Document Rp5Bk0Jk0orKwMLwOznXXoNXn

AgJ OFFICE OF IKFORHATION. WASHIMGTON. D. C. 20210 Occupational Safety & Health Administration Contact: Dan Boyd Office : (202) 961-5248 Don Lassiter (202) 961-2122 USDL - 74 - 545 Grover Wrenn (202) 961-5314 James Foster (202) 961-3440 (703) 941-6798 (Home) FOR RELEASE: 2:30 p.m. EOT Tuesday, October 1, 1974 LABOR DEPARTMENT SETS FINAL JOB HEALTH RULE ON VINYL CHLORIDE CHICAGO -- Assistant Secretary of Labor John H. Stender announced today final job health rules that will establish a three-phase program for reducing worker exposflre tb vinyl chloride, a cancer-causing chemical widely used In the manufacture of plastics. Stender, head of the Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (0SHA), said the rule, effective Oct. 4, will ultimately lower exposure to the chemical "to levels that wir protect worker health hy cutting significantly the amornt of vinyl chloride they are exposed to." In its three-phase progression between Oct. 4, this year and Jan. 1, 1976, the new standard will reduce the 50 parts per million (ppm) in air exposure to vinyl chloride now permitted to as low as one ppm averaged over any eight-hour period and five ppm averaged over any period no longer than 15 minutes. Vinyl chloride, a gaseous chemical, has been shown to Induce cancer of the liver (angiosarcoma) in workers in tiie United States and other countries. Its effects first became widely known last January when the B. F. Goodrich Company reported deaths of several of Its employees exposed to the chemical. Exhaustive Investigation and lengthy public hearings followed. 0SHA first held an emergency fact-finding hearing in February, then conducted a survey of vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride plants In the South. Meanwhile, more deaths and illnesses were reported. MORE - BOR 007051 2- v. An emergency temporary rule substantially lowering the exposure levels from 500 ppm In air to 50 ppm was Issued April 5. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, the emergency standard would have expired Oct. 5. Stender told a news conference In Chicago, where he Is attending the National # Safety Congress, that the permanent standard will continue In effect at the 50 ppm level at the outset. "We will continue at that level until Dec. 31," Stender said, "to give employers a reasonable time to accomplish changes'In their plants that will permit them to reduce exposures or provide employee protective equipment." He said that on Jan. 1, 1975, employers must reduce levels to one ppm averaged over any eight-hour period, and five ppm averaged over any period no longer than 15 minutes. Reduction of exposures to at or below these levels will be made through feasible engineering and work practice controls. Where these measures will not reduce levels enough, the rules will permit reductions to the lowest practicable level with employee respiratory protection provided to meet the one ppm and five ppm exposure limits, Stender said. Beginning Jan. 1, 1976 -- the third phase -- wearing of respirators will be mandatory for workers exposed to levels greater than the one ppm and five ppm allowable limits. Until that date, wearing of respirators is discretionary for exposures no greater than 25 ppm. Plans for reducing exposure to the permissible levels must be available on request of OSHA. Before giving details of the new rules, Stender praised the "splendid cooperation" of the medical and scientific community, labor and industry representatives, and officials of other government agencies who "provided the Labor Department with a comprehensive record on which to base its final ruling." - MORE - BOR 007052 ' 4",S *>. :50V *; - *v r 9V.' m -3- Vinyl chloride, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and PVC-product manufacturing processes often release vinyl chloride into workplace atomospheres. The new rules will protect workers' health against exposures to significant amounts of vinyl chloride during these processes, Stender said. The new rules will apply to the manufacture, reaction, packaging, repackaging, transportation, storage, handling or use of vinyl chloride or polyvinyl chloride. They will not apply to the handling or use of products made of polyvinyl chloride. fII BOR 007053 'M OTHER KEY PROVISIONS OF THE FINAL VINYL CHLORIDE STANDARD: -- Employers must set up "regulated areas" where concentrations of VCM exceed the "one and five ppm" limits, with access limited to "authorized" workers. -- Plans for reducing exposure to the permissible "one and five ppm" levels must be available on request of OSHA. -- Direct contact by employees with liquid VCM Is prohibited. -- Monitoring and measuring programs must be initiated to learn whether exposure levels exceed 0.5 ppm. Depending on levels found, repeat measurements are required at least monthly or quarterly. They may be discontinued only when two*consecutive measurements, no fewer than five working days apart, show Individual employee exposures to be less than 0.5 ppm. -- Any change In processes that may alter exposure levels will require new measurements for all affected employees. Monitoring and measuring methods must meet accuracy requirements ranging from not less than plus or minus 50 percent In concentrations from 0.25 through 0.5 ppm, to plus or minus 25 percent for levels greater than one ppm. -- Where the regular monitoring program shows excursion levels may exceed 25 ppm, a continuous monitoring and alarm system must be used to alert employees to potential danger if they are using air filtering respirators (gas masks). At that level, they