Document V3v2k8KkqRrbd2w3BDypqqYoq

as does structuring the Federal Gov ernment into departments and agen cies, each with a reasonably coherent mission. Certainly, it makes manageri al sense. Unfortunately, this arrange ment for federal R&D exhibits . . . seri ous weaknesses." Further, Dr. Handler said. "It seems to me that the time has come for the Congress and the Executive either to accept the general philosophy bv which we have operated -or reject it. Hut not snipe at it annually. If such acceptance is politically unacceptable--although 1 do not see why--then let that he made clear so il'"' we mu', nroceed instead to erect .'----- m. .i.- niue proposed by this Committee, or go further and transform NSF into a Department of Science and Technology which is deemed politically supportable." And so it went. The House commit tee is yet to hear from a host of wit nesses, including all former 1'residential science advisers. After drafting a bill to set un i council, the committee Vi,, a< >: , .r i. 1'i i st uiaf >>i including Dr. htever, as the key wit nesses. At that time, Dr. Stever, who has been getting high praise for an ad mirable job from cr-tic- of the prcot'.t .i' "nr. ,c` t;. ,.li eft a ch ir.re to : :,v now wcil tilings have been going and whether he feels there ought to be a change, albeit within the constraints of being an Administration official. ICI ends its silence on vinyl chloride The ary. n --,t '.1st thr handling of re sults from animal toilette studies that have helped to establish an apparent link between exposure to vinyl ehloride and a rare form of liver cancer in bit- mans Isn't aver yet. The studies are being cundiutcd by /Vo/. Ccsnre Mol- toni. director of the Istituto l)i Onm- logia, Bologna. Italy. In an earlier story (May `JO. pave Id) C&EN reported that the Mann factor mv Chemists Association seem ny/\ held in confidence [ram Junours DC. I until January 1974 scientific pn,loots by Prof. Mattani on vinyl ehUmde as an agent causing liver cancer in rat The store also raised the i/iiistcc / what an MCA group, which uu/.o' d an Imperial Chemical Industro s />h\ sician, did. or did not. reveal ah"ot these rat studies'during a Jo'\ 197.1 meeting with officials of the Notion.'/ Institute of Occupational Sn/eti and Health (NIOSH). According to N/ttM/ director Marcus M. Key. the vr,-.,)i made reference to neither Prof .MaD ,. ni by name nor to angiosarcoma o/ liver in humans and animals d'Ji/.'V. June tO, page 31 In May <4 .w. MCA released a "vinyl cufe'. < i" nology" that includes its vers,mi o/ .)> meeting (C&.EN. June 10. /xige i ' ICI. which had remained s,.en; o the issue, now has decided to come foruard.with a lelhr in C&EX that it hopes uill hr a a : 'active contribu tion to help clarij. 'oe situation The letter, and NIOSH's r, sponse. follow. Dear Sir: Dr. Marcus Key. in a letter in your issue of -June 10. 1974. describes a meeting between NIOSH and MCA on July 17. 1974. He refers to an (Ct doc tor who flew specially to Washington on this occasion to acquaint NIOSH fully with the results of a wide-ranging investigation on vinyl chloride mono mer, currently being carried out by a group of European companies Since certain of the phrases in I)r. Key's let ter might he capable of misinterpreta tions, which I am sure he would not have intended, some comment from Europe may he helpful in clarifying these. (1) Dr. Key reports that the ICI doc tor "critically reviewed the work of Prof. P. L. Viola." This was an entirely prrrnr review of the scientific criticism w'n.ch had been made previously of Dr. Viola's paper and provided a possible explanation for the general lack of in terest shown by the rest of the world m Dr. Viola's conclusion. The meeting p.ovided a forum for the European group to outline the animal experimen tal work which it alone had spon sored in 1971 and to present its find ings to date. The protocol for the new work had been designed to avoid anv criticism similar to that directed at Dr. Viola. Dr. Key, of course, confirms this in his brief reference to "more reason able levels of vinyl