to Building 65. "There were fumes all tlie time,'*--agreed John Kendarimi, who worked as a janitor in die Imilding. "Sometimes mi die second lloor where the locker room was you'd be choking and gagging.** According to Wengsirotu, "The worst fume area was definitely the llanbmiy because you were confined in a small room with it. Tlie mill roll men were confined to an area where fumes were pretty high, too. On the calender rolls they had wliui they called a `shipwicek,* when that stuff broke and they had to rethread it. It was very bad for the feelers on the other end because they had lo go underneath the calender and start rethreading. We used to hitch about the poor ventilation, but all they ever kept Idling its was, `Aw, it ain't going to hurt you.* Well, it ain't going to hurt you, it's going lo kill you." Within a year of the Louisville an nouncement, Springfield workers were required lo wear respirators, and Monsanto had begun efforts to reduce workplace exposure during " normal operation" to level* below 2fitl pptn. Hut according to workers, some of the changes created new hazards. "They had a box," inanity Hyeenski said, "what they called a fresh air box |where respirators could be removed). They set It outside the door right beside the funs that were drawing the I'VC funns out nf the building. We were picking the fumes up nnd carrying them back in our face masks. And we were wondering vdiy we were walking out of ihcic wiili hiy heads like we were dionk."' Vinyl chloride in toxication occurs at levels uliovc I.UuJ ppm. Shortly alter telling his suny, llycenski died of cancer. When Monsanto slna down its I'VC iipcraiious hi tlie danget vta-wl'l over I'o. the Uiit workers who had spent at Ica-i 092BSLS'8U IANIIAWV ;. * " Mil'. >f'A7 . . year in its VC departments.' or for the uncounted who had worked there for shorter periods. "As little as one hour is enough to give you cancer," says Dr. Samuel Epstein, author of The Politics of Cjncer. After exposure to VC, cancer takes roughly 20 years to develop, although shorter latency periods have been documented. At Monsanto, workers began to keep track of their former colleagues and to assemble "the death list,'* In the spring following the government's .VC alert, a group of about 50 Monsanto employees formed KOSHA, the Committee for Occupational Safety and Health Action *tthe group used "K" in its acronym to distinguish it from COSH groups, part of a national system of Committees on Occupational Safety and Health], This ad hoc group tried to encouage cancer studies and health monitoring at the plant, and to force both the union local and the company to meet their responsibilities to worried workers. With the shutdown of PVC operations, however. International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) Local 238. which represents the Monsanto workers, had enough trouble. "No one in their wildest dreams would have thought that people with 20 years seniority here would be out in the streets," Local President Bufford Harris said in 1975. Even if the union had tried to aggressively pursue the issue, company policy was designed to frustrate its efforts. Workers at another Monsanto plant in West Virginia recently filed two lawsuits seeking more than $4 billion from the company, charging Monsanto had "a dehberate, fraudulent, willful and intentional plan to deny suf ficient knowledge" to those requesting information about "occupational disease cases data, lists of all chemicals with which employees came into contact, all data on all monitoring: maturing, etc." The charges are based on a memo written by J.S. Wondgn, a personnel manager in Monsanto's Industrial Chemicals Division, dated November. 1977. in which Wonders describes "the latest thinking of our Cor* porate Law, Corporate Personnel, and Medical Departments." The jnemo states that, except for certain requests covered by OSHA regulations, local union represen* wives making requests "will be told time is needed to prepare a response (that it b a complicated question or that all pans of the data requested are not currently available). Eventually, according to Wonders, the personnel department should develop "as limited a response as deemed appropriate." The memo encouraged "a positive approach for a plant's industrial hygiene effort,** but urged "whenever possible, broadside and/or antagonistic and/or suspicious