Document NnOoeeb383z7mwVNO63w4BJ8

INTERNAL CORRE3PONDENC CHEMICALS AND PLASTICS v f: 0 a! 7- ------------------ ~ Ksr s/~ 1300 LAKESIDE AVENUE, CLEVEi/nD, OHIO'v 441M ir yS r# |Nimi) Division Locition Mr. H. R. McNair Chemicals and Plastics 33rd Floor New York Building ,ii!l |, Dot* "J I i--' n i,-i Orlglnartna Dpt,< i Answering letter riite July 7, 1976 Cleveland Field Sales Copy to Mrs.M. C. Jaenke - Cleveland Mr. H. E. Klein - NY-31 ^ f*/* THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY .0 A !% ^ n r* * Dear Harley: SEP 7 1976 R N WHEELEK JR. Attached is a letter from the buyer at Sherwin-Williams who purchases all Vinyl Chloride resins together with copy of an article which appeared in "New Scientific" magazine 26 June,1975 issue, stating that PVC powder "must be treated as a health hazard potentially more widespread than VCM itself". In his cover letter Mr. D. C. Jasmund requests that Union Carbide answer '""""l the question about the hazard possibilities of Vinyl Chloride resins directly | to their Mr. D. Sarvadi, Sherwin-Williams Company, 101 Prospect Avenue, | Cleveland, Ohio 44114. Would appreciate your passing this request on to the proper individual for answer direct to Mr. Sarvadi, with a copy to me of any reply that is sent. O', - XML* (j C. G. Herion CGHsc act.(2) >r> ijA 'u ucc 023870 The Sherwin-Williams Company 101 Prospect Avenue. N, W. Cleveland, Ohio 44115 June 30, 1976 Mr. Charlie Herion Union Carbide Corporation 1300 Lakeside Avenue Cleveland, OH UU113 Dear Charlie: Attached you will find a copy of an article which appeared in a Canadian or British publication, I am not sure which. Our Environmental Control Department has asked that we pass this article to our suppliers and request that they reply to this particular question as soon as possible. Will you please give us your comments as quickly as possible? Very-truly yours, CORPORATE PURCHASING DEPT. D, C. Jasmundira cc; DSarvadi Ends, Buyer i FORM NO. 13955 UCC 023871 uappena to Lire nciu : UP PVC plant. PVC dust often forms a PVC dust fells factory mice suggesting new work hazard Guinea-pigs and rats kept in dusty areas ture is largely automated, the bagging of PVC factories next to regular workers section is usually the dustiest. The fact developed pneumoconiosis--the lung that the animaht were exposed to the disease caused by asbestos/ silica, and same- atmosphere os workers in the plant coal dust. Additional tests show-PVC is an unusual procedure which partly dust to be as biologically, active as . overcomes objections to* drawing con cbrysotilo asbestos. clusions from animal experiments about This means that PVC powder--the the biological effects of chemicals on product of polymerisation of vinyl man. chloride monomer CVCM)--must bo The animals were killed after two to treated as a health hazard potentially seven mootlis of exposure to PVC dust more widespread than VCM itself. VCM and thoir lungs examined microscopic was discovered last year to be carcino- : ally. genic and the chemical industry has - Reporting their work (Medicine- del made considerable efforts to control this Lavoro, Sept-Oct 1974) tho three pro gas. Efforts may now be needed to con fessors say; "we are dealing with an trol PVC powder as well. authentic pneumoconiosis, or nt least Following a report that a 31-year-old with n PVC pneumopathy which suggests worker who bad inhaled PVC powder at- very strongly not a few of the significant work for a year developed a new typo aspects of pneumoconiosis". Although of pneumoconiosis. Professors N. Fron- they admit that much more research gia, D. Casula, and R. Camba at Cag has to be done before firm conclusions liari (Italy) University began a ' long can be drawn, they say their results term investigation of the possible harm form a "highly consistent picture" and . ful effects of PVC powder. They put rats are "clearly correlated with the length and guinea-pigs in cages with large win of exposure to PVC powder". dows in the bagging section of a PVC The second piece of receot research plant in Sardinia. Because PVC manufac which throws suspicion on PVC powder fine film oo tho road outside the plant - and also finds its way on to the roofs of - cars parked nearby and on to washing bung out to-'dry. Rose's department'-' carries out work on the biochemistry of asbestosis. Putting the two together, he' decided that he ought to have at least a brief look at PVC dust. * -* * ( Rose and Dr Roy Richards used a test that bad beetn found to be a good, indi cator of the biological activity of other materials such- as asbestos. The dust Is - incubated with' red blood cells from rab bits and the- amount of haemoglobin re leased by the dust breaking the cell walls (bncmolysis) Is measured. '_ So far only two. samples-have been tested and so the results are difficult to Interpret However one of the PVC dust, samples was found to be as active In the haemolysis- test os cbrysotilo asbestos When the PVC particles were washed, this activity* surprisingly disappeared. Rose and his. colleagues tentatively con cluded that tbe biological activity is due to a soluble surface-associated agent. Even more surprising is that the other PVC dust sample showed practically no activity at alL- Ooo possibility Is that the two samples were from different processes which pro duced different size particles, with dif ferent biological- activities. Large dust particles do-.not reach the lung, which suggests they may be less dangerous Will dockers black PVC powder? than small ones.. Tho particles. In .the Italian factory were very small--about London dockers are to reconsider a total ban on tha handling of cargoes J.