chloride," though this was by no means the only impor tant difference between the new and old work. (-!) Dr. Key then reports the Europe an representative as saying that "sev eral tumors interpreted as confirmation of Dr. Violas work had been ob served." For complete clarity, this sen tence needs a little expansion. Our doctor, in fact, reported that primary tumors at several sites had been pro duced and that this continued Dr Vio la''overall, and prcvuni'lv disregarded, conclusion thui vmvl chh'ride was car cinogenic l" rat' tie did not '.iv, as 'nine ol vour reader' might mi'con'tme Dr. Kev`s sentence. that we con firmed Dr Niidi - ri'Oll' m that viovl ehloride prod'ii'd only /vmhal gland tumors metastatic I" oilier sites Such a 'I atemeot wmild have been util rue. ( i| Dr. Kev i' correct m '.lying there wo* no di'CU"um of angiosarcoma ol the liver in ral' at the nueting. Nor has anv one tn Kurnpe attempted to sav that inform.it c ui was transferred m tills specific l"nn \s ol -lulv 19,4, the motor new dt velopmctn in European work, w Inch coni ra-icil with Dr, N i.4a s, was that vmvl i hlnride had proved car cinogenic to r il' at 'cver.il sites and at level' down to ami including Jut) p p.iii. I n those i ooccrncd with the work, this ci'inlusum had lar greater Iy V impact than tne npserv.itinn that one of the types was angiosarcoma oi :ne liver, a form very rare in i i.niuns and unknown at that tune in vmvi i blonde workers. In h,s initial presentation, therefore, the European delegate pre sented the animal results in the gener alized form that would make m.ivi- mum impact, within a wide ranging survey of past ana future at tivittes The major facts were made Gear NIOSH was told that vmvl i hlnride caused multt'tted primarv tumors in rats at concentrations dawn to gap p p.m. It also was [old of a wide range of further actions already under wav, in Europe anil the U.S., as a result of th'ts finding. The European doctor was fully prepared to provide anv further detailed information, within this main statement, that MOsH might ask for. That NIOSH asked tor little more be fore the meeting ended induated to MCA and the European group that both information and proposed actions were thought adequate and proper. At that time and in the absence of a known human hazard, that was a rea sonable conclusion for NlOsH to come to. When unexpected results first emerge in a long-term animal toxico logical program, the normal and proper course of action is (at to scrutinize fur ther results to ensure that the first in dications are sigmtieant. thl to start new experiment' aimed at a mure pre cise definition ot the effect, IcT to 'tart work with other animal 'penes, and id) to look urgent Iv lor anv similar el fects in human pnpulai tons All o| these add to the tune span of the studv unless and until uli prodtues positive results or even suspicions. In the i.tse of vinyl chloride, all these actions had been started by mid-197.! in a mnrdi- nated program between European and US. industry. Indeed, within ICI. in epidemiological studv had been com pleted to the end ol 1971 .mil updat'd to the end of 197J. This studv ili't lus. d no increase in deaths attnhotahle to cancer among vmvl chloride worki rs when compared with a loutrnl group "l chemical workers never evpo-, a to vinyl chloride. The best view Imm all the information at that time wa- that there w-as no tmiti.aioo ot a hazard to man. The further work was being done to make quae -on that this a -i moot was corns i Finally, ttiav 1 1 ! " | ,1 [CNN lit;- l ' " ' . I the role of the [ < -In \ ;n\ I ill!"! < it 'll dttstrv in the we. "it jiruMi ri i \, 11v l chloride and In i il Hi Ii 'J - ! 1 '! ' i III health problem " ' t !i \ .iin 1 i Mi r (:t !. ( t been recognized Ii; ;:\it \l r, first observed re ,-p -i- * \<11 > Their finding "i l.