Document K6qzxbVKx43OB8K52rxO6N5K

FROM <N A M E -- L O C A T I O N -- P M O N E i D. R. Bishop - F3EE - 4-2891 n -'' SUBJECT : August 5, 1983 T O : T. M. Bistline - E2ND G. Roush - G2WG cc J. F. Hussey - F3EA G. D. Ingenthron - F3EB W. J. McCarville - G3WG J. T. Nolan - D1A L. J. O'Neill - F3EE M. C. Throdahl - DID I would appreciate a prompt review by you and the carbonees of the attached draft reply to the August 4 New York Times article on Nitro (also attached). In order for our response to have any impact, it needs to be sent out early next week. Thanks in advance for your prompt attention. ^D op D R B :ec Attachments P.S. I've already discussed this with the reporter and, for what it's worth, he has apologized for screwing it up! IN - 10 <REV 8 7 7 ) Sl^ 3 j C10208 r Monsanto Monsanto Company 8 0 0 N. Lindbergh Boulevard St. Louis. M issouri 83188 Phone: (314) 634-1000 August 5, 1983 .PUBUC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT DRAFT Letters to the Editor THE NEW YORK TIMES 229 West 43rd Street New York, N.Y. 10036 Dear Editor: Your August 4 article, "Dioxin Leaves Mark on a City Called Nitro__ " is flawed in its discussion of health studies of the workforce at Monsanto's plant there. Your reporter inadvertently misinterpreted the facts when he stated that "One study, however, by Robert W. Baughman in preparation for a 1975 Harvard University doctoral dissertation, produced results differing with those (Monsanto-sponsored) studies The facts are these: The results cited as being produced by Mr. Baughman were not "produced" by him at all but, rather, were the acute (or short-term) clinical symptoms previously observed and reported by Drs. Ashe and Suskind following their examinations of employees between 1949 and 1953. They also reported, by the way, that all these initial symptoms, except some residual cases of the skin disease, chloracne, gradually cleared up. These short-term clinical symptoms were further documented in a mortality study, co-authored by Dr. Suskind, which was published in the January, 1980 issue of the Journal of Occupational Medicine (attached). All of the Monsanto-sponsored health studies focused on the chronic (or long-term) health effects of exposure to dioxin. Any attempt to infer, as the article clearly did, that there is something controversial about short-term results differing from longer-term findings reflects a gross misunderstanding of the subject. / i -2 - Finally, Mr. Baughman's work was not a "study" of Monsanto's Nitro workers, as your article further implies but, rather, a review of the acute symptoms, previously reported by Ashe and Suskind. We would appreciate having the record corrected on this matter. Sincerely, CC: Mr. William Robbins 570 Lindsey Drive Wayne, Pa. 19087 George Roush J r . , M.D. Director, DMEH C10210 T H E N E W YO RK TIM E S, TH U RSD AY, A U G U S T 4, 1983 if - * Dioxin Leaves Mark on a City Called Nitro, but Extent of Impact Is at Issue ByWIlXlAM ROBBINS SpadalcsTlaHnrYafkTbiMi NITRO, W.Va., July 29 -- 11 toxic nhTw<oai dioxin has left its m ark on this d ty of 8,900 people, but Just how deeply or extensively Is at issue. It m arks men like E. W. Miller, who dropped in the other day at Diehl's Res taurant on Main Street. Mr. Miller, 74 y ean old, retired for health reasons from Ms job at a chemical plant sev eral years ago. He stopped to talk with a younger man who continues to work a t the plant, although 1 says he does not feel like doing so. Both men are marked with the scars of chloraene, a skin condition resem bling common acne but often for more, severe and persistent. Chloraene is the first and most visible effect of exposure to dioxin, a contaminant formed In some chemical manufacturing pro cesses. But the younger man and 178 present and form er employees a t the plant assert In a lawsuit scheduled for trial in Octoberthat dioxin has also left a heritage of suffering, debilitation and death. In reply, the Monsanto Company of St. Louis, operator of one of several chemical companies that form Nitro's principal economic foundation, ac knowledges the link between dioxin and chloraene, but says its studies have found no evidence that exposure to dimrin produces long-term health prob lems. The case is but one ofa growing num ber that ere focusing attention on diox in's hazards and its unknowns. Millions of dollars is being spent to clean up dioxin deposits that have been found In Missouri and New Jersey; millions more Is a t stake in a Joint lawsuit in which Vietnam veterans claim dam ages for being exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange, which was contami nated faytraces ofdioxin. Suit Involves a Herbicide In the Nitro case, the lawsuit is based an the medical records and recent examinations of several current uprkers, others such as Donald B. Stover, Jam es R. Phillips, and William C. Wil son, who are retired workers, or the heirs of others such as Cleo Smith, who died recently after