+ 0--t 1 micrometre In diameter. Tbe significance of these two pieces of PVC powder. The National Associa tion of Stevedores and Dockworkers of research, if their results are confirmed by further experimentation, could be (NASD) originally refused to "black" PVC cargoes following the refusal of some dockers at the Royal group of Immense, PVC powders are handled by a much larger number of workers than VCM. Workers in practically every plant docks to unload bagged PVC. But armed with the new evidence that is emerging about the hazards of PVC powder the issue will be raised again. Last January one gang of dockers refused to unload about SO tonnes ofbagged PVC from two barges onto a making goods from PVC powder are potentially at risk. Further, the discharge of PVC dust from factories is by no means a rare event; so communities near PVC plants' might also be at risk. !> Lawrence. McGinty ...j- Romanian ship. According to one of the dockers involved, the cargo had where; people wero smothered In It," Frnnch court r.r been lying in tbe barges for a year and many of the bags were rotten.' The refusal was prompted by publicity, especially on TV. surrounding the dis covery that vinyl chloride monomer-- from which PVC is made--causes liver cancer. But the dockers were also sus picious that tho PVC powder itself might be o health hazard. A Factory Inspector had the cargo analysed and he assured the dockers that there was no measurable vinyl chloride monomer in tbe PVC and that . PVC powder', itself is harmless. says one docker. This was the first cargo of PVC to pass through the Royal docks, but employer's assurances that any future cargoes would be in hessian, not paper, bags indicates the possibility of future cargoes. Now the dockers who originally re fused to handle the cargo are raising the question again. This time they have the admittedly preliminary find ings of the Italian and Cardiff research to back up their claim that PVC dust could be a health hazard. Their intui backs breeder Two environmental groups were refused an injunction to stop EUctridtA do Trance from building n fast breeder reactor nt Bugey. The court ruled that there had been uo Infringement of property or of a fundamental right The environmentalists bad argued the', dean air and lack of pollution is a legs right Elictridte de France, on the othc band, argued that "quality of life" i, neither a public right nor an essentia, liberty, but rather an aspiration. (Evidence that PVC powder could cause pneumoconiosis had been pul* lished three months earlier.) Similar assurances came from Robert Murray, the TUC's medical advisor. After eight days the cargo was un loaded from the barges by other dockers. "Tho dust was just every- tive feelings about PVC powder, which must be seen against a long history of "unscientific" baas on dan Testing technology gerous cargoes (asbestos for example) "The Police Department yesterday f long before medical evidence of Ill- mitted the following message on *- effects appeared, could well be a teletype machine: `This is a t*- -/>*ge better guide to action than tha Fac for L.I. presa only. If you c receive tory Inspector's reassurances. LM.. this message, you need s repair'." ucc --New York Times, 6 Me/ 023872 INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE CHEMICALS AND PLASTICS * to (Name) Division Location Mr. S. A. Mortimer Copy to Mr. J. B. Hollingsworth Dr. T. T. Szabo Dr. D. Heywood south charleston plant p. o. box soo4, south charleston, w. va. 253C3 oats August 6, 1976 Originating Dept. Answering letter date subject Proposed Letter to Sherwin-Williams Company Attached is a proposed letter to be transmitted to Sherwin-Williams Company and/or other customers who maybe concerned about the recent discussions of PVC-caused pneumoconiosis. R. N. Wheeler, Jr{/ RNWJr. /pm Attachment ucc 023873 SOUTH CHARLESTON PLANT UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION CHEMICALS AND PLASTICS P.O. BOX 8004, SOUTH CHARLESTON, W, VA. 25303 August 6, 1976 Mr. D. Sarvadi Sherwin-Williams Company 101 Prospect Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44114 Subject: PVC Dust Dear Mr. Sarvadi: PVC dust in the work place does not appear to be a serious hazard if workers are protected by respirators when the level in the air exceeds the OSHA limit of ten milligrams per cubic meter. Union Carbide Corporation has manufac tured vinyl chloride resins for forty years and during that period there have been no worker cases of pneumoconiosis related to PVC dust. Periodic employee medical examinations include specific tests for this disease. A contributing fact is that to cause pneumoconiosis a dust particle must be small enough to make its way into the lungs. This respirable dust size has been defined as five micrometers or less. Union Carbide Corporation PVC resins produced by the Solvent, Nonsolvent (Bulk) and Suspension processes contain less than 0. 