union requests should be resisted.'' KOSHA began to collect the death eerrificatcs of men who had worked in the f ur VC buildings after initially concernrating on OSHA in an unsuccessful effort to interest the agency in protecting Monsamo workers. Peter Friedland, a freelance writer who had reported on the group's activities for local newspapers, suggested they put together what became "the death list." and it was through him that Dr. John Lewis first met KOSHA members and examined the list. Lewis was a NIOSI! physician assigned to help out the Mass. Bureau of Occupational Hygiene. Lewis and a NIOSH statistician took KOSHA's death list, which contained 36 names of Monsamo polymerization workers, compounders and maintenance workers, and performed a simple epidemiological study. Allowing his data were "crude," Lewis nevertheless found that, "among workers said to have worked in PVC fabrication, 27.5 percent of the deaths--14 of 51--were from cancer. Thb compares to 16.5 percent of deaths caused by cancer nationally. Furthermore, four of these 14 cancers were pancreatic (35 per cent). Cancer of the pancreas accounts for 5J percent of cancer deaths nationally.'* In such a small group, pancreatic cancer would have been expected to appear in less than one ease. A Swedish study recently linked VC exposure to liver disorders and pan creatic cancer excesses, especially in workers with latency periods of more than 10 years. What followed news of Lewis's findinp set a pattern often repeated through six years of inconclusive studies. Monsanto criticized the study's methodology (bow Lewis and KOSHA had collected the death certificates). Monsamo argued that some workers, including two of the four .pan creatic cancer cases, were mistakenly induded in the study group. At the same time, the company refused to provide Lewis with job-history records, idling him first, "We arc looking into your request and we will reply within several days,** and later that the few records which still existed were in very poor shape and almost useless. For eight months without success, Lewis tried to get company help. A delegation which included NIOSH Director Dr. John Finklea visited the plant but was unable to convince Monsanto to cooperate. The company "was just not convinced there was a problem or that there war enough suspicion to justify further study,'* Finklca wrote in a NIOSH memo. Even a letter to the company's medical director in St. Louis, stating "there b further reason for concern since two of the four pancreatic cancer cases were only 42 and 44 years of age at death." went unheeded. Without job history data from the* company, chemical exposures could not be pin-pointed and cause and effect guaran teed. As a result Lewis's study was con sidered preliminary. A year lato Monsanto finally accepted NIOSH's suggestion to cooperate with a follow-up study. The new study would not be conducted by Lewis, but by Robot Spinas, Karen Scanblawexyk and Rose Kaminski, h would not focus on any particular work site, like the VC depart ments, but rather oo mortality in the entire (Continuedon next poft) 25 Morn i're-S! Ncrtncr-' FE3 a - ;.V,R 19 EVENING LANGUAGE FF.CGEAM ^un -mu mi Mt., w ** . V ! MM HUM lias S?3r.isn. French, Japanese. Chinese. Arabic, Us&sn, Portuguese. F.sttan, c.v.rs. i ONC WEEK SPRING iNTENCi-. I 5sk *rt KitijiiXcia m uri: *-.-- 1*"* J" V w *"* t-c-iiurrm f-fu? -jjrni 'f ,u err .. \ - t"P<W M Ci'.ltl /* " Sne Tt- 2 3c U) J' f u< Announcing l (Or D R&S 158262 (Continuedfront prtviout puffI plant workforce. Pan of I lie reason ilie Spinas group never isolated lliiititing 85 wax Monsanto's refusal lo release metticill records, which contain occupational information. Hie company wm "generally cooperative when ii lir>i got started, Inil when mctlicnl records were requested they wouldn't lei m see llimi," said Stunislawc/yk. "I really Cim't recuII their exact words, but they just said they didn't have to do h, and they weren't going to do it." (When Momimto finally did release medical records tinder IVKU OSHA regulations, individual world! who requested their files discovered the company kept detailed job histories hoc! to IIMJ. In one case, Monsanto traced 22 job changes by one worker.) The Spinas group found 44 deaths from cancer of ihc digestive system and 26 deaths from cancer of the geniiro-urinary tract, which includes the pancreas, liver