Document OEqZVZYw6QXVz320Bb3yobnBj

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19140 c'C S' TV- C./VC- T7C jm il'TA'i O receiver oma or the VICE PRESIDENT FOR HEiVLTH SCIENCES May 1, 1974 MAY 31374 Jl z, Richard Fleming j Group Vice President- * Chemicals Air Products and Chemicals, Five Executive Mall Swedesford Road Wayne, Pennsylvania 19087 Inc. Dear Dicks jfr* K. Mc,ViiLi_A.7 The trip to Pensacola was an informative one, both during my visit to the' plant and my session with Dr. Beidelman. Dr. Beidelman is both alert and sensitive, and the plant personnel are in very competent hands. I feel that any possible compli cation that might arise as a result of VCM exposure will be detected in conformity with sound principles of occupational and preventive medicine. Insofar as Paducah is concerned I am anxiously awaiting results of the retesting of those employees with abnormal laboratory findings so that a meeting with Dr. Blalock can be arranged. This certainly will be early in May, I hope, so that protocols for those cases requiring continuing work-up can be developed. I anticipate it will mean another trip to Paducah, at which time I will plan to meet with Dr. Colburn again if you or Jack Kramer thinks it advisable. On my last visit to Paducah I did suggest the possibility of our getting together in the future if the circumstances warranted it. The matter of physicians for the Middlesex and Ti'feAlertown facilities is very much on my mind now, and as I indicated to Marty my last irrevocalbe commitment to Tempi ends Thursday, ' May 2, when the budget hearings for the University before the House and Senate Appropriations Committee in Harrisburg will be complete. In the same vein I will be meeting with Dr. Kuschner this weekend at which time I will do my very best to convince him to assume a consultant's role with APCI. For the record, last Saturday {April 27), Firestone Rubber Company, Pottstown, phoned Kuschner in an attempt to recruit him as a major consul tant for their corporation. Despite his refusal to them, I feel I can convince him to fill my shoes. I am well aware that you are a stickler for target dates and goal setting, so let ne; set Thurclr.y, : , _ne very latest for achieving the identi fication of pnysicians and, hopefully, the conversion of Dr. Kuschner. MNNav*MBSI , ....... , .. .. -fe AP00035039 Richard Fleming 2- - May 1, 1974 In the normal course of events I would put the following items in an official report to you? however, I felt it best to incor porate my thoughts in this letter. My trip through the Pensa cola plant led to the following concerns: 1. The bagging operation was if anything no better or perhaps slightly worse than that in Calvert. I recognize that bagging is a dirty operation? however, this I believe makes superior vigilance in housekeeping even more imperative. Polymer dust had accumulated at all levels-floors, sills, tops of machinery, and at heights equal to the rafters. The higher levels of deposition are of special concern because, in contrast to spil lage, they reflect airborne particles which can remain suspended in the air for hours to days. 2. One of the reactors was being manually cleaned by a workman with gauntlet gloves which were partially rolled back? he was also wearing his own regular work shoes. Although he was wearing a mask, I could not really assess its level of pro tection and it was not on a supplied air line. 3. Except for this man I saw no one wearing any masks, even; though all employees in the VC plant appeared to have free access to all parts of the plant as I did. The use of masks by visitors or ca>^>Zmcnal entrants in all areas immediately surrounding the various steps in the manufacture of VC should, I believe, be likened to the wearing of hard hats in construction areas, a requirement for all. 4. The quality control and analytical labs in most industries somehow manage to escape scrutiny and therefore may be sites of unmonitored exposure. Hoods, portable or built-in, must be required because of the potential hazard from normal operation, to say nothing of accidental spillage or monomer escape. You will most likely be hearing from me the middle of next week. In the interim, all good wishes. raul Kotin, m.d. Vice President Enclosure AP00035040