5% of particles in this size range; thus, these materials pose a minimum potential hazard. Dispersion PVC resin, however, could be a hazard since its particle size range is 0 to 10 micrometers with a major portion less than three microns. The article appearing in New Scientist June 26, 1975 entitled "PVC Dust Fells Factory Mice Suggesting New Work Hazard" indicts all PVC resins, whereas the investigative work was very limited. The two investigations cited should be considered separately since they are only vaguely related. The first investigation involved exposing guinea pigs and rats (no mice) in the bagging section of a PVC plant in Sardinia for two to seven months. Professors ucc 023874 Letter to Mr. Sarvadi August 6, 1976 Page Two Frongia, Casula and Camba report an authentic pneumoconiosis or at least very similar. They note that the dust particles are about one micrometer in diameter (an emulsion or dispersion-type PVC). The Manufacturing Chemists Association is attempting to get full details on Professor Frongia's work. PVC-related pneumoconiosis has also been noted by Jerzy Popow, "Influence of Polyvinyl Chloride Dust on the Rat Respiratory System" (Roczniki Akademii Medcyczneg Supplement 24, 1969) and B. Azende, et.al. "Pneumoconiosis Developing After Inhalation of Polyvinyl Chloride", (Orv. Hetil. 112:85-6 January 10, 1971). Based on the available scientific data, Union Carbide Corporation believes that exposure to excessive concentrations of respirable PVC dust could lead to pneumoconiosis. We recommend that respiratory protection be used most particularly in dusty areas involving dispersion vinyl resins. The second investigation involving the haemolytic activity of PVC dust points out that one PVC sample destroyed red blood corpuscles similar to chrysotile asbestos, a test standard, while a second sample showed no such activity. When the first sample was water washed it too lost its ability to destroy red blood corpuscles. The addition of a washed aliquot from the first PVC sample to cultures of lung fibroblasts and incubating them 24 days yielded no signifi cant results. (The work is more fully discussed in Nature 256. 1975, pp. 664665). The conclusions of the work were that certain forms of PVC dusts exhibit a high haemolytic potential because of the presence of a readily soluble surface-associated agent'and that the introduction of a washing procedure would certainly reduce or abolish the haemolytic activity of the material. It is unfortunate that no tests were done on the water extract from the PVC sample and that its identity and source were not established. More work is in progress. The significance of this work is difficult to evaluate; however, the following items seem pertinent: 1. Haemolytic activity on the part of a particular material may indicate that it could lead to anemia or similar disorders if it were introduced into the blood stream. 2. The agent causing the haemolytic activity noted in the study was not PVC itself but a water soluble agent left as a residue on the resin particle by the manufacturing process. uec 023875 Letter to Mr. Sarvadi August 6, 1976 Page Thre 3. Ingestion or inhalation of PVC dust could provide a path way for the water extract of the resin to enter the blood stream, but the liklihood of sufficient resin intake to cause damage by either route is slight if normal, good manufacturing practice prevails. If one assumed that haemolytic activity was a serious problem with PVC, then washed resins with a minimum of surfactant or suspending aid used in the process should be used if possible. Resins worth considering are: 1. Union Carbide Corporation's solution vinyl resin has no surfactants or suspending aids used in its manufacture and it is given two water washes prior to drying and packaging. 2. Union Carbide Corporation's nonsolvent vinyl resin has no surfactants or suspending aids used in its manufacture and it is given one water wash prior to drying and pack aging. 3. Suspension vinyl resins including Union Carbide Corpor ation's, contain small amounts of suspending aids and surfactants. Most of these, such as methyl cellulose, hydroxy ethyl cellulose and polyvinyl alcohol, are accept able for food applications and haemolytic activity is doubt ful. 4. Dispersion and emulsion vinyl resins including Union Carbide Corporation's, contain appreciable amounts of (1 to 3%) surfactants which are readily extracted from the resin by water. Food grade surfactant systems would be less likely to show haemolytic activity than non-food grade, but it would be very difficult to forecast the activity of these complex molecules. In summary. Union Carbide Corporation does not believe that pneumoconiosis caused by respirable PVC dust is a serious problem if good dust control pro cedures are followed. It believes that dispersion vinyl resins are the subjects of the tests discussed in New Scientist and there is an indication of a possible problem with these resins. UCC 023876 Letter to Mr. Sarvadi August 6, 1976 Page Four Union Carbide Corporation will continue to work actively in seeking health and safety data related to its products and make this available to its custo mers. Very truly yours, K. jn. wneeier, jr RNWJr. /pm UCC 023877