and other organs. Doth causes were significantly dcvuicd and increased with lime, suggesting "a possible occupational factor," such ns "the ingestion of hazardous substances." While NIOSH studied the (dam, Mon* santo did a study of its own using somewhnl different methods and reaching very dif ferent conclusions. The company found no excess deaths when compared to Hampden County rates, except for a statistically significant excess of prostate cancer in U.S.born workers. "Unknown to its, Monsanto was doing its own little study with death certificates we had, plus some more," suid Kose Kaminski. "So when we came otu with our results, they inuncdiuicly polled out theirs and said, `We found no (irolilcms, sit there must be something wtong with your analysis.' We weui back anil I'oiili itInnit the limitations ol each of our studies." flic NIOSH study was released in I*>7K and recommended more study. Now four years since the VC alert, lUti tepr event alive Jack Suarez was moved to write the iigcuc), "What does it take to expedite a follow-up medical simly lor these workers? Alt the past and prevent employees are apprehensive uIhiiii their health, litis issue must tie clarified--ate they or aren't they iHiicmial victims? . . . We need your help." Help didn't arrive. Instead, the govern ment allowed Monsanto to fund Dr. tiary Marsh of the University of I'iiishmrh to conduct Ihc recommended study. Aliewiny u I'litmciiiv to rtiifsiic a billow-on slinlv of its rrrr .p.,,..,,,,,,................ . VfTV -. ------ :--1 ''Hi"-a-! V VI Y' l- uniter Shift : *. i * \ S|wrw'M*f Itarry ('atturn ri string 1 fouuruio bn'ume hr Mu`vc\ hi\ miivr nut cauutl by WCUIHUMHul nimutrc in fbvmkvk at the Spmutfiehl Plant. (Tabey pholot own workplace "wat not a common capcricoce," according to Dr. Richard l.cmcr of NIOSH. "The only reason we ever consented wax because we wonhl have complete review throughout the study." In foci, NIOSH's "complete review" consisted of n single-page critique of the Marsh study when it wax completed. Mnrxlt'x two studies confirmed Spina's general findings and echoed l ewis. Marsh considered occupational factors as likely comrilmuon to the death tales, ami he recoinmended more research rm at least two causes, lymphatic system cancer and cancers of tltc illmat mid mouth, which "suggest Itic IHtssihie inIIiicikc of work-ietaicd factors." Ilclitrc the company released his second re port iu Novcmlicr, Dr. Marsh said cancer ex cesses identified in previous studies remain unexplained tiy his new woik because, "it is viiiuatly ini|Hixxihtc to Isolate exposure to individual chemicals." Clitics who were active in KOSIIA, which disbanded in I97t lo allow the onion icailership more room to mtinciiver on liculih and solely issues with the company, say Muish maite serhius mistakes by including vcititin jobs in ibe wnmp ilepnnmctiis, ami liy incorrectly asxmning chemicals weie used where they were mu. Ibu Monsanto's biggest mistake may have Iwcii its decision mM to study specific woik sites, like the VC departments. MltHVDHD it! rust........** *;tlz* ycuri cmiming ihc but woikcri finally have proof VC was a killer in lluilding IS. The evidence cornet from two * it tidies supervised by Dr. Kenneth Koscntnan while a professor at the UMast Division of I'ublic Health, ami performed by a leant or graduate students in occupational epidemiology. The studies found 14 cancer deaths among the lit) males who died after wurking in Monsanto's VC/I'VC depart ments. Among polymerization workers, cancer of the inmnh was staslically significant, while digestive tract and lym phatic cancers were Iriglicr Ilian expected. An - unexpected finding was the elevated risk of lung cancer among lluilding U I'VC workers that was not present among workers in oilier ureas, Knxenman said the cancers appear to lie wot kt eluted because "lieople who worked there longer--wlus had a longer latency |ieriud--had higher risks of dying of aR malignant neoplasms." liven though the VC ilepiiitnicnis arc ihi longer In opcruiiun, the stmlies suggest "employees remain at risk due to exposure iu previous years." lor the first time, the group used job- hisiury data limn seniority lisrs obtained Ibrmiglt Hie mmm ui the |tlam. Ihc lists contuineil occiipaiionul itifoimution the cmttpnny had previously given the union, but bud refused to provide (o NIOSH in vestigators. In