Document KGxmw30RZwXbpr4kw2GNkMvOK

opinion THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1974 The Louisville: Times BARRY BINGHAM JR. GEORGE BURT Editor ond Publisher . Editorial Page Editor Associate Editors: WARREN BUCKLER. VAN CAVEI7, NORMAN JOHNSON: Cot toonist: ROBERT YORK v ' ' ~5 ;vs*t ' Detecting an occupational disease t As officials of the B. F. Goodrich that there were indications of vinyl t Co. plant in Louisville have said re- chloride's toxicity at least 25 years \ peatedly, it is easy to point out, in ago. Workmen's compensation records hindsight, the failure of the chemical show that liver disorders came to light | industry to fully recognize the danger at the Goodrich plant about 10 years j of exposing workers to large amounts ago. Company employes claim that * of vinyl chloride gas. The record of workers have passed out or vomited 5. the past should be examined carefully, while cleaning the vats in which vinyl i however. For the lesson to be learned chloride is combined with other chem I from the discovery of a probable link icals to make polyvinyl chloride. j between vinyl chloride and several Stomach problems, according to other ? diseases, including a rare and deadly reports, were common at one time. j liver cancer known as angiosarcoma, In the mid-1960s, workers at Goodrich I is that industrial managers and labor and at plants in Europe contracted union leaders have a responsibility to It is true that a company doctor did a 'strange bone disease. Three years [ be much more alert to the early warn- report back in the spring of 1973 that ago, an Italian researcher produced f ing signals of occupational health there appeared to be a high incidence a cancer in rats by exposing them to J hazards. of liver disorders in the Goodrich vinyl chloride. | Five former Goodrich workers are work force. After the discovery of three Taken singly, any one of these, oc * known to have died of angiosarcoma angiosarcoma deaths, the company currences might have been over * since 1964 and a sixth is ill with the did, as it is required to do by law, in looked. In combination, they should ( disease. Blood tests have indicated form federal and state occupational have alerted the chemical industry f that a number of employes may have health and safety agencies of its sus to a potentially serious health prob > liver problems. So far there is no picions. Since then Goodrich and lem. Only since vinyl chloride was | proof that vinyl chloride is the cul- other firms have begun searching identified as a possible carcinogen, ? prit, but there is no lack of grounds their employes' medical records for however, has there been an upsurge ; for suspicion. Could it have been a evidence that might shed additional of interest in lowering the level of mere coincidence that angiosarcoma, light . on the link between vinyl exposure in factories and in providing. which ordinarily kills only about 20 chloride and various health problems. workers with adequate protective . Americans every year, claimed so The National Institute of Occupational equipment and clothing. The labor ; many victims in a very small group Safety and Health has begun its own unions involved, notably the United | of Louisvillians? The U.S. Occupational investigations. Rubber Workers, the Oil, Chemical 1 Safety and Health Administration ap- But why did it take the industry, and Atomic.Workers and the AFUCIO { parently doesn't think so: It has classi- and the company, so long to recognize Industrial Union Department, have I fied angiosarcoma as a new occupa- the danger signals? Dr. Irving Seli- been even more belated in their ex j tional disease, and is considering add- koff of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in pressions of concern about the ap t ing vinyl chloride to its list of cancer- New York, the man whose research parently unhealthy working environ { causing agents, as Kentucky's occupa- helped prove that asbestos is a leading ment in vinyl chloride plants. * i tional health agency has already done. industrial cause of cancer, has testified Unfortunately, this has ail too often .been the story of industry's attitude ^toward health and safety problems. Goodrich has performed an invalu; able public service by uncovering and 1 reporting the apparently lethal impact ; of vinyi chloride on the human liver. Since no one is certain what level of exposure, if any, is safe, the company " and other companies that use the gas in the manufacture of plastics should now do everything possible to make j their operations clean. The long-term i goal should be a zero level of exposure, } which has very nearly been achieved in modern chemical plants. The Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Standard Board, mean while, has acted with commendable speed in reducing the permissible con- ; centration of vinyl chloride fumes in places of employment from 500 parts per million parts of air to 50. That standard must now be strictly en forced. The most important result of the vinyl chloride saga, however, should be a change in the attitude still prev alent in some segments of American industry. The first hint of an occupa tional disease should be taken seriously, and the suspected cause should be regarded as guilty until, proved innocent. . .,j OS o 8 oOnI OQ