must switch to respirators with a clean air supply. -- Employees and their representatives must be given "reasonable opportunity" to observe monitoring and measuring. -- Protective garments as well as respiratory protection must be provided for employees in hazardous situations, such as cleaning operations in PVC vessels. -- Written plans must be prepared for emergency situations (accidental release of massive levels) In facilities making or using VCM. MORE BOR 007054 -- Employees in VCM or PVC operations must be trained fully on topics such as the nature of the hazards, protective measures, and the contents of the OSHA rules. -- Medical programs must Include complete Initial examinations. Subsequent ones will be required every six months for employees who have worked In VCM or PVC operations for 10 or more years, and annually for all other exposed workers. Alternative medical examinations will be acceptable If the examining physician states his procedures and reasons for substitution. All medical checks are at no cost to employees. -- Specified signs.or lables are required at entrances to "regulated areas," In- v hazardous operations or emergency areas, on containers of PVC resin waste, PVC containers and VCM containers. -- Records of required monitoring and measuring, medical records, and rosters of TV-*! .,e>l. ->`5 "authorized" workers must be kept for varying specified times, or be sent to the Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, If an employer ceases to do business before the expiration of retention periods. -- Reports must be made to the nearest OSHA Area Director no later than one month after establishing a "regulated area, and within 24 hours of any "emergency" exposure. Also, reports to affected employees must be made within 10 days after monitoring and measuring shows exposure In excess of the "one and five ppm" limits. Including the * results of the measurements and steps being taken to reduce exposure to permissible levels. V*tF,, VINYL CHLORIDE CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS____________ _______________________ _ January 22, 1974 -- OSHA was Informed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Co. reported that deaths of several of Its employees from a rare liver cancer (angiosarcoma) may have been occupa tionally related. January 30, 1974 -- OSHA announced In the Federal Register a fact-finding hearing on possible hazards Involved with the manufacture and use of VCM. - MORE - BOR 007055 r February 15, 1974 -- Public hearing held In Washington, D. C. March 11-15, 1974 -- Staff members of the OSHA Office of Standards Development conducted an Industrial hygiene fact-finding survey of five VCM and two PVC plants In the New Orleans and Baton Rouge area, to assist In developing information on which to base exposure standards. March 16-17, 1974 -- Assistant Secretary of tabor John H. Stender, OSHA head, with key staff members, visited three chemical plants In Texas to observe personally the conditions under which vinyl chloride Is manufactured and processed. April 5, 1974 -- OSHA Issued an emergency temporary standard lowering from 500 ppm to 50 ppm the maximum allowable amounts of VCM to which employees may be exposed. April 15, 1974 -- OSHA, NIOSH, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representatives received from Bio-Test Laboratories, Northbrook, 111., preliminary data showing development of angiosarcomas of the liver In test mice exposed to VCM concentrations of 50 ppm. May 10, 1974 -- OSHA proposed standards to replace the emergency temporary standard due to expire Oct. 5. The proposal would reduce to "no detectable level" the allowable exposure of workers to VCM. May 24, 1974 -- OSHA published In the Federal Register a notice of public hearing # on the proposed permanent rule'to begin June 25. June 12, 1974 -- OSHA published a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed final rules. The statement was announced by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) as being available for 45 days for public conment. June 25-28, 1974 -- Public hearings on proposed permanent rules. July 8-11, 1974 -- Continuation of public hearings. August 26, 1974 -- OSHA announced In the Federal Register the availability for public comment by Sept. 6 the preliminary results of an economic and technological feasibility study on various exposure levels conducted by Foster D. Snell Corp., New York City. 'r' W'-. 'OTT-r -jjrvw-'* v: ' V;-*' : ' i:' "V BOR u0'07056 r- September 5, 1974 -- OSHA published the final environmental impact statement which was announced by CEQ Sept. 6 as being available for public comtient until Sept. 25. September 13, 1974 -- OSHA announced the availability for public conment of the draft final Snell study for public coimtent until Sept. 25. October 4, 1974 -- Final health standard on vinyl chloride published in the Federal Register. I *#* * # 7v*%y *.v 1 : t ... ', *' *,-:J-tn', * M i > -> jg*. BOR 007057 V** `-.tv - \ ! ,f"1' iV*v- UNITED STATES COURT ON APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT ' ' ~ v THE SOCIETY OF THE PLASTICS ) INDUSTRY, INC. ) Petitioner, ) ) ) v. ) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH ) ) ADMINISTRATION, UNITED STATES ) DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; PETER J. ) BRENNAN, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT ) OF LABOR; and JOHN H. STENDER, ) ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR OCCUPA- ) TIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH, ) Respondents. ) ) No. PETITION FOR REVIEW j i The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc.,! hereby