Document b5oa21wxjpkrR8g183rvBGD5y

OHC-205 Manufacturing Chemists Association MINUTES OF MEETING OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH COMMITTEE MCA Headquarters December 7, 1977 Washington, D.C. Dr. Reinhardt presided and convened the meeting at 9 a.m. The record of attendance is: MEMBERS PRESENT C. F. Reinhardt, Chairman W. V. Andresen L. E. Cassidy E. E. Christofano T. Ellison L. B. Grant G. D. Kirk C. S. Laubly W. A. McClellan C. E. Ross W. M. Smith J. R. Venable M. Freifeld E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company American Cyanamid Company Canadian Industries Limited Hercules Inc. Mobil Chemical Company PPG Industries, Inc. Merck & Company, Inc. Celanese Corporation Gulf Oil Corporation Shell Chemical Company Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Dow Chemical U.S.A. MCA MEMBERS ABSENT J. E. Long, Vice Chairman W. S. Ferguson R. D. Fulwiler J. W. Hollis E. Q. Hull M. N. Johnson H. L. Northrop R. L. O'Connell C. T. Sutherland E. Tillman Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co Allied Chemical Corporation The Procter & Gamble Company Ashland Oil, Inc. Union Carbide Corporation The BFGoodrich Company Stauffer Chemical Company Olin Corporation BASF Wyandotte Corporation Monsanto Company CMA 060383 OHC-206 GUESTS C. W. Flickinger A. Harris T. J. McDonagh M. E. Miller I. Rosenthal J. A. Young Koopers Company, Inc. Olin Corporation Exxon Chemical Company IMC Chemical Group, Inc Rohm and Haas Company MCA * * * jc -k * 1.0 Minutes - Meeting of September 7, 1977 The captioned minutes were approved as distributed with the correction that Dr. M. E. Miller is with IMC Chemical Group, Inc., not FMC Corporation. 2.0 Membership Status unchanged since last report. 3.0 Regulations and Legislation 3.1 OSHA Proposal on Carcinogens An MCA statement being drafted by an intercommittee task group was outlined by the Secretary. Activities of the American Industrial Health Council (AIHC) were also reviewed. It was thought desirable to main tain contact with the American Petroleum Institute on this matter. 3.2 NIOSH draft booklet on Respiratory Equipment Dr. Fulwiler reported that Messrs. Laubly, McClellan, Kirk and Ferguson agreed to review the subject draft submitted to MCA. When these comments have been received they will be forwarded to NIOSH without identifying the originators. 3.3 Rate Retention Issue In the proposed standard on lead, OSHA formally included for the first time a provision intended to maintain the rate of pay and seniority rights of workers removed for medical reasons, such as a high blood lead level. In an MCA statement at the OSHA hearing on this matter. CMA06038A 0HC-207 Mr. F. H. Czajkowski of Stauffer Chemical Company argued on legal grounds that OSHA did not have statutoryauthority to regulate in the industrial relations area. 3.4 OSHA Deletion Project OSHA has announced its intention of eliminating about 1,100 standards it now considers unnecessary. Dr. Fulwiler will be asked to coordinate with the Safety and Fire Protection Committee the development of an MCA response to encourage OSHA in this effort. 4.0 Publications 4.1 Current Publications Dr. Young indicated a plan had been developed for revision of twenty-three Safety Data Sheets in early 1978. He also reported that henceforth MCA will require that the following statement be incorporated in the recommended label on all SDS's: "Notice: Space on label limited: Before Using or Handling Read MCA Safety Data Sheet SD-. Precautionary informa tion should be provided to all persons using, handling or otherwise exposed to ." It was also noted that the new edition of the Guide for the Preparation of Safety Data Sheets was ready to be printed and distributed. Revision of Safety Guides is also proceeding but progress on Chem Cards and Cargo Information Cards is slow since they have a low priority. 