Document X8zQjr1mkkGYkXrqwJdaddomK

Vinyl chloride fills the air, expert says NEW YORK More than 200 million pounds of vinyl chloride escapes into the atmosphere each year from U.S. factories, an En vironmental Protection Agency scientist said yes-' terday. . Nineteen.cases of a rare liver cancer, angiosarcoma, .13 of them in the United States, have, been discov ered among workers ex posed to vinyl chloride, a chemical widely used in plastics. t' t.T. Liver damage has been discovered in a small numb e r of workers using the plastic polyvinyl chloride to take floor tiles.. Polyvinyl .hloride is used in a wide range of products. The Food and Drug Ad ministration and the EPA recently recalled several dozen aerosol products in which vinyl chloride was used as a propellant. Dr. Glenn Schweitzer, di- 1 rector of EPA's office of toxic substances, told a special scientific meeting organized in response to the recent discover, of the rare liver cancers. -Tn theUnit#d States substantial amounts of vinyl chloride-- probably exceeding 200 mil lion pounds annually--and large" quantities of polyvinyl chloride, probably exceed ing 50 million pounds, are . being discharged into the environment during the po lyvinyl chloride production process. . "Most of the vinyl' chio- . ride escapes directly into ; the atmosphere as air emis- ' ns, with lesser amounts solved in walor. effluent streams, and entrapped in sludge and " solid wastes. Polyvinyl chloride losses occur as particulates in air " emission, suspending solids in water effluents and com ponents of solidwastes," he said. -- , oTHE PLAIN DEALER. SUNDAY. MAY 12. 1974 l " l*V/ , The risks to 4he pi^pula- t i o n are' uhknnown, Dr. Schweitzer said. He urged industry to bankroll re- I ,search on people who live near chemical plants and who are likely to have been exposed to low levels of vi nyl chloride for years. ,-\Dr. Schweitzer said EPA recently began nationwide sampling to measure vinyl chloride levels near 10 poly vinyl chloride' plants. The results should.be available in several weeks. Dr. Schweitzer also told the meeting, held by the New York Apademy of Sciences with-the American ; Cancer Society and other organizations, that a pro:p o s e d Toxic Substances Control Act has been in a joint congressional commit tee for two months. "Thus." he said, "a very powerful tpoi addressing the vinyl chloride problem, and similar problems with other chemicals: in an ade quate manner, is not availa ble to the federal govern ment.'' I9ii n 23307001 VT.!. Jourr.al. Lorain. Ohio Satuntay. May 11.1974 Linked to Liver Cancer doctors Discuss Vinyl Dangers NEW YORK (UPI) -- A report from West Germany has raised new concern about factory workers who may be exposed to harmful doses of vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make a widely used plastic. Dr. W.K. Lelbach of the University of Bonn told 300 scien tists. industry and labor officials Friday that six persons who make the plastic, called polyvinyl chiaride (pvct. into tiles in a German factory have been foond to have diseased livers. Seventeen cases of a rare liver cancer have been discovered among workers who make and process vinyl chloride but there had been no, previous indication that the harmful effects also might extend into the many plants that mold and shape pvc into such things as meat wrapping, kitchen ware and vinyl paints. Among the subjects of today's closing session at the two-day meeting was a report by the Environmental Protection Agency on the threat of vinyl chloride beyond the factories. Dr. Irving Selikoff. cochairman n# the meeting, said the German report was "bad news." ntil the present we had hoped that the problem of disease at .jciated with vinyl chloride exposure would be limited to the relatively small group of men who were engaged in making vinyl chloride or in its polymerization to pvc." he said in an in terview. "We had hoped that such disease would not be found among people who were taking the pvc and were making products from it. They are a very much larger group. There may be 6.500 vinyl chloride and pvc polymerization workers, but there are probably tens and tens and tens of thousands of workers using it to manufacture secondary products." Vinyl chloride also has been used as a propellant in some aerosol products and two government agencies recently banned the sale of hair sprays, deodorants, indoor insecticides and other products containing the gas. Selikoff said not enough research has been conducted yet to know if vinyl chloride is a threat to consumers, but the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health is beginning a two-year survey to see if beauticians who used the hair sprays have had any ili effects. 7' A r*.; | Cancer hits i vinyl chloride fabricators I N E W YORK .tv -- The first indication that vinyl chloride may be a hazard to thousands of industrial workers outside the plastic manufacturing plant itself was reported yesterday. j Six cases of liver disease { i n workers converting the , finished plastic into floor : tiles were reported by Dr. W. K. Lelbach and others j from -the University of Bonn. I The liver disease was marked both by functional impairment and cellular changes that could be pre cursors of a rare liver can cer, angiosarcoma. 13 cases of which have been found among plastics workers in the United States. | ' The workers with the in| variably fatal liver cancer { were involved in the u-e of t vinyl chloride, a colorless | gas used as a propellant. : and its conversion to polyvi- i ny! chlorides in the roam:- ; facturing plant. Some 6.500 ! American workers aw tin- i ployed at this stage. ' i Thousands of others are i involved in molding, form- ! ing. extruding, shaping, coating paper for use in ! food wrappers and con'ii:\\ers. tiles and detergent bot tles. ; The German doctors' findings .were disclosed at a meeting here sponsored by the American Cancer Socie ty, the National Institute of ; Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institute for Occupational ; Safety and Health. j The question of risk to the j consumer is unresolved, but j the U S Consumer Products ' . mi'-.wi (,>-j May 7 it intended to ban the 1 use of vinyl chloride in mosf j household sprays. ... f At least five deaths. among wor'.yn at the B. F. Goodrich plant in Louis ville. Ky.. here have been attributed to the rare dis ease. In addition, two other cases of angiosarcoma have been reported in Louisville: three at the Goodyear plant in Niagara Falls. X.Y.: two at a Union Carbide plant in West Virginia; and one in Pottstown, Pa. N Go CO