Document b5BbZnk24GBDx2n3R0E9M6kEk

AR226-1390 M IdO FROM: . 863-2387 TO: PAU L TH ISTLETO N Polymer Products D ept Tsflon Division Washington Works Data: EID079371 000171 I_T7 V l-*0 E. I. du Pont de N emours & C ompany P. O . Box 1217 Parkersburg. W . Va. 26101 POLYMER PRODUCTS DEPARTMENT CC: C. G. McG1one-Tokyo S. Hayashi-Tokyo 0. K. Duncan - Wilm. September 15, 1981 MR. S. TAKADA M ITSU I FLUOROCHEMICALS CO. LTD. MIHO 3600 SHIMIZU SHIZUOKA PREFECTURE JAPAN PROPOSED EMPLOYEE BLOOD SAMPLING PROGRAM We would l ik e to o b ta in blood sam ples from a re p r e s e n t a t iv e group o f employees at Shim izu Works to determine i f there i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d iffe r e n c e between C-8 APFC d is p e r s in g age nt v a lu e s a t Shim izu and W ashington Works. About tw elve sam ples sh o u ld be enough. They sh o u ld in c lu d e se v e ra l people who work around the TEFLON fin e powder d ry e rs because we b e lie v e th a t they a re a major source of exposure. Your plant has batch dryers whereas Dordrecht and W ashington Works have c o n tin u o u s d r y e r s . We w i l l a n a ly z e the sam ples a t Du P o n t 's Exp erim ental S t a t io n and re tu rn the r e s u l t s to you so th a t they can be g ive n to the employees a s c o n f id e n t ia l medical inform ation. 0139W There's a world of things we're doing something about EID079372 000172 AJP002509 - 2- BACKGROUND We have used C -8 a t W ashington Works fo r more than 25 y e a r s and in e a r lie r y e a rs i t was handled le s s c a r e fu lly than in recent y e a r s . L im ite d data in d ic a t e s th a t C -8 i s p e r s is t e n t in the human body and we have e s t a b lis h e d a program to m onitor s e le c te d em ployees r e g u la r ly . We have e s t a b lis h e d e n g in e e r in g c o n t r o ls t o reduce p o te n tia l exposure to C-8 and re q u ire d the use o f p ro te c tiv e equipment f o r some j o b s . S ig n if ic a n t a d d itio n a l con trol e ffo r t began in 1979 a fte r 3M Company(our s u p p lie r o f C -8 APFC d is p e r s in g a g e n t) a d v ise d u s o f accum ulation o f o r g a n ic f lu o r in e in the blood o f some o f t h e ir w o rk e rs. In M arch, 1981, 3M Company a d v ise d us th a t t e s t s in d ic a t e d that oral doses of C-8 caused b irth defects in ra ts. As a re su lt, we t r a n s f e r r e d a l l fem ales o f c h ild b e a rin g p o t e n t ia l from jo b s w ith s ig n if ic a n t p o te n tia l fo r C-8 exposure and incre ase d our e f f o r t s to prevent exposure. Ou P o n t 's H a sk e ll L a b o ra to ry i s m aking t e s t s to determ ine i f exposure by in h a la tio n o f C-8 causes b irth de fe cts and a ls o is making t e s t s w ith o ra l doses s im ila r to the 3M t e s t s . We expect r e s u l t s o f th ese t e s t s i n ' about a month. 3M Company i s re p e a t in g t h e ir o r i g i n a l stu d y and we expect t o r e c e iv e some in fo rm a t io n in October, 1981. 0139W EID079373 000173 AJP002510 - 3- Samples o f blood taken at W ashington Works showed th at p o ly m e riz a tio n o p e ra to rs had an average o f about 5 ppm o r g a n ic f lu o r in e and the maximum value was about 29 ppm. Monomer o p e ra to rs and p r o f e s s io n a ls g e n e r a lly had much low er v a lu e s. We sampled some em ployees in the TEFLON D i v i s i o n a t D o rd re ch t Works in M ay, 1981, and we found th a t the C -8 con tent o f t h e ir blo od samples was very s im ila r to r e s u lt s a t W ashington Works. There appears to be no background le v e l of n a tu ra lly o ccu rrin g C-8 in blood samples. A thorough stu d y o f the employees h e a lth re c o rd s showed no c o n c lu siv e evidence o f e ffe c ts re s u ltin g from exposure to C-8. We have asked H a sk e ll L a b o ra to ry to e s t a b lis h an a cce p ta b le le v e l fo r C -8 in w orkers blood t h a t w i l l be the b a s is f o r m anaging our blood m onitoring programs. We w i l l be g la d to answ er any q u e s t io n s and p ro v id e more in fo rm a tio n th a t you may need. AJP002511 PT/nsw 0139W Paul Thistleton Senior Engineer Technical Department EID079374 000174 r> jjv V PERgfflttM!r-4i^0NEiPENTIAL. r 1 V r^ IX )O D ^ S A ^ m * RES Births and Pregnancies Zu*m r f r & PPM C-8 in Bloody zy & m j 0.45 Status MO ) Normal child - b o m June 1980; Transferred out of Fluorocarbons 4/79. 0.28 Normal child - b o m April 1981.. 0.078 Normal child - b o m April 1981. Umbilical cord blood 0.055 ppm. 1.5 0 .01^ Five months pregnant. ^iye^^onthsv^pregn^txt. 2.5* Child - 2 plus years. Unconfirmed eye and tear duct defect. 0.048 001 Child - 4 months. One nostril*and eye defect. C el Ifit *Current blood level - in fluorocarbons area only one month before pregnancy. KLDACTED /n t r \ / 000175 EID079375