a letter to Springfield plant manager f-HttiH VltriviT M( Ifllkflllintl ......... looking at the mortality cxpciicnce llirougltout the whole plain as hits licen done by the study you commissioned from the University ol I'insbufgb, tltc results in high-risk areas such as vinyl chintide ate diluted by areas wiihoui risk, mid the overall results do not give a true picoue ot the risk of disease lo your workers." Scientists may never lie sme exactly which chemical agents caused s|*ccifie cancers lile the lung cancers in lluilding US. liecunse a wide variety of chemicals was lilemled with VC. liven I'VC dust, previously thoiiglii to be inert, is increasingly inspected to lie cattccr-causing |A malciial-sufciy data sheet disirilmted by Monsanto notes I'VC "is a suspected cancer -causing ageut."). Dining I'JHI, liowcvcr, the death list climbed lo 44, and included new cases of bladder, larynx, lung, kidney, colun atul eso|diogeal caucus. Union local I'resiilent Roger Suney said aftcrtlie ftosennian and Marsh studies weie released that he was tired f rcs|ionding to questions about more studies of ihc Springfield plant. "`Ihc IIIItig I find perInrhiug Is that nolmdy ever comes nut with anything definite." Yet one way to nail dbwn causes and cusurc catly detection and Irealmutt of cancer is heahh immi|otuig. "In a group of workers whh high ex|n>sure to vinyl clduride," scientists in l.ouisvitie, Kentucky recently cmidmled, "close sur veillance should l>c cimtinucd indefinitely." Use same reasoning presumably went into Ihe I `>75 OSIIA regulation on VC, which requites workers whh mure than ID year exposure to be examiued every six mouths. Monsanto has never had lo conqdy with IISMA's regulation. "Since they gm out of business before the regulation came iu, it makes sense that we ean't hold them responsible," explains Regional OSIIA Ailnunisiraior Kuilutph Ikiyeilc. Monsanto Inis never screened those Spiingliehl winkers ut highest risk for cancer. Monsanto did pet form liver funcritm tests on 27S men Itelorc its VC operatimis weie phased out, hill, according to lire Jnuriud nf Itte A titeriaut Ah'iln'iil .4 tuii'ianori, the "usual lullIcry ot livci luneiiim tests cuunul he relied upon I detect wainiug signals" ol VC-induced cuneet. Moreuvet, Ihc company told the ..............cm in PJ7-I that apptoxitnalcly 6D0 employees worked m us lour VC departments lor a yeat or iimhc, and some workers say Ihcie was a lilili (Icnill IfMctM xA'Iscit* nccti'lc cichim'iI In VI f .. /*.' iiTor r ; i '13 EYON D-. i',: I E:. f U . l :! rS -ETERNAL - J C i'. should have been counted. Employees of outside contractors, like local industrial cleaning companies, were never considered. At least one Monsanto worker. Arkey Dederian, was never considered a member of the affected group but was exposed to dangerously high levels of VCM. He was a "pool" worker, one of the available em ployees from the general labor force, used wherever needed. For months. Dederian worked as a kettle-chipper and an operator's assistant, but the company does not list him as a VC worker because he never put 12 consecutive months in a VC department. Dederian says he was.never given a physical or contacted about his exposure since he was laid off in 1973, after IS yean with Mon santo. Dederian's work placed him in the highest risk category of all: the first seven U.S. workers to die of liver angiosarcoma were kettle-chippers. The job required workers to dimb down into huge reactor vessels and chip the walls dean. At hand level, where they would be scraping, concentrations of VCM were estimated at 600-1.OOOppm. The job took only an hour or two, but the drippers moved from one kettle taartother. "Two guys on the shift were kettle-chippers and we'd be in a kettle the whole shift," said Dederian. Dederian once passed out inside a kettle because it wasn't properly ventilated. (In the Tate 1960s. Monsanto began using a chemical solved! to remove baked-on polymer and absorb unreacted VC in kettles, it claims solvent cleaning significantly reduced worker exposure, but hand-cleaning was still required every 100 batches. Louis Bciiczky, Director of Industrial Hygiene for the United Rubber Workers, said such solvents .proved relatively unsuccessful, and probably posed new health hazards.) Dederian was not the only worker the company forgot. According to Harold Williams, "In Building S4 the