-ik between Mil. and vinyl chlorate was pobli-'rad m IPtili anti was also eommono.aea d, rectlv to C.S :t,,1'udni inters, aoa a great deal was do;u i|iiu get t'o- under control 111 !9o',' Dr. Viola mini is a senior member ol Snh.iv ~ tmduul group) hegati ai.an.il evpen.ia 'll ' to Canto,'.a -no:.;.i CMA 011435 ~ai forma St.iti- University, Kret.no . . . Arnold .1 Krubsack promoted to associate professor, department of chemistry. University of .Southern Mississippi. Hattiesburg ... Don- ild K. Kummitsu promoted to professor, department of chemistry, California State University. Fresno. Ronald Neuman joins University of Min- .-ram`jeing aesota. St i'aul. department of forest prod ucts. ns assistant professor .. . -lames W. Pinson promoted to professor, department o in- two to typi- of chemistry. University of Southern Missis- stppt. Hattiesburg ... Henry ttakoff joins chemistry faculty of the University of Southern Mi-sissippi. Hattiesburg, as asso im or -.-side ciate profc-Mir . . . Stephen A Kodemeyor promoted to professor, department of chem istry, California State University, Fresno . . ;l Carl H. Snyder promoted to professor of chemistry. University of Miami, Coral Ga- from bies F. C T.l> lur appointed chairman, de vated partment of chemistry. Princeton Universi voted jdies, i 12 X ty, N.J. .,. Sidney Toby becomes director, school of chemistry. Rutgers University, New Brunswick. N ). ... William H. Wade appointed iha-rn'.nn. department of chemis 'ioride ! had nomer try. Unicers.''. i IV.v.is, Au-tin . Glenn S. Wciland. professor of chemistry. Gettysburg College, Pa., retires after 25 years on the faculty ... Scott R. Wilson appointed assis. ng ra tant instructor of chemistry. Gettysburg College. Pa. n and armed Books of the '1 by a New quarterly in, the , Swit- A new journal, Resource Recovery and n and Conservation, to be published quarterly 5 and ingular 'logical with the first issue scheduled for mid1974. will he dedicated to detailed and com prehens' \ e investigations of the interdisciplinary aspects of resource re covery and conservation. Editors of the journal are Dr. James G. Abert and Dr, a new Harvey Alter of the National Center for to be Resource Recovery, Washington, D.C. n Labo- The yearly subscription price tone vnl- will de- ume, four issues) is $34.50 from Elsevier i pro Scientific Publishing Co., P.O. Box 211, malting Amsterdam, the Netherlands. etneity. me sev- i Functional Monomers: Their Prepara tion, Polymerization, and Application. Vol. 1. Ronald H. Yocum, Edwin B. Nv* ,, | quist. editors, xii + 715 pages- Marcel Dek- \'S"P liter, Inc.. 1105 East 45th St,, New York. N.Y. n devel- 10017. 197:1. $43.50. A practical reference underI work. ung the , on-cur ed eithi New Developments is Gss Chromatogra phy. Howard Purnell, editor, viii + 408 hpages. -John Wiley Sons, Inc., 605 Third or it cal Ave., New York. N.Y. 10016.1973. $9.95. I to for* lance ies tf Orgunieum: Practical Handbook of Or ganic Chemistry. Hein* Becker, et al. xx + 747 pages. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc.. Reading. Mass. 01867. 1974. $23.50. 03 b 'jsivej / Indi ...ithjfl 2. P4 1 Polymers: Chemistry and Physics of Mod. ern Materials. .1, M. G. Cowie. xii + 298 pages. Intext Educational Publishers, 257 Park Ave. South, New York, N.Y. 10010. 1974. $11.75. Principles of Quantum Mechanics. W. V. Houston. G. C. Phillips, xi + 376 pages. American EUevtcr Publishing Co.. Inc., 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, N.Y. IU0I7. 1974. $39.50. ' Continued from pane 21 get a better understanding of AOL. He reported preliminarv findings in Tokyo in 1969 and his earlii"-i observations of a carcinogenic effect were delivered to the 10th international Cancer Congress in Houston in 1970. It must be as sumed that his paper reached a large and influential audience. Nevertheless, the only action came first from Euro pean industry, through the Maltoni an imal studies, in 1971. and then from U.S. industry with its Biotest [Labora tories! program in mid-1973, ICI ini tiated epidemiological studies in 1971. The results of these were given to MCA in late 1972 with the recommendation that similar work should be done by MCA. It was this latter work that fi nally led to the discovery of a human cancer hazard. The point is obvious. For the past 10 years the industry on both sides of the