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k Reading n Brief European Plant -iber's first manufacturing facility in Europe a>t Belgium. I he first stage consists of a sociated offices and services, costing over estment plan at Te^senderlo. fc which Avon he Tessendcrlo factory will initially produce rubber hose for domestic appliances. Several ncluding orders from Saab and Volkswagen/ nesville, N.C. Plant . today reported that a multi-product maniten struck since April 1 by members of the .npany management could net offer any expected to last. Metrication Symposium Symposium on "Metrication--Managing the 24-25 in Washington. D.C. during the 77th ty for Testing and Materials (ASTM). The ae Shoreham and Sheraton Park hotels. It is National Standards Institute, and American engineers, scientists and other professionals iards for materials and products are expected Retail Sales Combined ned its St. Louis wholesale and retail sales narketing efforts in the area, according to trade sales. The combined district serves all n Illinois and eastern Missouri. Charles E. :er will head the combined district. Ned H.* ill district, has been named manager of the \\RUBBER & PLA5T:C" NEW5 Az,:U'J2, 1574 10th U.S. Fatality Firestone Plastics Finds 1st PVC-Related Cancer Death AKRON, Apr. 16 -- Firestone has re ported that the death in 1969 of a worker at its Pottstown, Pa., plastics plant is apparently "related to angiosarcoma," a rare form of liver cancer suspected of being caused by exposure to vinyl chlor ide monomer, a precursor of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This is the first death at Firestone attributed to the disease.- and was discov ered as the result of a continuing study by Firestone and government health agencies of deceased employees' medical records. (For details of government actions to reduce worker health hazards, see earlier story, p. 11 in this issue.) The deceased Firestone employee brings the known toll among U.S. PVC workers to 10. He was employed by Firestone Plastics for 20 years in various jobs involving PVC production. Firestone has initiated a medical sur veillance program at both the Pottstown plant and another it operates at Perryvilie, Md. Tests include pulmonary func tion and blood tests, as well as complete physical examinations. Other deaths---since B.F.Goodrich triggered, the investigations by reporting the mysterious incidence of deaths (four) at its Louisville, Ky., PVC plant--in clude one more at Louisville, three deaths-*at a Goodyear plant in Niagara Falls. N.Y., and another .it i Union Carbide plant in South CharitVon. S.C. jU.S. vs. VC Mono"- f-r WASHINGTON, D.C. -- .'.n.-.-her ] government agency has en'-:reu. the ; fray against vinyl chloride. The ; Environmental Protection .Vo ;cy (EPA) has ashed insectic:dc | ufacturers to voluntarily .ncit die ; use of the suspected carcinogen ?$ a | propellant in aerosol "bug bombs." j Hold it! Yet another government agency wants into the act. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announces a nationwide j investigation of vinyl chloride ns a j propellant in aerosol drug and cos- j metic products (hair sprays in par- j ticular). ! And, the FDA is look ire into ij the use -of PVC food packaging !j containers. In May of 1973. the jl use of PVC bottles for liquorwas j quietly terminated, when it was discovered that vinyl chloride was leaching into the liquor from the containers. Now, the investigation will bo | broadened into other food items. BFG24192 23195001 nvade Far East Co., international manufacturers of printing \] roll coverings, in conjunction with Coates nk-maker, announces installation and manuV printers' rollers in Hong Kong and Kuala ' 35 Bingham facilities throughout the world. rs N.J. Hard Rubber Works porous Division of Amcracc Corp. will close aiicty of extruded and molded hard rubber mattery components. Marginal profitability on son for the closing. The firm will consolidate . and jars at its new Johnson City. Tcnn. plant. ste Into Gold orisists of colL-ctinj; (liou'iinds of pounds of by its computer-.. ami selling it--for as much on. Goodyear's lu ad paper collector. Chakcr iiiori pounds of data cart! and print-out paper : collected 38.000 pounds--ami we've only `Structural Foam News' 11 Union Carbide Corp. will cover a wide DOT Names Eight New Vehicle Safety Councilors By RPN Washington News Bureau WASHINGTON -- The Department of Transportation has announced the ap pointment of eight new members to the 22-member National Motor Vehicle Safety Advisory Council. The council, set up under the Na tional Traffic and Moior Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, advises DOT on the overall Taylor Assoc. Comes to Grips With a Process WADSWORTH. Ohio, Apr. 8--Taylor Associates R&D firm announces devcl- aimtii'oI r*f nfl<w nnr>r* motor vehicle safety standards program, including tire standards. Named to the council for three-year terms expiring December 31, 1976 were Harry H. Brainerd, Vehicle Equipment Safety Commission, Washington, D.C.; Colver R. Briggs, Ford Motor Co., Dear born, Mich.; Senator John D. Caemmcrer, New York State Senate, Albany, N.Y., and Dr. B. J. Campbell, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C. Also, Mrs. Julie Chandler, Woman's Day Magazine, Birmingham. Mich.; Richard L. Day, Peterson Publishing Co., Los Angeles, Calif., and George Hilde brand, Pratt Institute. Brooklyn. N.Y. Named to the unexpired term of the late Louis Von Witte, which cvpb's De cember 31, 1975, was Emmcit L. Tiixon. Hercules, Inc., Southfield, Mich. Dale C. Hoauc .in nfforn^v for the ...., r ,i-ndations on storage, mixing, ...met extrusion, calendering, curing and - ;:ng g is appenaed. >vhich lists sons :n compounds based on Du Pont Vn on* E-60C corrective procedures. For a copy of the report, crs Representative or writs to Wilmington. n ges, Du Pool's, T-Neopicnes have emerged with : vneir easier, smoother pres-: ?ing uses less power, 5no their dilutabiiity extends polymer. If you would like . . ,:,sew.