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*^~r (nL s\Ll. ^ i r\iLC. i. iue5c*yp rfun<* Debating Hec^Ji vs. Jobs fl H' .' Plastics Industry Mobilizes to Thwart Tough Rules on Handling Vinvl Chloride. Hubbard Apiaries, a beekeeping com By Walter mossberg powder or resin to release trapped quanti pany in Onsted. Mich., wrote to declare that Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Jolraal ties of raw vinyl chloride gas. ' " it couldn't remain in business if PVC sup WASHINGTON -- As the federal govern Last week the Society of the Plastics In plies were threatened because its honey u ment moves closer to adopting stringent dustry. a trade group, asserted that suffi sold in PVC bottles and glass bottles art controls over handling of the ubiquitous in dustrial chemical vinyl chloride, manufac turers who use it are mobilizing to try to show that the controls would prove economi cient technology doesn't exist to meet the proposed standard and warned that much of the vinyl and polyvinyl chloride industry might have to close if the standard goes into i scarce as a result of a soda-ash shortage. In fact, many of the letters contender that PVC is already in short supply, higt-.h versame an(j absolutely necessary for a va cally disastrous. effect. The socletypredict-edjthat 1.6- million riety of important uses. The rules would be utterly unworkable, jobs and "at least S65 billion" in sales and the companies say. and industry would lose production could be lost. an essential manufacturing material. In . Ralph Harding Jr., president of the soci consequence, they add, makers of plastic ety, said that the proposed standard "is pipe, auto parts, phonograph records and technologically infeasible to achieve, even Spokesmen for the record industry in sisted that the plastic is vital to its opera tions. MCA Records Inc. contended that i the standards forced PVC production to end many more products would be driven to the wall. And, they contend, thousands of Jobs would vanish. This gloomy picture is likely'to dominate Labor Department hearings, beginning today, on planned standards for eliminating the exposure of plastics-industry workers to the chemical, which is suspected of causing cancer. with the highly sophisticated methods of inplant control that have been developed by the industry over the years. If the proposed `no-detectable-level* standard is adopted, the vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride resin producing industries will be forced to close down immediately." The Labor and Health View A number of labor-union and occupation- our industry would be forced out of business." The National Association of Home Build ers said the standards could dnve the rising costs of housing even higher by forcing builders to abandon economical PVC hous ing components. It warned that such a de velopment could mean "sorely needed hous ing would be beyond the reach of an m- Exposure to vinyl chloride, a gas, has al-health experts are expected to dispute the creasmgly large segment of the public." been linked by researchers to 19 cases of a rare liver cancer, angiosarcoma, among workers handling it in the U.S. and other countries; in 16 of these cases, death re sulted. In addition, angiosarcoma has re' cently been blamed for the death of two employes in U.S. plants handling polyvinyl society's claim at the hearings. They con-, Norton Co.'s plastics and synthetics divi- tend that it is possible to meet the standard sion which makes tubing for medical uses, without closing the industry. warned that if the new rules curbed supplies But harsh predictions are contained in of pvc, desperately needed equipment used many of the more than 125 letters from plas-: in kidney dialysis and heart surgery might tics firms already on file with the Labor De- become unavailable. And Graniteviile Co. c: chloride, the powdered derivative of vinyl chloride gas that is fabricated into a wide partment. The letters, representing the writ- Graniteviile, S.C., a maker of fire-retardan; ers' formal "comments"' on the planned tents and tent material, called PVC "the range of plastic products. iTwo other deaths rules, give an- indication of the probable most important component" in its products. from angiosarcoma have been discovered tone of this week's hearings. Although most What's more, Arthur Culbertson, a Flor among people living in the vicinity of plants letters concede that some controls are ida plastics executive, and Gerald Kessler using polyvinyl chloride. 1 needed on vinyl chloride, most contend that an officer of an Ohio plastics company In April, the Labor Department's occupa the proposed measures would mean nothing urged modification of the proposed start tional safety and health administration im less than the collapse of their industry. dards on the grounds that they themselve.- posed a temporary emergency standard Almost all the letters come from users of had had long personal exposure to v;ny limiting workers' exposure to vinyl chloride polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, and not compa- chloride without ill effects, gas to 50 parts per million in the air they nies directly handling vinyl chloride itself or. Most of the letter writers acknowledged breathe, a sharp reduction from the pre those turning it into PVC. In most cases,`the need to protect workers from the possi- vious limit of 500 parts. Now, the agency is they explain that their suppliers of PVC bility of liver cancer. But they urged delay proposing -- and witnesses at this week's have told them the standards will make it in imposing such harsh restrictions, both tc- hearings will debate--a standard cutting ex impossible for them to continue producing give scientists time for further research ar.d posure permanently to `'no detectable" level the raw plastic. Urged to write to the gov-11 allow the businesses to phase in the new at all. emment, the PVC users have done so, fore controls. Although -the plastics industry opposed the emergency ruling, its voice has so far been weaker than that of organized labor and various scientific groups, which back the tough rules. Doom for the Industry? At this week's hearings, however, the in casting their-financial ruin. "Unless a reasonable approach is taken." wrote Frank Groeneveld Jr., president of a plastic-pipe-extruding firm in Flor ida, "it could mean the destruction of many small businesses such as ours where we have invested our life savings." But one writer took a decidedly less svm pathetic view of the dangers of death froir vinyl chloride. Jameson Crane, of Cram Plastics Inc., in Columbus. Ohio, wrote "We continue to be impressed with the com parison of the number of deaths annual',; due to suicide prompted by loss of jobs, ver sus the 19 angiosarcoma deaths world-Wid- dustry is expected to argue strongly that the R. J. Clayton, chairman of Louver Drape over 35 years of PVC production." "no-detectable" exposure plan would spell Inc., a California maker of PVC window doom for the several dozen plants that make blinds and folding doors, wrote that "37 vinyl chloride gas or turn it into polyvinyl years ago, at the depth of the depression, I chloride powder or resm, and for most of i started a one-man business which has the hundreds of plants that turn polyvinyl grown today where we do approximately 57 chloride into plastic products. million worth of business and employ over The standard would require that most 250 people." If the new rules are imposed, operations in the production of vinyl chlor he said, "we'd be back to a one-man busi ide and polyvinyl chloride, which employs ness overnight." an estimated 6,500 workers, be conducted in One firm. Custom Trim Products Inc closed-off, regulated areas where exposure which makes plastic trim for several I can be controlled by ventilation devices or auto makers, warned that the new re other methods. In addition, some operations could cut off its supply of PVC resins, of plants turning polyvinyl chloride into ing its production and causing it to risk products, which are said to employ up to suits by Detroit lor failure to fulfill ' 700,000 workers, would be subjected to simi contracts. The firm, an officer lar stringent engineering rules if those oper- "would undoubtedly be forced int BOR 007153