Atlantic has been active in its work to protect health, and. in Europe, animal studies have been in continuous prog ress for the past six and a half years. The latest and most serious hazard of angiosarcoma of the liver has only been discovered through the coordinated and unprompted effort of European and U.S. industry. This is the record of an industry that has taken action and published, and not, as you have "hinted" in other col umns, of an industry that "withholds information.'' A. W. Barned Director, Imperial Chemical Industries plastics division Here is NIOSH"s response: Dear Sir: It is still difficult for me to understand how a description of the preliminary findings of a rat study conducted by an unnamed Italian investigator can be retrospectively interpreted as providing to NIOSH full information on the sig nificance of Prof. Maltoni's findings in July 1973. We still disagree on the details relat ed to us. Our notes do not confirm a description of tumors other than Zymbal gland tumors or their metastases, nor do they confirm specific mention of 250 p.p.m. of vinyl chloride as being tumoragenic. It is reassuring, however, that the ICI letter corroborates our notes that there was no discussion of angiosarcoma of the liver at the July 1973 meeting. In spite of the differences. I respect the ICI medical officer who attended the meeting and appreciate very much his coming to this country and hriefing us. Incidentally, I did not mean to use the word "critically" in the pejorative sense, but rather in the sense of exer cising careful judgment or judicious evaluation. Marcus M. Key. M.D. Assistant Surgeon General, Director. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health directory section Thin motion inciutlfs CHEMICALS l CHANGE--Chrmu-rtls, Kenin*. Gun., uris Waxes, *u fe^l It'Mh.N i MAHT--New anti Liqui.iKir'-,!. .n atrumenl*, KjoI.ih'- tor i'imi in g !,,tli- oratory, TKCII.N *(. A I. YU - C -m Aultjnh, EntfinriTinit, Testing. i'rxife-*. Sion.ii S-rt tC s TECHNICAL SERVICES CHILDERS LABORATORIES INC. 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S310S Phone 414-/fJA3tt CMA 011436 .,17 B 19/ V. vt . 37 Academic R&D spending has d ubled in past eight years state health inspector. The inspec tor entered the company's yard to take an opacity reading on the Vinyl chloride issue focus of U.K. group smoke coming froi i Western Alfal University R4D spending, S millions 4000 7 ' ' - - ` *n ISM M M 70 72 73 B*s year iflflf, based on grots nation*! product implicit price deflator, tewce: National Science Fowndstton Further, this group received $96 million or 9% more K&D monies in 1973 than in 1972. Federal funds accounted for $85 million or 89% of the increase. NSF adds that the 20 largest institutions accounted for "41% of federally financed li&D performed by all academic institu tions in both 1972 and 1973." And, NSF says, that "almost one half, or $56 million of the support from foundations and voluntary health agencies was concentrated in these 20 institutions in 1973." fa's chimneys during a drying oper ation. Subsequently the company was told that its emissions violated state standards and was ordered to cease and desist. Writing the court's opinion Jus tice William O. Douglas said that Fourth Amendment protection does not extend to sights seen in "the open fields." Further, he observed that the field inspector did not enter the company's plant or of fices, or inspect either its equip ment or its files and papers. "He had sighted what anyone in the city who was near the plant could see in the sky--piumes of smoke," Justice Douglas said. He also noted that although the inspector was on com pany property, "We are not advised that he was on premises from which the public was excluded." Hence invasion of privacy, if it can he said to exist, is "abstract and theoreti cal." Argentina plans huge chemical program Argentina is launching a massive $1 billion investment program to de velop its chemical and petrochemi cal industry. Some of the plans were unveiled last week in Buenos Aires, when president Juan Benin was