$k your local Du Pont conhr.ci for a copy of the pyi'etins on Neoprene T types) and learn what converting , rements to Du Font's T-Neoprenes can mean to you in -gy ant) material shortages. :*. t 2744 ..! -i Nohoel 2722 are now available in pellet form-- 'ip ?; paces. The introduction of these highly : - ot tor,", avris squarely at your mixing problems. Our tests pc ,-::s provide improved day-to-day mixing reliability r eyec.s than the previous friable or compact bale forms, offer an opportunity to consider bulk shipping, storage and ng and washing. See your Du Pont Representative and let's '.) ycur mixer capacity and eliminating some midnight calls. : . ; 11vcJrc? erhon 'ubbar ; rent developments in products and hriiiiology from Du Pont's Elastomer i; -ra-trnent. If you are interested in any ot yr ;h!ed in this newsletter, contact your JfiHomers Technical Representative, or hni, Rm. 23810, Wilmington, DE 19898. !.'h v.iiiten inquiries by stating the item n member and name of this publication. E LASTLY. L"rJ S tion." ot me driver (is dc scat belt systems). Air bags would be required to provide protection for front seat occupants in 30-milc-per-hour barrier crash tests. Under the proposed nils, air bags would not be required for rear-seat occu pants. Seat belts for front seat occupants would become optional, provided can could meet a rollover test in which occu pant safety was assured by the passive restraint system. If cars could not pass such a test, seat belts would still be required. Legal maneuvering by auto makers and a resulting court order had rebuffed earlier attempts by NHTSA to mandate passive restraint systems such as air bags by August 15, 1975. NHTSA also proposed in a separate notice that passive restraint systems that afford occupant protection in crashes at speeds'up to between 45 and 50 miles per hour be made mandatory on cars built after September 1, 3930 (1S31 model year). Closing date for comments op the 19S1 model year proposal is /'eptember 19. # Ui RW Demands Stricter Vinyl Chloride Rule AKRON, Apr. 12 -- Peter Eommaritn, United Rubber Workers (UIV.V) Inter national president, today called on As sistant Secretary of Labor John Slender to revise the emergency temporary stand ard limiting, worker exposure to vinyl chloride. Stender's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a hurry-up limitation of 50 ppm (parts per million) concentration of vinyl chloride in air on April 5. \ Several hundred rubberworker dele gates gathered in Washington, D.C., the following week, on Apr. 10, to devise some strategy for getting even more stringent limits placed on exposure. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) had earlier recommended "zero exposure," that is, workers who are exposed to even trace amounts of vinyl chloride would have to use protective clothing and respirators with self-contained air tanks. According-to Bommarito, "Our evalu ation of past animal studies bad shown that the 50 ppm concentration subjected workers to a serious cancer risk to many body organs, including the liver." He added, "Wc urge that the emer gency temporary standard be immediate ly revised to include the NIGSK work practice and medical surveillance recom mendations." The URW has a further meeting scheduled on Apr. 22 at the AFL-CIO Building in Washington, where Bomna- rito plans to enlist support from indus trial unions outside the URW. 23196001 BFG24193 4 \ rtcvr i wiviv, r*. i. W. 103,900 APR 22 1974 L_ i I FederSt Limits on Exposure ! To Vinyl Cl Meld Inadequate |Jy R. S. f jRIMSHaw, Jh. Jlon.-1/til /fihun .SiuO Washington--Actions of several Goverment agencies to limit exposure of industrial workers and consumers to vinyl chloride have come under attack for not going far enough. Vinyl chloride, a gas used to make the common plastic polyvinyl chloride, has been associated with cancer in stud ies of employees at the II. F. Goodrich Chemical Company in Louisville, Ky.. and in animal experiments. Seven cases (six fatal) of a very rare tumor, angi osarcoma of the liver, have Iroen found among workers at the Goodrich plant, Available seiculific data, from the aniui il experiments of I'rof. Cesar. Maltoui, of die Universily of ffologna. Mr. Kies maintains, have so far no: shown a eanecr risk at 50 ppm. Dr. Sclikoir cautioned that Professor Malloni's negative findings at 50 ppm. because of die small number of animals involved, "are of limited utility Vinyl chloride is also present In sev eral aerosol consumer products as a propellant, particularly ill certain peso eides and hair sprays. Jurisdiction over the substance it; consumer products is split among three agencies--the Environmental Protec and 23 of 271 employees screened were tion Administration (pesticides), the i found to have abnormal liver function. \ The