petitions the Court for review of the permanent standard concerning occupational exposure to vinyl chloride, 29 C.F.R. ' 111910.93q, which was promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, United States Department of Labor. j The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., resides and has its principal place of business in this Circuit. SHEA GOULD CLIMENKO & KRAMER OF COUNSEL: Jerome H. Heckman Joseph E. Hadley, Esq. Keller and Heckman 1150 17th Street, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20036 October 1st, 1974 By A Member of the Firm Office ana P.O. Address 330 Madison Avenue New York, New York 10017 Telephone: (212) 661-3200 Attorneys for Petitioner i ! BOR 007058 I UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT THE SOCIETY OF TIIE PLASTICS INDUSTRY, INC. ) * ) Petitioner, ) ) No. ) v. ) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH )AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE ) "-- ADMINISTRATION, UNITED STATES ) DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; PETER J. ) BRENNAN, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT ) OF LABOR; and JOHN H. STENDER, ) ' ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR -OCCUPA-) TIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH, ) Respondents. ) ) " ' STATE OF NEW YORK ) ) SS: COUNTY OF NEW YORK) ; ' : i *` ; j *" j ! ! and says: MARTIN I. SHELTON, being duly sworn, deposes f ". 1. I am a member of the firm of Shea Gould Climenko & Kramer, attorneys for petitioner in the above-referenc ed matter. 2. On October 1, 1974 there was mailed under my supervision a copy of the petition for review herein to persons appearing on the annexed list at the addresses appearing thereon who are, upon information and belief, the parties who were ad- ; mitted to participate in the proceedings before the Occupational , Safety and Health Administration. I Sworn to before me this 1st day of October, 1974 , ^Jartin IV Shelton / i j `....7 Y-i v BOR 007059 UNITED S ;'.V :Z CUT.' Or A;VT' for ye; siiccircuit KOOHER CHEMICALS Sc PLASTICS con?. ) ) Petitioner, j j v. ) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR: PETER J. BRENNAN, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR: AND JOHN H. STENDER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR OCCURATIONAL SAFETY AND H1ALTH, Respondents, ) ) ) ) ) ) \ j ., Ho. ________ -- ' phtitior for revien Hooker Chemicals Sc Plastics Corp. hereto* petitions the Court for review of the permanent standard concerning occupational.exposure to vinyl chloride, 29 C.F.R. Tf 1910.939, which was promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, United States Department of Labor. Hooker Chemicals Sc Plastics Corp. resides and has its principal place of business in this Circuit': ,0 ' OF COUNSEL: Allan J. Topol, Esq. Peter M. Phillipes, Esq. John Thomas Smith, II, Esq Covington Sc Burling 33B Sixteenth Street, K.VI. Washington, D.C. 200CS October J , 157^ C-eorge Rowe, Jr. Fulton, Halter Sc Dunecrib a 30 Rockefeller Plasa Hew York, Hew York 10020 Telephone: 212/JU S-07CO Attorney for Petitioner BOR 007060 UNITED STATES COURT OE APPEALS FOR TEE' SECOND CIRCUIT HOOKER CHEMICALS & PLASTICS CORP., Petitioner, v ) ) ) ) ) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ) ADMINISTRATION, UNITED STATES ) DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; PETER J, ) BRENNAN, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT ) OF LABOR; AND JOHN H. STENDER, ) ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR OCCU- ) PATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH, ) ) Respondents .State of New York ) County of New York) 8S MARTIN I. SHELTON, being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. I am an attorney admitted to practice in this Court 2. On October 1, 1974 there was mailed under my supervision a copy of the petition for review herein to persons appearing on the annexed list at the addresses appearing thereon who are, upon information and belief, the parties who are admitted to participate in the proceedings before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Sworn to before me this 1st day of October, 1974 / ` \L i BOR 007061 - THE WALL STREET JOUR? , Wednesday, Oct, ", 1974 U `"i" ^ Health Hazards Vinyl-Chloride Risks Were Known by Many Before First Deaths Hindsight Shows Weakness In Firms' Systems Aimed At Protecting Workers The Tip of a Large Iceberg By Barm* Kiiamhr Stuff Reporter of tup. Wau. sthkbt .'fM-RN u, A few weeks before Christmas in 1948, Earl Parks, then 29 years old, si,Tried on ns a helper-trainee at the large If. F. Goodrich Co. plastics factory in Louisville, Ky, The plant had been making polyvinyl-chlorkie plastic from vinyl-chloride gas since before the war, using a process developed by Good-, rich in 1937. 