Document a46qLXrpZOZmNgjy56bEZZz8B

0*4 * L O C M . O #(-'*Om , J. S. Metcalf, Sc. Louis B2NK D*TC iu>jicr TO : April 16, 1979 o-CHLOROPKENOL CRUDE File /^) ^ l '/ ( cc. D. B. Edwards T. L. Cossage B. G. Hammond R. C. Isnam H. W. Kilbourne. J. C. McPhillips M. E. Miller --- G. E. Paget j ( :* .. G. Pier _^ ..,,UiF. A. Provorny ;* i ' D . P . Roman J. D. Wilson B3SC B3SB A2SC BIND N3A B3SC B3SB A2SC -B3SC B2SC N2B N3A On Friday morning, April 13, I called Dr. Joseph Seif ter at EPA* relative to a conversation he had had the previous day with a reporter about the OCP crude spill at Sturgeon, Missouri. He was very, unhappy with the reporter, felt'he was badly misquoted, and appeared glad of the opportunity to give Monsanto the "straight" story. He rambled a lot and was hard to follow, but gave me the following information. Twelve Western Environmental Services (WES) people were involved in the spill cleanup. The urine of all twelve was examined for phenol, c'nlorophenols, and their conjugates. None showed phenol, but seven of the twelve showed traces of c'nlorophenols and their conjugates. The three workers with the greatest exposure had blood samples tested for dioxins, with findings of 31, 7, and 0 parts per trillionThe particular isomers were not identified, and Dr. Seifter said they didn't even knew the degree of chlorination: He further said that two EPA analysts felt the diagnosis of "dioxin11 presence was incorrect. He did not know any details of the analytical methodology used, method sensitivity, or who performed the analyses. He offered the following names of those who could furnish this information'. Both are at EPA Region 7, Kansas City. * John Wicklund, Coordinator for the Sturgeon incident William Rice (tia-rry Gilmer's boss) *Phonc (202) 755-4S94 COOS^s- Page 2 April 16, 1979 File Many citizens of Sturgeon have been examined for skin problems but none have been found I The random sampling of 20 people reportedly started on April 12 is factual, but this involves analysis' of urine for* phenols, not blood for dioxins. The four citizens who have consistently complained of problems will have blood samples analyzed for dioxins, and, in addition the blood of the three WES workers with maximum exposure will be retested. Dr. Seif ter firmly believes the t there is no health problem related to the Sturgeon spill. I have calculated that a level of 31 ppt "dioxin" in blood equates to 0.17 oicrogracs total body burden and 3 nanograms per kilogram for a 60-kilo man. /dmw