joining the litigants in the lawsuit. The litigants contend that they are suffering varied health problems re sulting from exposure to a dioxin con tam inant in a herbicide named 2,4,5-T, which Monsanto produced a t Its plant here from 1948 to 1969, and exposure to someother chemicals. The contaminant in the herbicide, goes by the scientific name 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxln, or TCDD, which has been described a stb e most toxic poison ever produced by man. It is the moot potent of the 75 compounds known as dioxins. weed ld l^r/^sak F M r. Stovw?vi!rily agitated, sitting with his wife and a 36year-old daughter in the gloomy In terior of one or hundreds of homes built here In World War I for workers producing nitrocellulose, an Ingredient in the making of gunpowder and the source of the town's sam e. " I didn't know it was a man-killer, too. The litigants say their conditions contradict repented scientific r eports of failure to prove link between dioxin and long-term organic damage is humans, though cancer and damage to kidneys, liver and nerves have produced in laboratory animal fo ex perim ents using dioxin. The complaint charged that health problems resulting from exposure to the chemicals had included, besides chloraene, various forms of cancer, heart disease, m ental illness and nerve In a response filed in 1981 the com pany denied allegations of damage in its latest filing, the company asked that the suit be dismissed, asserting that its iclaims were barred by a statute of liml|fattens. Trial Is to begin Oct. 24. | "The Monsanto employee group has been one of the most medically studied populations in the world," Dan Bishop, ,-acompany spokesman, said today. "At least three separate health studies have been conducted on employees a t fids location, and other than the skin: condition chloraene no long-term | health problems that could be assod-: ated with exposure to dioxin have ever P art of the literature on effects of dioxin exposure is based an studies that were begun after an Industrial aeddent In 1949 a t the Monsanto plant here that .resulted In the exposure of hundreds of workers to the dioxin. Exposure MYears Ago Cited Both the wife and the daughter of Mr. Stover, a 72-year-old retired Mmnanto employee, suffer health problems that they attribute to eamosure 30 years ago to Mr. Stover's work clothing. * Mr. Stover complains of aches, pains, organic damage and nervous tension, and he says he often breaks into tears without apparent reason. Mr. Phillips has had several operations for aU n ftim q n and lives In an artificial environment to aid his breathing. Mr. Wilson, whose thickened and corru gated skin, deeply pitted with chloracne scars, hangs in folds on Ms face and arm s, attributes a diagnosis of brain damage to dioxin exposure. All say they rarely feel able to leave home long enough to visit places like Diehl's R estau ran t. The suit against Monsanto was first filed In 1981 fay 32 current and former em ploye and members of their family or heirs in Federal District Court in Charleston, the state capital, about 19 miles from here. It has since been amended aa others have joined the suit, and subsequent revisions have simplified the complaint, which origi nally asked for S2.69 billion in dam ages. "Monsanto Is terribly disappointed? th at these employees saw fit to taka/ this action," Mr. Bishop, the company spokesman, said. "We will vigorously protect our interests and reputation as the litigation proceeds." Ih e first findings of the studies of the plant came In the 1900's from one fi nanced by Monsanto and conducted by Judith Zack, a company epidemiolo gist, and Dr. Raymond Suskiod of the University of Cincinnati. They said they had round no abnormal number of deaths as a result of cancer or heart disease among the workers exposed In the accident. A later and wider study conducted for the company In 1980 confirmed the earlier results, though it found a high rate of bladder cancer among Mon santo em ploye. "This finding," it said, "reflects the established end previously documented association be tween exposure to paraaminobyphenyl (PAB) and cancer In man. PAB was toed at N itre from 1941 to 1932. It was discontinued when its cancer-causing potential was confirmed." The most recent study of Monsanto's work force here, conducted by Dr. SusUnd, produced no evidence of long term health effects other thaw chloracne among workers who had produced 2,4,5-T, according to a pre lim inary report released by Monsanto In 1982. Reached at Ms office In Cincinnati, Dr. SusMnd declined to discuss the re sults of that study, saying he was still assembling Ms data in preparation for publication. C10211 SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER. erupt JU years an er m s io n taspusurc, seemed In constant motion, leaning for ward, settling back and shifting his position as be sat on a sofa discussing n il experiences at the Monsanto plant and what he said had been the results. "I don't have any nerves at all," he said. After snapping at his wife, Virgin ia, over an interruption, be added: "Youeee how irritable I get.'