Document NEOdr4yJxJez7vY7xqBeojwVw

JOPLIN, MO. GLOBE t. 34.500 SEP 41976 4 Study Shows High Lung Cancer Rate ST. LOUIS (API - A higher than normal incidence ol lung cancer has been found among deceased employes who had once worked at the Mon santo Co. plant producing polycholorinated Diphenyls (PCBe). the fjrm announced ~ However, Monsanto offi cials said the findings were, preliminary and a full investigation would not be completed for another U to ' II months. ' Dr. George Roush, direc tor of Maqaigltfa medical , and environmental health f department, said there Is ns indication that the presence of the cancer waa related to PCBe. . The Monsanto study is based on a review of the records of more than M current and former employ es at Its sole PCB produc tion unit al Sauget. 111., since 1936. Roush said Monsanto was ' able to identify 50 former employes who have died . ana that seven of these per- eons had lung cancer. This compares with 3.7 cases that would be expected . according to National Can cer Institute statistics, he had been exposed to a PCB product while working at a Mobil plant In New Jersey. Roush said the absence of the- malignancies in Mon santo's study at the Saigpt plant "casts strong doubt that the findings et the Mobil study were b> fact, related to PCB." PCBs, the fire-resistant chemicals used mainly as insulting fluids in electrical equipment, hare been termed a significant health hazard by the Environmen tal Protection Agency. Monsanto, the only Amer-' lean manufacturer of PCBe. announced in January it intends to phase out produc tion of the chemicals. Monsanto also said its study has found no cates of malignant melanoma or pancreatic cancer among current or former employes of the unit. A recent Mobil Oil Corp. study reported finding three cases of melanoma and tun cases of pancreatic cancer among 73 employes who HONS 03662A