4.2 Proposed publication of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) OSHA suggests but does not require vendors to supply MSDS's for products expected to enter the workplace. Since customers have insisted on them, suppliers have been forced to distribute MSDS's for products they sell. A problem has arisen since each company prepares its own MSDS and in many cases there are discrepancies among such documents relating to the same chemical prepared by different companies. It was there fore suggested that for common articles of commerce, MCA should publish suggested MSDS's. Dr. Young pointed out such an undertaking would be quite expensive, present difficulties in keeping up to date and could not be done with the present manpower at MCA. Nevertheless, the Secretary was instructed to pursue the matter including the question of liability for MCA. OHC-208 5.0 Proposed Special Projects Mrs. Harris presented Dr. O'Connell's suggestion that a group of epidemiologists be formed to consider the questions relating to establ. ment of a health data base for the industry. The proposed tumor registry may be considered a part of the epidemiologic program. Dr. O'Connell feel; strongly such an undertaking would be desirable as well as necessary and agreed to chair such a group. Nominees mentioned for this group are: L. DeFonso C. P. Wen V. Newill G. Reap S. Pell L. Tepper B. B. Holder M. E. Miller D. Siblik Rohm & Haas Company Gulf Oil Company Exxon Research & Engineering Co Mobil Oil Company E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. Dow Chemical U.S.A. IMC Chemical Group, Inc. Shell Chemical Company The Committee's charge to the epidemiology task group was to make recommendations on a program to establish a system for collecting and eval uating data on health effects in the chemical industry. It was also agreed that guidance on this matter should be sought from the Senior Advisors. 6.0 Liaison within MCA--Annual Symposium ; Dr. Grant, a member of the Liaison Subcommittee, outlined the proposed program on "OSHA Update" in a letter from Dr. Long. If reduced to managable size, Dr. Grant felt, the program would be quite satisfactory. Some of the mechanical details worked out in cooperation with the Safety and Fire Protection Committee representative for this event were reviewed by the Secretary. For example, "Symposium" will be used in place of "Workshop," it is scheduled for the Cherry Hill Inn, N.J., September 1-, 1978, only single sessions will be held instead of afternoon parallel Health and Safety sections, and individual speakers will be relied on rather than panels. 7.0 Liaison with Outside Organizations 7.1 American Industrial Hygiene Association Regarding OSHA's proposed generic carcinogen regulation the captioned Association was reported to be supporting the utility of a categorization system for adopting regulations but differing with OSHA o~ implementation of details. CMA 060386 OHC-209 7.2 Chemical Regulations Advisory Committee Dr. Ellison reported that CRAC's legal affairs sub committee plans to draft comments focusing on the definition of a "person" who obtains information in relation to the Toxic Substances Control Act. That Committee has also received several proposals from potential con tractors on determining economic impact and social benefits of TSCA but npne were considered entirely satisfactory. Also, industry spokesmen have been critical of EPA's proposed procedure for handling confidential business information primarily because it lacked adequate controls. 7.3 American petroleum Institute - Benzene Dr. Ellison's report to Dr. Ross on the status of APIsponsored studies at New York University on benzene was reviewed. In several related experiments with mice and rats at exposures up to 300 ppm benzene, no leukemias have been confirmed. In one experiment, mice developed signs consistant with granulocytic leukemia but this will require histopathologic examination before conclusions can be drawn. Additional experiments under consideration by API include lower doses and, should leukemia be confirmed, the effect of removal from further exposure after initial effects are observed. 8.0 Proposed Committee on Toxicology Mr. Christofano suggested that a Committee or standing subcommittee be formed to deal with broad issues of toxicology such as the threshhold for carcinogens. This would cut across the concerns of a number of Committees. Others felt that such matters were being dealt with adequately in the present MCA structure. In view of the impending MCA reorganization this was held in abeyance. 9.0 Schedule of Future Meetings June 14 -- Washington, D.C. area September 13 -- Cherry Hill Inn, N.J. September 14 -- Symposium at Cherry Hill Inn, N.J. December 6 -- Washington, D.C. area The meeting was adjourned at 2:15 p.m. MF:jgm Minutes Subject to Approval February 7, 1978 Milton Freifeld Secretary /1 ^ Occupational Health Committee CMA 060387