* He was unable to sleep more than a few hours a t night and cried frequently over "any news, or no news at all," he said, and medical diagnoses had con firmed heart disease and a lesion In a lung. Meanwbt ile, be said, he has suffered cramps and aches and pains in his legs and a numbness in his fingers, toes and the bottoms of his feet Since 1993, his wife complained, he had shown no Interest in sexual rela tions. " I Just have had no sex drive,** he said. He had dug 2,4,5-Twith a trowel from a production vessel and some of the substance had often contaminated his clothing, which he wore borne, he said. His daughter, Ramona, who sat be tide him, nad dark rings dotted with pimples under her eyes, and she turned her bead to display sca n and large pustides behind her earo. "She was always one to climb up in his clothes," Mrs. Stover said. "She cries a t night like her daddy," Mrs. Stover said. " She has sleeping trouble, too, and it seems like she's al Another Study If D iffered One study, however, by Robert V . Baughman in preparation for a 1979 Harvard University doctoral disserta tion, produced results differing with those studies. That study, conducted among workers exposed in the 1949 ac cident, found resulting symptoms in cluding "severe ptin s In skeletal mus cles, shortness of breath, Intolerance to cold, palpable and tender liver, loss of sensation In the extrem ities, demyellnation of peripheral nerves, fatigue, nervousness, Irritability, Insomnia, IoAn sotfulidbyidboyaandCvheicratiggoop/*hysician com missioned by lawyers for the plaintiffs has produced results sim ilar to those of Mr. Baughman, according some of those interviewed. A large num berofdocuments In a vo luminous file in the Nltro case have ac cumulated in the Charleston court, but an order by a Federal judge has sealed sensitive p u e n from pubfic scrutiny. ' But an Idea of the kind of medical claim s the case may produce came this f week In Interviews with six of the liti ways expecting something bad to hap pen." Mrs. Stover, who said die had under gone operations for cancer of the blad der, said she attributed her own prob lem to contact with her husband's work clothes. Mr. Phillips, 70, whtfcomplains of ex trem e sensitivity to cold and of breath ing difficulties, has had to live in a house with automatic controls that regulate heat and humidity. "They were here, here, here, here and here," he said, pointing to places an his face, in one ear end on an arm where he said tumors had been re moved. Mr. Wilson, 76, who b ean some ofthe worst scars attributed to chloracne, said he also suffered from nervousness, shortness of breath and pains In his legs. But the worst discomfort, be said, pointing to the chloracne m arks, came from "these things." Sometimes, he said, "they feel like pins and needles." Among the litigants with the most serious complaints was Cleo Smith, who died at the age of 55before the suit was filed. The cause of death was said gants, a form er worker who suffers from problems sim ilar to theirs but has not sued and reviews of published re ports an problems suffered by others. In many instances they reported symp toms sim ilar to those reported in Mr. Baughman** d issertatio n . "As long as Monsanto pays my pen sion and my medical bills I'm satis fied,** said Mr. Miller, whose prob to be bladder cancer and heart disease. Mr. Smith had told reporters of at least 17 operations to cut cancerous cysts from his skin. Some were "as big as an egg," be said. Those Interviewed included three currant workers, all In their late 90's but all three, each ofwhom complained of aches, pains and numbness in their lems, he said, have Included cancer of legs, asked not to be identified. the bladder and m uscular tension. " I'd One of them , describing a production neversue them.'* process, said be had spread 2,4>T on Manyworkers worry that an effect of trays in preparation for drying, the suit may be to drive Monsanto out smoothing the layers with Ms bare ofN ltro, according to Larry Ratliff, re gional sub-director of the United Steel For working with the herbicide, he workers of America, the union that rep said, employees received extra pay of 4 resents the company employees. cents an hour under s contract negoti Mr. Stover, h u face pitted with scan ated by their union. "We called it the of chloracne pustules th at continue to T -rate/'h esald .  PWitorgh OHIO PENNSYLVANIA The M onsanto Company chemical plant at Nitro, W . Va. Below, Donald B. Stover and his MO wife, Virginia, a t their home in the town. A t right, Jam es R. Phillips. Mr. Stover and Mr. VIRGINIA Phillips worked at the plant and Roanoke say their health has been affected by exposure to dioxin. The Now Y ort TUb / L orv i F ilte r cor su bje c t To protective o r ? r)~-> C10213