1 It was a Trowing Industry that Mr. Parks Joined. Polyvinyl chloride --dubbed PVC for short--had found special, but limited, appli cations in the war years, especially as a fireproof coating for electric wiring In fighter planes and ships. But In the late 1910s, so-called vinyl consumer products, made from PVC, hegan ^coming into vogue; and by the time the 1900s were under way polyvinyl-chloride products such as contain ers, phonograph records and curtains were staples In American households. The basic Goodrich process, still In use today, pipes vlnyl-chlorlde gas into large re This is the first of two stories con cerning implications of the discovery that vinyl chloride can cause cancer. actor vessels; there, the gas Is agitated to gether with a liquid and catalysts. The process causes polymerisation, a linking to. gethcr of the molecules of the gas (a mon omer) into the long chains that give PVC (a polymer) Its strength and other desired characteristics. The First Years In his first years with Goodrich, It was Earl Park's Job to crawl inside the reactors after each batch of PVC was drained off and to chip away that portion of the polymer that had congealed. During tho hour-long task, repeated several times In the course of an eight-hour shift, Mr. Parks and other workers who performed the same function would unavoidably Inhale the heavy, sweet- j smelling fumes of vinyl-chloride gas that had escaped polymerization. i As the 1950s went by and tho 19G0s began, Earl Parks was working his way up to the | ..Job of foreman, a post that he had attained! by the time that 111 health forced bis early, retirement In the late 19G0s. In the years that ha had worked with Goodrich, the PVC Industry flourished ns thousands of new uses were discovered for the polymer. On Mai ill 3. 1973, at thr age of ,*,n, Earl) Porks died of anglnrari-nmR of the livri, n, type of rnnerr lhat Is invariably fatal. Ills death attracted eanl puMIr nttcntlon at the lime, but today the significance of Mr. Park's illness Is unquestionable find shatter ing In ils Implications. For Earl Parks came to he one more .stntlsilc in turning a hypothesis Into n reality: Vinyl chloride van cniiso cancer. Deadly Statistic* | The link between angiosarcoma andi vinyl chloride Is further buttressed by other deadly statistics. Seven of Mr. Park's fellow workers at the Goodrich plant also con tracted the disease, and five have died. In all, there have been 16 documented angio sarcoma cases In the U.S. In recent years, all of them linked to vinyl chloride. In addi tion, 10 other cases havo been reported In! Europe. | While the total number of cases is small, the Industry lias been shaken to its roots. The disease now is known to work insidi ously, slowly, during decades of exposure,' the Implications being that the cases thus- far are quite likely only the tip of an ice berg. Nine companies, with If plants and 910 employes, currently produce vinyl chlor ide monomer from ethylene, a petrochemi cal. Tho monomer, in turn, is used by 21 companies operating 36 major plants and employing 5.000 workers, to make more than five billion pounds of PVC annually. (World-wide production is some 18 billion pounds annually.) Even the live billion pounds of PVC an nually produced In this country Isn't enough to meet the domestic demand for the plastic into which PVC Is formed. Front 3.000 to 4,* 000 processors, employing an estimated 700.000 workers, fabricate the plastic into a wide variety of products ranging from vinyl floor tiles to shower curtains. According to a study done for the Society of the plastics In-1 dustry by Arthur D. Little Inc., as many as 2.2 million jobs depend on polyvinyl-chloride plastic. If PVC were banned, the study says, the annual loss to industry in sales and pro duction would be some $65 billion to $90 bil lion. (Tat. Manufacturing Chemists Associa tion estimates the wholesale annual value of i all PVC products is $3 billion.) < Emergency Decree At the moment, no one believes the in dustry will suddenly come to a screeching halt. However, after the first human cases of vinyl chloride-induced angiosarcoma were disclosed, the Labor Department's Oc cupational Safety and Health Administra tion imposed a temporary emergency stan-l dard for PVC factories; thenceforth, OSHA| decreed, the permissible level of vinyl chlor ide In the air of such factories would be SO parts per million. Tli.it level was far below the Industry standard, in effect for years, of 500 parts per million, OSt'lA'a emergency decree was made last May. Since then, animal research found that tumors develop at 50'parts per million. Yesterday, OSHA issued a new permanent standard requiring employers after Jan. 1. 1675, to reduce exposure to one part per mil lion in factory air. averaged over eight hours, and five parts per million averaged over any period no longer than 15 minutes. (See story on page 22.) While considerably more stringent than the emergency decree, the new permanent standard--particularly with its five-parts-pcr-million provision and 11* allowance of aver clog-nevertheless (nils short of Ihe "no drt<*< '-iL>" 1.mil ad\ocat'd by unions, many med-csl expert! and mu U groups as the .Nall'Jiial Institute for Oc cupational Sufety and Health, and the American Chemical Society. This no detee.- able limit would have constant, not average, ndhrrnnco to onc-part-pcr-miltion level.-.-. Therefore. It seems certain that ihe argu ment won't nbnte. As the controversy coidlnues. It Is reveal ing to examine how the link between viryl chloride and cancer w is established. If nothing else, such an examination points out the grave weaknesses of the present system -or lack thcreof-of protecting workers and others from industrial hazards. The Judgment Is made In hindsight, but the history of vinyl chloride shows that evi dence of Its toxicity was often ignored. What's more, the chemical companies knew, hut kept secret for at least six months, the fact that Italian researchers, had shown that rats develop tumors, Includ- j lng angiosarcoma, when exposed to low levels of vinyl cljlorldcjnonomcr. European | companies, which paid lor the animal re search, knew of these research findings for more than a year before tho first human cases were reported hut didn't rcduco tho exposure of their workers to vinyl chloride. But Dr. Irving J. Sclikoff, an expert on environmental carcinogens, or