Document N9ZRbOYxk25z3v5opd3NonKV

winnsboro, 3. C. - T.A.C. January 16, 1974 dassrs. ' C. a. Sigler ?. a, tievby L. y. 3oulvar F. C. Phillip* S. J. Peele E. A. Horrid da.. 2>-- brA Attached is a copy of page. 15 of the January Iff 1974 issue of Chemical tfec*. reporting a class-action salt by former employee* of Pittsburg Corning. JCMApx Attachment J. C. Markham Commercial Perelopewnt Dept. 50020001 Top of the news Throwing in the sponge ics, sent the company's stock sliding 15% ` Health Foundation; Asbestos Textile In- \ points, to 69%, on Dec. 13. After a partial/ stitute; and unidentified asbestos sup- X B. F. Goodrich plans to discontinue recovery, Upjohn plunged again--to 63; pliers. domestic production of cellular materials. off six, on Dec. 24-as a result of rumofs The suit alleges that each of the plain- . The move may eliminate 2,000 jobs at about an E.F, Hutton report that U. tiffs had "been exposed to asbestos fibers' plants in Shelton and Derby, Conn. studies currently in progress would coh- in extremely dangerous concentrations" Goodrich Chairman O. Pendleton firm the drugs' allegedly adverse effects.! while working at the installation. As a re Thomas said last week the company will Upjohn has asserted that the drugs suit, the complaint contends, they suffer try to sell its entire cellular materials op have been used safely by numerous pa from various stages of asbestosis, lung eration but will consider selling "seg tients and that the linking of Lincodn tb cancer or other pulmonary diseases. Al ments." Goodrich indicated that if no two deaths in New Zealand by the British though the action charges most of the de buyers are found, it will close down the. was based on circumstantial evidence. ^ fendants with negligence, it charges Pitts- ; installations by third-quarter "74. burgh Coming with gross negligence and i Cellular materials, used in sponge-rub Toward copper peace ber products such as foam mattresses, seeks exemplary as well as actual dam- ' ages from the company. \ cushions and pillows, have recently been Triangle Industries and Reading Indus The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Work one of the company's less profitable lines. tries, copper fabricators, apparently made ers union, which had represented the "The profit levels for the operation have peace last week with American Smelting workers while the plant was in operation, been marginal for many years," says a and Refining, one of their major copper helped airardegal cunsd. OCAW, spokesman. suppliers. The two companies agreed out however, says it is not taking an active An industry observer estimates that less of court to drop Asarco from their treble part in the litigation. than 1% of Goodrich's operating income damage suits against several suppliers A lawyer for the former workers in recent years has come from cellular {CW.June 17, '70,p. 48). > stresses that damage claims could in materials. He says the company's decision The suits, filed three years ago, charge I crease or decrease, depending on factors' to sell is "the continuation of a trend that that several large integrated copper com such as how many plaintiffs eventually started two or three years ago" in which it panies had conspired since '64 to bike may be involved in the action. has disposed of marginal operations, in cluding its rubber footwear line and in dustrial rubber plants in Passaic, N.J., in ^prices to independent fabricators, thus monopolizing the-industry. Asarco is not It's a two-way street a fabricator, whereas the other defends / '72. He adds that Goodrich is banking ants are, and that reportedly helped en Vice-President Gerald Ford told the,, heavily on an expansion of its polyvinyl courage thesettlement Manufacturing Chemists Assn, last week chloride units in anticipation of increased Although details were not disclosed, he was "optimistic" about .prospects for a demand for the material. - the settlement apparently involved agree speedy end to the Arab oil embargo. He ment on long-term supply contracts for also dropped a broad hint that,-should it Making drug firms sick copper at a stable price. Triangle Presi continue, the U.S. might retaliate by cut dent Edward Simmons says the accord ting off food flow to the area. The Food and Drug Administration "will enable us to normalize our business Speaking to a standing room only plans to require certification of each new relationships with Asarco, our single larg luncheon meeting in Washington's Madi batch of the heart drug, digoxin, but ma est copper supplier." Asarco supplies al son Hotel, Ford pointed out that while jor producer Burroughs Wellcome most half of the copper Triangle uses, ac-* the U.S. needs oil from North Africa and (Triangle Park, N.C.) says it is unsure of cording to Simmons. the Middle East, the dependence is not a. the rule's effect on future sales. Mean "This settlement will in no way affect one-way street. Those areas, he said, while. adverse reports on two Upjohn an-. the remainder of our suit," Simmons em "have some of the greatest food deficitsjn tibiotics last month sent the company's phasizes, adding that "we intend to vigor- the world. The U.S. is the world's 'mdst stock plunging. - ously..pursuc;ourjitigation against the re efficient producer of soybeans, wheat.andi. FDA said last week that up to 10% of maining defendants." The defendants in other grains. So we and other nations U.S.-produced digoxin, a drug taken by the Triangle suit include Phelps Dodge, help feed the people of that region." about 3.5 million U.S. heart patients, dis Anaconda, Kennecott Copper and Cerro. He noted, too, that some of those coun solved too fast or too slow, resulting in a Reading is suing all but Cerro. tries require advanced technology as well danger of underdosage or overdosage. as skilled engineers and geologists to tap The agency's new standards are expected /AsbeStOS WOrkOfS SUC \ their vast oil resources, and that the U.S., to require that 55% of a sample of the /- \ among others, helps provide these. Also, drug dissolve within one hour. / Pittsburgh Coming closed its Tyler, the U.S., Japan and European countries Burroughs Wellcome, which markets\ Tex., asbestos fibers plant in'72 mainly, it can furnish the kind of stable growth about 85% of digoxin in the U.S., says \ says, because of alleged health hazards economy necessary for investing some of that it has tested each batch of the drug | and pollution problems (CW, Feb. 23, the oil-generated cash, he said. for the last several years and that results '72. p. 17). But the shutdown failed to But food appears to be the big gun. have "correlated" with the expected FDA squelch the controversy. "Close an oil valve in the Middle East," standards. The firm indicates that its Last week a SI 00-million class-action Ford said, "and you threaten to shut dli?0Mn price might rise if the agency's re suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Ty down a farm tractor in our Middle West. quirements result in "excess paperwork." ler by former plant employees against Halt that tractor and some people in the t <cporls in a British medical journal Pittsburgh Coming: its parent companies. l world will hunger for bread" Ford does J * " lhc possible harmful effects of Lini nr, jn-i Cleocin, two Upjohn antibiot- PPG Industries and Corning Glass Inot. however, think it will come to that: Works; a PPG physician; Industrial / "U would be disastrous 60020002 / January 16. 1974 CHEMICAL WEEK 15