decision of the Occupational Continued on page 7 Safety ' and Health Administration vels of vinyl chit (OSHA), part of the Department of Labor, to lower the permissible expo sure for vinyl chloride workers from \ 500 to 50 ppm. under a temporary emergency rule is drawing fire from' several quarters, despite the agency's proposal of a fulme permanent stan dard that would liar all exposure. "We have no information concerning any safe level," said Dr. Irving J. Sclikoff, director of environmental medi cine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "I don't think that f would, from an ethical point of view, find it reasonable that 1 ask other people to he exposed to a chemical that I know can produce fatal cancer." ;i I Cloud System* Propoud Dr. Sclikoir endorsed the proposal pill forth hy Dr. Marcus M. Key, di rector of the National Institute for Oc cupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), that would require vinyl chloride to be handled in "closed systems," with no permissible exposure level allowed. Lewis (leliezky, director of industrial hygiene for the United Kubbcr Workers Union, which represents many vinyl chloride workers, said, "I think the action of the Department of Labor in establishing- at this lime, willi die ( * knowledge limy have - an emergency standard of 50 ppm is eapiieimis. I think they arc unnecessarily putting workers at risk." "We're not talking about a group of. " pfeoplc who have never been exposed to vinyl chloride," emphasized Dr. f dney Wolfe, head of the Health Research Group, it public interest r.rnup that Inis IM-en actively seeking .. ban `I,,, trial and consumer exposure lo vinyl . chloride. "We're talking about a group of people who have been exposed lo a lot of it, and we don't know at what . point in lime a little hit more will Ire enough to euusc cancer." Alexander J. Ries, a senior OSHA official, responded that legal require ments necessitate the 50-ppm emergen cy standard. "There's no question that ; if wc promulgated ns a temporary cm- ' ergency standard the NIOSII recom mendation, without udequate seiculific data to back it up, it would be chal lenged in court, and unlcx we 3 o fj il if Hospital T--r-ib--u-n-e---------------- ------------ 25* pe feral Limits on Exposure JyVinyi Cl Held Inadequate jntin_u_edt from np>aig/ide J3 /FDA (hair sprays), and the Consumer ' Product Safety Commission--all of which have been petitioned by the Health Research Croup to halt the use of the gas in consumer products. EPA has asked manufacturers of 23 pesticides registered as using vinyl chloride to voluntarily change to annthpr nrnnellant. as makers of five TTUhelFTDi AA!<isnalelsnortsnt/u4difyininitgf'cnonncisimumAier use of vinyl chloride and has asked Clairol, Inc., to recall its Summer Blonde and Miss Clairol aerosol hair sprays, both of which contain the sub stance as a propellant. The company is complying with the request, although it maintains that the hazard to health "is extremely remote." etitimiMt "Misleading;" using hair spray under conditions of use, of over 250 ppm." Dr. Selikoff noted that data are not yet available concerning vinyl chloride and risk to consumers. "What we so far know is the occupational hazard, with direct use in the polymerization proc ess," he emphasized. "We do not know that the cancer risk will also be associ ated with secondary industrial use, such as in extrusion or forming, nor do we know that there will be a cancer risk associated with consumer use." 11 "an within able risk of injury." Theory on Vinyl Cl Hazard Sees Liver-Harming Steps Hospital Tribunt Report Bethesda, Md.--A theory of the pathologic progression of the liver angiosarcomas seen in U.S. poly vinyl chloride workers has been de veloped by Dr. Louis Thomas, chief of the Pathology Laboratory of the National Cancer Institute, who has reviewed biopsy material taken from such workers at the B. F. Goodrich plant in Louisville, Ky,, and Dr. Hans Popper, Distinguished Service Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, N.Y., and a Fogarty In ternational Center Scholar at NIH. "We think that exposure to the vinyl chloride gas at the factories apparently causes liver fibrosis, which leads to portal hypertension, which leads to splenomegaly and hepatomegaly and eventually, in some patients, produces malig nancy," Dr. Popper said. Final Conclusions Yat Both investigators cautioned that they are only midway in their studies gnd that final conclusions can not yet be drawn about the cause of the angiosarcomas among the workers. Dr. Thomas noted that the tumors in the workers do not appear to be histologically different from most other angiosarcomas. Dr. Popper recently returned from Germany, where there have , been a number of similar cases. ' "Certain skin changes were found in some of the workers in polyvinyl chloride piams, mid they were sent to dermatologic clinics, where the seen. Subsequent laparoscopy dem onstrated many cases of liver fibro sis. This happened more or less simultaneously with the findings in the United States." Drs. Thomas and Popper note that development of malignancy is 4not always rapid. All the affected workers have had at least three years' exposure, and possibly more, to vinyl chloride gas, and, Dr. Thomas added, "I would be sur prised if they were not exposed to other chemicals as well. We don't yet know for sure that it is only yinvl rhlnrifi* ** O U> 3 8.