operators cleaned their own kettles. Practically everybody that went in there chipped kettles at one time or another." Allh ugh an inexpensive healthmonitoring program has been developed by the Vinyl Chloride Research Project at the University of Kentucky, Monsant is not one of seven major companies using the system. carcinogens, but with threats to work...s> safety like sharp edges and weak railt;_`` The lack of reliable data resulting the shutdown of PVC operations ^ not only researchers studying cancer in .he workplace, but also workers and families pressing compensation claims ,n(j lawsuits against the company. Cases jn_ volving chemicals are almost impossible. (0 win without specific exposure data. filed on behalf of five Monsanto wor^.m who suffer or have died from cancer ^ likely to be dropped for that rca*^ although attorney Morton Sweeney deeb:.^ to comment. Monsanto has also refuse.' to release what Qttic data there may be. Monsanto settled privately with the widows of Charles Giroux and Clare.nee Messier, sidestepping hearings by the Division of Industrial Accidents Board. avoiding its day m court. There are m records of what the company may h-3ve admitted or denied, and the terms oi itl settlements arc confidential. Some idea of the company's position can be had fi r,m records of a Hampden Superior Court in which Mrs. Messier sued Monsanto ^ 1974 to produce records of her husbao^-j exposure and to allow a team of expert, (0 visit areas of the plant where he worked. According to court records. Monsanto lawyers refused both requests and arg..^ ."there could be a very real potential of creating employee fear and unrest jf strangers were to come through the plan. ,, any time during its 24-hour operau^ gathering evidence on chemicals which ^ claimed to cause death." "There coulu no way Monsanto could hide < 1 employees." wrote Monvs",,,`* "and it could cause a rT'" * charged situation." In at least one critical v*. *" flexed its political muscle m Mavw influence government sciewtsts *'" ' plant. According to Dt. John ' former Secretary of I .unotni' folk." subsequently managed to discoutre^ B * up studies of spetifle depnn,f'*4* j Su.;?f plant. "There was this guy Ho" m. j: who was son of a flunky wr 011, Lev^l extremely pro-business," *'* "Monsanto went to him "nd r _ I w about what I was doina* Sin* |r|CJ working with a state arency. h' . -M. _. _/ .k_ V 7 \ \ \V it s sim; . .j , : ycuf ctsirn st^-i ,u*!i:, yU II .1* a efec-iis;a o* a.vwo. r:i. -, legsi tae. You tty er.-y ac:-_at lav; EDWA'r 94 STATE STR[ (" JAZZG BUSHNELL AU Tic on sale at an S --' Visa. Can i to Bushnell XI ----cn '4 ft'- jot requires *0^1 tc rccorc. cl writ; tnc catapar.; tnz} have iiflib down into huge reactor vessels and admitted or denied, and the terms of its dtp the wails dean. At hand level, where settlements are confidential. Some idea of they would be scraping, concentrations of the company's position can be had from VCM were estimated at 600-1.000pprn. The records of a Hampden Superior Court case job took only an hour or two. but the in which Mrs. Messier sued Monsanto in chippers moved front one kettle taanother. 197^ to produce records of her husband's "Two guvs on the shift were kettle-chirpers exposure and to allow a team of experts to d we'd be in a kettle the whole shift." visit areas of the plant where he worked. ^JLid Dcderian. Dcderian once passed out According to court records. Monsanto's inside a kettle because it wasn't property lawyers refused both requests and argued ventilated. (In the late 1960s. .Monsanto "there could be a very real potential of began using a chemical solvcdi to remove creating employee fear and unrest if baked-on polymer and absorb unraacted VC strangers were to come through the plant at in kettles. It claims solvent cleaning any time during its 24-hour operation, significantly reduced worker exposure, but gathering evidence on chemicals which are hand-cleaning was still required every 100 claimed to cause death." "There could be batches. Louis Bcliczky. Director of no way Monsanto could bide this visit from Industrial Hygiene for the United Rubber employees." wrote Monsanto's counsel, Workers, said such solvents .proved "and it could cause a very emotionally relatively unsuccessful, and probably posed charged situation." new health hazards.) In at least one critical case. Monsanto Dcderian was