Document YDrdJKDZQg9yYM9rMv9b5X3pN

HILL and KNOWLTON, Inc. The Louisville Times LQUISVILLP,, KY, D. 173,103 ,JUN 2 5 1974 Goodrich spokesman testifies i -otiv-spu*'. > ; ' -U> i .Vy-l: "u 'Zercfcyinyl-chloride would kill industry' By CHARLES R. BABCOCK ' Curlr.Joumil 4 Timtt Staff Writer ASHINGTON -- A proposed "zero" standard for exposure to vinyl chloride would shut down his industry and mean the loss of more than l.S million jobs and billions of dollars in sales, a' chemical- ; industry executive said today. . ' That was the testimony of Anton Vittone, president of the B. F. Goodrich Chemical Co., at today's opening round of hearings on a proposed federal stan- ' dard that ``no detectible level" of vinylchloride gas be permitted in the air in plastic plants, where it's used. Though the plastics-induslry testimony I was not scheduled until later today. The Society of_the Plastics Industry released its prdposal~?oF"'aJstPp:By-step reduction of permissible vinyl-chloride levels over a period, of years. ' The first government witnesses at the hearings were challenged sharply by pla:- tics-industry attorneys. ; The testimony of U.'S. Department of ' would require the use of respiratory pro- Labor and National- Cancer institute of , tection, Vittone's proposal said. ficials that the new standard is necessary By October .of 1976, the level of vinylto protect plastic workers from exposure chloride gas would be down to an average to the cancer-causing chemical was ques-' of 10 parts per million in polyvinyl-chlo tioned by- representatives of several com ride plants. And by October 1977, the panies. It appeared to: be a concerted ef level would be reduced under the in fort by the industry^to get the .(`zero" dustry proposal to an average of 5 parts li^nit revised,y ,-V ^ - per million'in vinyl chloride production 'The industry proposes a new standard to begin Oct. 5, when the Department of Labor's emergency standard that allows 50 parts of vinyl chloride per million parts of air' expires.', Under the industry proposal, an average daily level of up to 10 parts per million would be permitted without respiratory protection in plants where vinyl chloride! is made, and 25 parts per million where polyvinyl chloride plas tic is made--such as in the Louisville plant. plants. - The federal standard earlier permitted 500 parts of vinyl chloride gas-per million parts of air. After the findings of lancer deaths, the standard was lowered to 50 parts per million on an emergency basis and then, last month, a federal job-safety agency advised that it could not "de scribe a safe exposure level" to vinyl chloride, and the "zero" standard was proposed. "Such a commitment cannot be accom plished overnight since, in certain areas, Levels, above 25 -parts per million in vinyl-chloride plants and above 40 parts See NO-VINYL-CHLORIDE A per. million' in polyvinyl-chloride plants . M'. ' I.- \ Bach page, col. Z, this section No-vinyl-chloride % rule said to be fatal to industry Continued From Page One the technology for accomplishing it is, as yet. not developed," Vittone's statement ' said. The plastics industry proposal also notes, "At this precarious state of its knowledge, The Society of the Plastics Industry believes that misplaced reliance on mere suspicions rather than proven data, or precipitous and emotional reac tion tp_such incomplete information, to gether with a narrowly construed inter pretation of interests, could lead to major economic consequences." This industry concern was shown in its attorneys' questioning of today's first speakers at the Department of Labor's main auditorium. Dr. Daniel P. Boyd, director of the OfJiee of Standards Development for the Occupational Safety and Health Adminis tration. reviewed the history of the con- t cem over vinyl chloride that started with the Goodrich announcement of two ^workers' deaths in Louisville in Januaryr r"Our present judgment is that,-vinyl chloride is a carcinogenic (cancer-pro ducing)," Boyd said. He noted that 19 deaths, including 13 in this country, have been linked to working with the chemi cal. And Boyd added that the most recent data from Italian researcher Cesare Mal-toni shows that other cancers besides the rare liver cancer, angiosarcoma, have been found in laboratory rats and mice exposed to the current emergency stand ard of 50 parts per million for periods of less than a year. Dr. Herman Kravbill. of the National Cancer Institute, then said that prelimi nary medical data from Malloni and other sources shows that vinyl chloride could cause cancer in perhaps 5 per cent of the persons exposed to it. The hearings will continue all week. And the federal job-safety agency's Dr. , Boyd emphasized at the beginning of to day's hearings that "we regard the pro posed standard as just that--a proposal." , t 23217106 BFG24393