cancer-caus ing agents, claims that blame shouldn't be placed at industry's door alone. "We're all a bit responsible," he says. "None of us did our homework." Culpability, he says, should he shared by scientists, government egon-j clcs and labor unions. ' The case of Earl Perks Is illustrative. M.. Parks first came to the attention of Goodrich medical people In 1964, when the company, concerned about the known liver toxicity of ethylene dichloride (a chemical from which vinyl chloride Is made) tested the liver function of workers In the Louis ville plant. Mr. Parks's readings were abnormal. Nevertheless, he continued to work at the same job. In October 19C1, however, lie was hospitalized with what was initially diag nosed as a bleeding ulcer. Doctors treated the "ulcer" without surgery, and Mr. Parks was released. He was readmitted to the hospital the fol lowing May. and the decision was made to operate. But when the operation was begun, surgeons. Instead of finding an ulcer, found instead that Mr. Parks'.* problem resulted from severe liver damage, which had caused blood to back up in the portal vein leading Into the liver. The surgeons cor rected the vein problem with a shunt and took a sample of liver tissue for analysis. The analysis showed that the liver had been damaged by exposure to "chemicals." Can cer wasn't mentioned. (According to testimony at OSHA's hear ings on vinyl chloride, held last June and July, Mr. Parks received a total of almost $6,000 in workman's compensation from Goodrich before he dicd,_ but only after Goodrich protested that his illness couldn't have resulted from exposure to the chemi cal.) BOR 007062 and ilrv.l cK-raJc, L:\ L, c,'. cl..;, * for years ha* treated workers sent to him. by Goodrich tin a fee per patient h.ists, had j followed Karl r.n-ks's case for some time, ever, though he wasn't treating Mr, Talks. Dr. Creech says he had been concerned about an abnormally high number of Cond- rirh workers who had liver disease. Wheni he heard that .Mr, forks had died, he re calls, he asked to see the autopsy report. It was In AuguM 1373 that Dr, Creech leai ned that Mr. Parka had died-the prc-. vlous March of angiosarcoma of tho liver. The doctor says he then realized that some thing was serif sly wrong, sinco another Goodrich PVC worker, a private patient of Dr. Creech, had succumbed to tho same, typo of cancer In 1071. Dr. Creech says he knew that liver angiosarcoma Is exceedingly j raro and that two eases among such ,1 small plant population was abnormal, (In fact, medical men estimate that fewer than 30 eases occur each year in the U.S., striking only one In 900,000 persons.) Dr. Creech met with Goodrich's occupa tional health director. Dr. Maurice N. John-' son, who subsequently decided to ask Taber- shaw-Cooper Associates Inc., a Berkeley, Calif., epidemiological-studies concern, to do a survey of Goodrich death records. Cut the study was hardly needed: on Dec. 19, a third PVC worker at the Louisville plant died at the age of S3; ho had been at the plant for 28 years. On Jan. 22 of this year, Goodrich officials met In Washington with officials of the Na tional Institute for Occupational Safely and Health and informed them of the three an giosarcoma deaths. The following day, Ken tucky occupational-health officials also were Informed and Goodrich made its first public announcement. Almost since Its first commercial Intro duction. there have been reports that vinyl chloride is toxic above certain levels. In deed, during World War II, vinyl chloride was rejected as a surgical anesthetic be cause animals developed heart Irritation when exposed to it. In 1949, Russian scien tists reported "hepatitis-like changes'' in the livers of 25% of the workers in a small PVC plant. Then, in the late 1950s, research toxocolo- gists at Dow Chemical Co. showed that ani mals exposed to as few as 100 parts per mil lion of vinyl chloride (or 100 molecules of vinyl chloride in every one million mole cules of air) developed slight liver damage. Based on its research, Dow began a pro gram in the 1360s to reduce tho level of vinyl chloride monomer in tho air of Its plants to below 50 parts per million. Dow published its results in 1961. But the rest of the industry chose to rely on n Yale University study that recommended 500 parts per million as a safe level. This same level had been recommended by the Manu facturing Chemists Association since 1931, was affirmed in 1962 by the American Con ference of Governmental Industrial Hygien ists and was given the force of law hy OSHA In 1971. However, evidence at the OSHA hearings indicates that this level was regu larly exceeded until this year in many plants. (The hygienists' group didn't recom mend lowering the level to 200 parts per million until 1972, four years after Dow con cluded from further tests that repeated ex-1 posure by workers to vinyl-chloride mon omer at an average of 300 parts per million or above for a working lifetime could cause I changes In the liver.) i During the 19G0S, thcro were reports of a' disease called acroostcolysls among vinyl- Lvr; - l r. ui, . t : 1 *.' p _i j chloride workers. Tho disease consists of slim lesions and changes In tho blood ves sels, leading to degeneration of the hones nt the tips of the fingers and toes in those ex posed to high levels of the monomer. (Emis sions of vinyl chloride are generally lower at plants where the monomer, or gas, Is made, sinco the process is less complex, and there Is less chance for leaks than at the polymerization plants; none of the re ported angiosarcoma cases In this country has occurred among