not the only worker the flexed its political muscle in Massachusetts to company forgot. According to Harold influence government scientists studying the Williams, "In Building S4 the operators plant. According to Dr. John Lewis, a cleaned their own kettles. Practically former Secretary of Economic Affairs everybody that went in there chipped kettles subsequently managed to discourage follow at one time or another." up audio of specific depanmenu a the Although an inexpensive health- plant. "There was this guy Howard Smith monitoring program has been developed by who was son of a flunky for Dukakis, and the Vinyl Chloride Research Project at the extremely pro-business," said Lewis. University of Kentucky, Monsanto is nor "Monsanto went to him and complained one of seven major companies using the about what I was doing. Since I was system. working with a state agency, he tried to manhandle me out of there." In a speech that received wide publicity two yon ago, the chairman of the board Workers from the VC departments at and former president of Monsanto made a Monsanto/Springfield are still dying. The suggestion: "I believe." said John W. sneer studies continue! plant bulletins ate Hanley, **we should support harsh legal ill posted, law suits drag on. and govern- penalities for chiseling managers who cm inspectors--like reporters and their willfully and unreasonably endanger the editors--lose interest. There has been no lives or health of others.... Individual local outcry, no state investigation, no managers who knowingly and recklessly national scandal exposed. The death list conceal dear and ongoing conditions of grows longer, and the company seems to be serious worker or consumer dangers should getting away with murder. be recognized as the villains they are." After a year-long investigation, we can But according to Anthony MazzocchL only conclude Monanto has successfully Health and Safety Director for the Oil. exploited the weaknesses in government. - Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union, regulatory programs, using its political and corporations like Monsanto should be held economic clout to confuse, delay, and accountable. "We have to start thinking in eventually co-opt the process. The Wonders' terms of penalities where guilty corporations document suggests the company has have to give up an dement of their control. followed a consistent policy of corporate First infraction, they have to give up their cover-up. isolating the ad hoc workers* medical department. Second, they have to group KOSHA, stalemating 1UE Local 239, give up some other managerial function to and avoiding all public responsibility in the the workers. To me that's the only way courts, in the workmens' compensation we're going to move. I mean, the fines most system, and on the shop floor. companies get are nonsense. Most of the Monsanto understood government companies we deal with could pay the fines agencies adjust to change at different speeds out of petty cash." and in varying degrees. It encouraged Shortly before he died, one of the workers jurisdictional squabbles and feuds over on the Monsanto death list was told by hiv scarce resources among fledgling oc friends about Hanley's jaii-for-maragers cupational health ggencies. The company speech. "They shouldn't have to go to jail,'* which adtciti'es, "Without Chemical;, Life he reportedly said, "they should have to ftvclf Would Be Impossible,'' exploited the take care of us in the hospital and watch us widetpread ignorance of the effect of die." 'G chemicals on health. 'Monsanto experts prevailed over Massachusetts Bureau of Research for this story was sponsored in .abor and Industries inspectors who part by the Fund for Investigative Jour aditionally were concerned not with nalism in Washington, O.C. 9S VALLEY ADVOCATE JANUARY 20.1982 J0 JANUARY 24 BUSHNELL AUDITORIUJ Tickets: S13, S Tickets on sale at all TCCKCmON Ou Master, Visa. Call 246-6807 or send ch envelope to Bushnell Mem rial Auditoric CT Rug Cleaning Limited Time Only (offer ends Feb. 13,1982) Bring in this ad to our modern rug cleaning plant pay the price for one rug (the more expensive of the two) and get the second rug cleaned free 1594 Uoper Dwight St. Holyoke atRt*. 9i.Exit 17 S33-30C0 "Western Mass. Lesdir; Cl'Z?' IP.~ S i - 0t; ill *?'V* *: VI vt i#, j SINCE 1903 Sidney H. Radner 4v - 33 cn 01 t0o0 04*5.