on hand at the signing ceremo ny involving members of his gov Deflecting growing mtcrn.Uion.il concern about vmyl chloride, the U.K.'s Chemical Industries Associ ation has set up a committee to coordinate research into poible health risks involving the monomer and to recommend ways of avoiding them. On the committee are represen tatives of the four U.K. polyvinyl chloride makers-- British Industrial Plastics, BP Chemicals Internatinnal, Imperial Chemical Indus tries, and Vinntex, a subsidiary of Continental Oil--which can pro duce a total of 410,000 metric tons of PVC annually. Also represented are the British Chemical Industry Safety Council, the British Plastics Federation, and the Chemical In dustries Association itself. 'Hie companies have agreed to spend about $10 million for detailed stud ies on in-plant safety conditions, fur reducing the atmospheric vinyl chloride vapor levels in their plants to 50 p.p.m, or less, and for devel oping improved monitoring sys tems. The funds also will he used for animal experiments and epide miological studies. Committee chairman A. W. Barry Barnes of Id's plastic* divi sion, stresses that the move is a positive one on industry's part to counter a recently recognized in dustrial problem head-on. He also strenuously denies that the indus try has been responsible for keeping ernment and senior officials of Ita the lid on release of research results ly's Montedison. Montedison wilt of Italy's Prof. C'esarc Maltoni, who High court eases pollution inspection act as general consultant to Argen has shown that vinyl chloride vapor tina for the development. at concentrations down to 50 Though full details are not yet p.p.m. induces onset of angiosarco available, Argentina wants to set ma, a liver cancer, in rats fC&KN, The Supreme Court has ruled that up a variety of projects during the May 20, page 16). government air pollution inspectors coming eight years. These include Focal point of the committee's do not need a search warrant or plants for making polyolefins: basic attention is the polymerization pro other permission to enter a compa organic chemicals such as ethylene cess, where workers run the great ny's unrestricted grounds to visual oxide and acetic acid; and man est risk of vinyl chloride exposure. ly monitor the smoke being emitted made fibers and fertilizers. Mr. Barnes points out that atmo from its chimneys. An Environmen Montedison will he directly in spheric concentrations of the mono tal Protection Agency spokesman volved in the first stage of the plan, mer in U.K. plants already have says that the agency is very satis which will cost an estimated $400 dropped dramatically from a level fied with the court's decision since million and includes a major petro of about HMH1 p.p.m. 20 years ago it makes the job of monitoring air chemicals center to lie sited at to 150 p.p.m. by llu* middle of last quality easier* Bahia Blanca, about 350 miles year. Improvements tn operating The unanimous ruling overturned southwest of Buenos Aires. The conditions and the installation of two lower court decisions that held Italian company also will invest in leak-proof valves and the like have that conducting such tests without an aluminum plant that Italimpi* brought the level to 50 p.p.m. to either a warrant or the company's anti, a major Italian construction day, he adds. consent constituted an unreason firm, will help build at Puerto Ma- "The ultimate for most existing able search within the meaning of dryn, 325 miles farther south. plants is 10 p.p.m.," Mr. Barnes the Fourth Amendment. Other West European chemical claims. "New plants witli tlu* most The air pollution decision firms are expected to take part in modern technology might achieve 5 stemmed from a June 1969 inspec the overall plans. Like Montedison, p.p.m." But amounts below this tion made on the grounds of West they will have a financial stake in "are not conceivable," in Mr. ern Alfalfa Corp. by a ^ the new plants. Barnes' view. .MANUFACTumrio c.'-r.: 1.7T5' AS3N INC. JUL 1 " IlM4* >0-!-i rt !': , v:m May 27, 1974 C4EN 5 CHA 011437