workers making vinylchloride monomer, and only one of the 10 deaths in Europe was in a monomer plant.) In early 1967, the Manufacturing Chem ists Association arranged with the Univer sity of Michigan to study acroostcolysls among vinyl-chloride workers, particularly thos# who cleaned tho reactor vessels and others who were exposed to large concentra tions of vinyl chloride In the air. The Michi gan scientists reported In 1970 that although they couldn't pinpoint vinyl chloride as the cause of the disease, worker exposure lo the monomer should bo cut to 50 parts per milHon or below. Other than Dow, which had already Insti tuted reductions In air levels of the mon omer, the rest of the Industry In tho U.S. Ig nored the recommendation. Nor was there any significant reaction to findings by Euro pean industry that animals developed ad verse effec ts from vinyl chloride. This was at least partly because the Europeans down graded the Importance of some of their find ings. For example, Prof. Pier Luigi Viola, a medical director employed In Italy by Sol* vay L Cie., the Belgian chemicals company, found bone changes in rats exposed to air levels of 30,000 parts per million of vinyl .chloride; even more Important, he found that vinyl chloride at that level cauaed ma lignant tumors in the ear canals, lungs and bones of rats.-, Prof. Viola reported his findings before, an International cancer congress Jn Houston in 1970. it was the first reported link be tween cancer and vinyl chloride. But the professor expressed doubt about the purity of the vinyl-chloride gss he had used and stated that tho rat cancer findings, because they occurred at such high levels of the monomer, had no human implications, (Prof. Viola subsequently found tumors In rats exposed to 500 parts per million: but this fact wasn't revealed until well after the first human angiosarcoma cases were re vealed.) Based on Prof. Viola's early cancer find ings In Tats, Montedison S.p.A., the huge Italian chemicals company, in 1970 asked Cesare Maltonl, a respected researcher at the Institute of Oncology In Bologna, Italy, to do more extensive animal studes. By Oc tober 1972, Prof. Maltonl says, he had found that 250 parts per million of vinyl chloride produced tumors In rats In three parts of tho body: the ear canals, kidneys and the liver. The liver tumors Included angtosar- coma. The professor Immediately Informed his spnji-.ors. The Europeans offered their Information to the Manufacturing Chem!'is Association In the U K,, hut only it the Americans guar-, nnterd confidentiality. With great rrluc-' tancc, the association says. It finally rgreed! to the secrecy condition " he enure, of the vital Importance of learning of any Indica tions from the European research , . . with out the delays which could have resulted from duplication of effort." ; On Jan. 30, 1973, a year before the first human angiosarcoma cares were reported by C. F. Goodrich, the MCA finally got the Maltonl data. For five months, the secrecy restrictions were such that government agencies, PVC workers exposed to vinyl chloride and even company doctors were kept in the dark. Then, in the late spring, the Europeans agreed that the chemists' as sociation conld pass the Information on to' the U.S. Nationaf Institute for Occupational .Safely and Health, the Labor Department agency that monitors worker safety. On July 17,1973, representatives of the associa tion and the agency met. There Is some dispute' as to what tran spired at the meeting. Tho Labor Depart ment agency claims It wasn't given the full story; tho chemists' association claims that tho agency misunderstood tho findings. But ,one thing Is certain: The agency, and OSHA, made no move to change the stan dard of 5i3 parts per million and didn't do so until after the human angiosarcoma cases were announced. In Europe, by con trast, Great Britain had lowered the maxi mum level to 200 parts per million following the cases of acroostcolysls In the '60s: and West Germany had set a level of 100 parts per'million In 1B70, based on Dow's 1961 re sults with animals. According to New Scien tist, tho British science journal, ``No other section of the U.S. or European industry fol lowed Dow's lead. The reasons for this In ternational confusion arc obscure." This all changed quickly, of course, once the first human eases of angiosarcoma were reported by Goodrich. Indeed, the swiftness with which new research has been carried out since Jan. 23 Is perhaps without prece dent in the world Of medicine and science. Much of this recent research is con cerned wtlh studies of the incidence of dis ease of all types among vinyl-chloride work ers. Thus far. some studies show that work ers exposed to high levels of vinyl chloride show greater than expected Incidences not only ot angiosarcoma but certain other can cers as well. The ramifications of these find ings for the future of the industry and its workers remain to be seen. However, for the veteran PVC workers, whatever changes the findings produce will be useless In counteracting the Insidious effects ot working day after day, year after year, in what now is generally viewed as a contami nated atmosphere. * BOR 007063 r 'i'lii' Wj . , ' t_ i ui11- m i iiiiRt! Wcdnesda October 2, 1974 Sharp Drop in Vinyl Chloride Exposure Is Ordered by Labor Agency for Workers r.i.. rr fly n Wm.