Document OJRx8y1do8R70mr60Y6yaovp1

TM INTER-COMPANY AND OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE T. Mekaru Columbus, Ohio SPI PAMPHLET From: n. M. Blackman located at: Leominster, MA DAT': October 6, 1980 D*pt { Burnth Division Company Enclosed is a copy of an SPI pamphlet entitled "PVC and Health Questions and Answers". This pamphlet appears to be several years old. We are planning to have a meeting with city and state officials at the Leominster plant on October 30, 1980 and we expect to furnish various pieces of literature to these officials. The enclosed pamphlet is one which we had planned on distributing, however, since it appears, to be old, could you give us your opinion as to whether the answers to the questions are still appropriate. I would appreciate your response at your earliest convenience. NMB/cah Enel. cc: W. F. Gabel vH. Rosenzweig W. B. Barton m N. M. Blackman BOR 008426 PVC AND HEALTH QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Since early 1974, vinyl chloride, the gaseous industrial chemical from which polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic is made, has been the subject of widespread misunder standing regarding questions of occupational and public health. While a variety of errone ous and misleading impressions concerning vinyl chloride and PVC have been created in the public mind, the known facts, supported by extensive medical and technical research, are that: 1. The development of angiosarcoma of the liver, a rare form of cancer, from vinyl chloride exposure has been con fined exclusively to the occupational setting. 2. Angiosarcoma may develop only after the inhalation of substantial amounts of vinyl chloride over an extended period of time. 3. There is no evidence of hazard to the general public either from exposure to the minute amounts of vinyl chloride that may be found in the air around PVC plants, or from the use of finished polyvinyl chloride products. Following are some questions commonly asked about vinyl chloride and health. Answers are based on known scientific evidence and industry experience. Question: What is PVC and how is it used? Answer: Polyvinyl chloride or PVC is the sec ond most widely used plastic resin in the United States It is produced from vinyl chloride gas by a process called poly merization The resin is. in turn, fabricated into a wide variety of consumer and in dustrial products, including floor tile, cur tains, shoes, electrical insulation, tele phone equipment, medical-surgical de vices. phonograph records, food pack aging, upholstery, umbrellas and rain coats, luggage and sporting goods. Ap proximately 2.2 million American jobs are directly or indirectfy dependent on the PVC industry. Question: How serious an occupational haz ard is vinyl chloride? Answer: Over the past 15 years, fewer than 20 deaths from angiosarcoma have oc curred among U.S. workers heavily ex posed to vinyl chloride gas. The workers' jobs principally involved cleaning residue of PVC resin from the reactors in which it was produced. While it can be expected that some additional deaths will occur in the future as a result of these heavy past exposures, with the strict control mea sures instituted over the last two years, there is every reason to believe that vinyl chloride related disease has already been eliminated as an occupational problem. Question: Is vinyl chloride a major air pol lutant? Answer: No. Measurements taken by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that, even in the past, the average exposure of individuals living in proximity to vinyl chloride gas and PVC resin plants was many times lower than that now considered to be safe for occu pational exposure. As a purely precau tionary step, new EPA regulations will further significantly reduce even this minimal exposure in addition, the EPA has concluded that the potential public exposure from PVC fabricating plants is so minimal as to require no regulations what ever. Question: Does vinyl chloride cause disease in the general public? Answer: No. A government survey of all angiosarcoma deaths in the United States between 1964 and 1974 found'no excess of deaths from this diseas among people living within five mites of vinyl chloride gas and PVC resin plants. The report con cluded: "This survey has produced no evi dence that living around vinyl chlorid plants is a risk factor in the occurrence of liver angiosarcoma." In addition, there is no evidence whatsoever that any person has contracted this disease from the use of finished PVC products, or from ingesting food or beverages packaged in PVC con tainers. Question: Is it safe to consume food or bev erages packaged in PVC? Answer: Yes. As a result of str nuous indus try efforts over the past t w years, the residual vinyl chloride content has been reduced to "non-detectable" levels in packaging products made from foodgrade PVC resins. Therefore, there is no reasonable possibility of vinyl chloride migration into foods, drugs, cosmetics or other products contained in such pack ages. Question: Should the manufacture and use of PVC products be banned? Answer: Vinyl chloride concentrations in the workplace, in community air, and in finished PVC products are being rigidly controlled, and there is therefore no rea son to ban the manufacture or use of any BOR 008427 polyvinyl chloride product. From a public health standpoint, such bans are com pletely unnecessary and would serve only as meaningless gestures. uestton: Did the PVC industry withhold important information on the health effects of vinyl chloride from the public? newer: The PVC industry throughout the world has consistently acted in a respon sible manner with regard to the develop ment and dissemination of information on vinyl chloride. The industry has spon sor d the majority of the medical research on vinyl chloride conducted to date, and essentially all of it conducted before 1974, when th first tentative link between vinyl chloride exposure and angiosarcoma in humans was discovered by an industry doctor and publicly announced by his company. In fact, were it not for the ac tions taken by the PVC Industry from 1970 onward, we might still know next to noth ing about the health effects of vinyl chloride. 'uestton: Does vinyl chloride increase the risk of still births and miscarriages among the wives of heavily exposed industry workers? newer: While one recent research project at a single plant in P nnsylvania reported that $uch a risk may exist, serious sci entific questions have been raised con cerning the manner in which the study was conducted. It is clear that a more thorough scientific investigation of this subject will be required before any definitiv conclusions can be reached. In addition, since the res arch was con ducted, vinyl chloride exposure levels throughout the industry have been r duced a hundredfold or more. Even if a problem did exist, it has already been eliminated. Question: Does vinyl chloride cause birth defects in communities with PVC facili ties? Answer: Because of a report from Ohio of excess birth defects in three widely separated communities with PVC facilities, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare conducted its own two-part study --one part in Pennsylvania and the second in Ohio. CDC concluded, on the basis of these investigations and a thor ough analysis of the existing research data, that the evidence to date did "not establish any association between (birth defect) cases and vinyl chloride expo sure." PVC AND HEALTH QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS For Further Information Contact: The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. 355 Lexington Avenue New York, New York 10017 (212) 573-9400 * t The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc BOR 008428 i 008429 BOR