[. srmxr Joltnjii. Xteff WAPniNCTON-Ttic I-A I'OP Department ordered :i reduction In workers* expo sure lo vinyl chloride, iv widely used indus trial ,,.IS that haa been linked to liver can cer. Tho ruling, which comes alter nine months of controversy, brought a lawsuit from the plastics industry, which contends :tho standard can't be met. and criticism! I from organised labor, which contends the jrulo contains loopholes. Vinyl chloride is a basic ingredient In making many every- 'day plastic products. / j The new standard, Issued by the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, requires that, start ing Jan. 1, vinyl chloride levels In tho air that workers breathe be held to one part vinyl chloride per million parts of air, aver aged over an eight-hour period. Actual levels may exceed one part per million for short periods, but they must average out to no more than five parts per million for any 15-minute period within tho eight-hour time span. The standard also calls for regular moni toring of plant air, regular medical exams for workers and establishment of "regulated areas" whero vinyl chloride exposure Is high. It prohibits direct worker contact with liquefied vinyl chloride and requires posting of signs warning tho chemical is a "canccr- suspccl agent." j Since last April, companies handling vinyl chloride have been under an enter* 'gency restriction of 50 parts per million, without any time period. The emergency standard was issued alter the discovery, beginning last January, Of cases of a rare and fatal liver cancer, an giosarcoma, among workers exposed to vinyl chloride. Nineteen deaths among such workers in the U.S. end other countries have been attributed to liver cancer caused by long exposure to the chemical. Vinyl chloride is a gas that Is processed to form a powdery substance known as poly vinyl chloride. Polyvinyl chloride, in resm or pellet form, is then fabricated into a wide variety of finished plastic products. Though only about C.500 workers arc em ployed in plants that make vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride, about 550,000 others, who work in facilities that create finished products from the polyvinyl chloride, will also be covered by the new ruling. Workers who handle only finished products, and don't have any chance of contact with "raw" vinyl chloride or polyvinyl chloride, are the only ones exempted. Tho Labor Department initially proposed {that exposure bo limited to "no detectable level," without any averaging over time, i This proposal pleased organized labor and .some key researchers in the field of occupa tional health. But tlie Society of the Plastics Industry, a trade group, and many compa. Inlcs using tho chemicals, denounced it as |technologically impossible and warned it j would drive tho industry out of business. | In selecting as its final standard one part| per million over eight hours and five parts, per million over 15 minutes, the department apparently was trying to reach a compro>, misc between Its original Idea and the | toughest proposal offered by the industry,: which would have left cx[xisurcs ns high as 10 parts per million in some plants and 25 parts per million in others. The department sought to smooth further, the adjustment for Industry by delaying! until next January the drop from the pres*: j ent 50 parts per million. Also, it gave its en*: Iforccmcnt staff discretion to determine how 'the companies must meet the standard. While the goal is to reacli the new levels) through "engineering and work practice' controls," such controls must be deemed "feasible," and companies can deal with any exposures produced by Inadequate con trols by giving workers respirators.. A date wasn't set in the ruling for Im proving plant engineering and practices to Hie point where respirators won't be needed. What's more, until January 1976 workers ' may refuse to wear the respirators when ex posures don't exceed 5 parts per million, even if they exceed the one part per million /cr eight hours specified in the regulation. ' Despite this attempt at compromise, however, the Society of tho Plastics Indus try and some producers sued the Labor De partment to overturn the ruling only mo ments after it was issued yesterday. And' Firestone Plastic Co., a unit of Firestone | | Tire & Rubber Co., said It will ask a court to! stay enforcement of the standard while the suits are being tried. Ralph Harding, president of the industry group, said the standard is "unrealistic, probably will be Impossible for most, if not all, of the Industry to meet and appears to have been developed on some basis inconsis- j tent with recorded tacts." The job-safety agency "may believe that it has adopted a compromise position," but the result is un acceptable to the Industry, he added. Industry sources also indicated displea sure at the inclusion of plants making fabri cated products from polyvinyl chloride. Tho industry had proposed excluding these plants, contending they didn't, present any hazard. (Page 22) But the department said it decided to In clude them because polyvinyl chcride resin and pellet.-; can give off vinyl chloride gas in small amounts during procc: sing. It said, however, if the plants weren't exposing workers to more than half a part per milker, of vinyl chloride gas, they needn't under take any control measures. In Midland, Mich.. Dow Chemical Co said the standard;; were "unnccessarih stringent" and unsuppoilcd hy the data o.-i Dow workers that was presented at public hearings. Organized labor expressed some immedi ate reservations of its own. In Akron, OfciO, Pfilcr Bommarito, presi-, dent of the United Rubber Workers union. | which represents many vinyl chloride work- j ers, said "It would appear this thing has a I number of loopholes in it." Mr. Eommanto reserved final judgment until he has seen a full text of the regulations, but he was quick to take Issue with the decision to let workers decline the use of a respirator until 1576. "We can't make a guy put on a respirator, and while he's not wearing one; he may be endangering himself." What is more, he added. "The respirator situation Is going to be even worse in nonunion plants." The department defended its reliance on the use of respirators, saving detinue dates couldn't be set for dealing with the problem solely through engineering and work rules because "we are presently unable to deter mine when It will be feasible," It added. "We would agree that resp;m-.',rs ;*-e many drawbacks" but said, in the at.-en.1 of complete engineering control, they arc needed. The official explanation of the rcguln-, tions also said that although a deadline wasn't set for completing engineering and work-rule changes, a continuing plan, avail able for government inspection, must be pursued by each company at a pace agreed on by safety inspectors, until respirators arc needed only occasionally. BOR 007064 r THH-^ASIIINC.TON POST H . i..*. I'KI ...a C7 New Rules Set to Reduce Vinyl Chloride Risk From New* Dispatcher Administration (OSHA) came The Labor Department yes after ^everai months of grow terday announced new rules lo drastically cut the amount ing evidence that workers ex of cancer-causing vinyl chlo posed to the widely used plas- ride , gas to which factory I tics industry gas were develop- workers may' he exposed. One I ing a rare but fatal- form of 1 tlpiioolannsttwiehosrerkaceotermsnpsoaunttoyotsfhatrhiodewitrh2jeomltasic.li> lwivoerrldcatrnacceer.d Deaths around to workplace the ex- The new rules front the Ocjpusurc now number more than cupational Safely and Health 120. . I The Society of the Plastics ; Industry, Inc., filed a suit in ! Second U.S Circuit Court of > Appeals in New York asking !for the judicial review of the OSHA standard. | It said th standard' an- , | nounccd yesterday is unrealis tic and it will be impossible for most if not all of the in dustry to meet It. > Last April 5, OSHA am ' nounccd that workers could be exposed to no more than SO parts per million of vinyl chlo ride gas in the air and pro posed eventually reducing the exposure level to zero. During lengthy hearings on the matter the industry claimed it would be impossible to meet a detectable level of the gas inside the factories. 1 Under the new regulations, i effective Friday, the present. SO-part-per-million exposure; level will be allowed until! Dec. 31. 'After next Jan. lj workers may he exposed to no! more than 1 part per million' average over eight hours ofj exposure and no concentration, higher than 5 parts per mil-. lion over any 15-minute pe riod. { After Jan. 1 of 1976, the' same exposure levels will be required except that workers exposed to anything stronger will have to wear respirators. Firestone Plastics Co. said the new rules put the industry "on a collision' course with* economic disaster." An offidal-- > of the firm said the restrict * tions would "throw 2 mUlioq jobs down the drain." BOR 007065 r SET THE NEW YORK TIMES Wednesday, October 2, 1974 Vinyl Choride Rules Seek To Guard Workers9 Health r ftfwriAi lo Thf Nr* York Tmc* WASHINGTON, Oct. 1--The! The final rules, to become ef- Departmcntof Laborannmmccdlfeclive Friday, will continue today final industrial health!the 50 parts per million level rules designed to reduce work-! through Dec. 31 and require a er exposure to vinyl chloride,;reduction, thereafter, to only a eanccr-caiising chemical wide- ] one part per million averaged ly used as a basic material in over any eight-hour, period and the manufacture of plastics, 'five parts per million averaged John H. Strndcr, head of;over any iS-minutc period, the department's Occupational These limits on the permis- Safeiy and Health Administra siblc concentrations of the tion, said the rules would pro chemical in the air of industrial tect workers by significantly work places would be tightened reducing the amount, of vinyl further on Jan. 1, 1976. In that chloride to which they wcic ex third phase of the new rules, posed. workers would be required to TTie chemical has been shown (wear respirators if they were to induce incurable cancers of i exposed to air containing mo.rc the liver in some workers ex vinyl chloride than, the one posed to it over Substantial part per million and five parts periods of time. per million limits. The dangerous effects of the During 1975, respirator use chemical became a -public is would be discretionary at air sue last January when the B. levels below 25 parts per F. Goodrich Cmpany, reported million. that several of its employes The industry objected imme had died of relatively rare can diately after the new rules cers of the liver called angio were announced here and at a I sarcomas. The employes had National Safety Congress Mr. been exposed to the chemical Tender is attending in Chicago. over long periods' of time dur- Firestone Plastics Company _ing their work. said it was planning a legal Because of these and other challenge and declared that the v- - dealhers reported later, the new ruling "puts the vinyl plas - Labor Department safety and tics industry on a collision health unit issued.an emergen course with economic disaster." cy rule on April 5 lowering the The Society of the Plastics permissible exposure levels Industry, Inc., said the occupa from 500 parts per million to tional health standard was un 50 parts per million. The emer realistic and that it would gency standard would have ex- probably be impossible for most pired this Saturday. v of the industry, to meet it. BOR 007066 r