Document bBLdN9Zxw2EKo87xRDMrv4Mm0

Pase 14, Section 1 Heuslon Chronicle AM- Thursday, November 12,1931 Union Carbide says cancer deaths not job-related BY MARK TOOHEY .Chronicle Staff fl'ff, * - TEXAS CITY -- Although brain cancer deaths among workers at the Union Car bide plant here exceed (be national aver age, the company says the deaths are not jjob-related. '^Results released Wednesday of a 20month study by Union Carbide indicate that the number of those workers who 'died of brain cancer is higher than what would be expected. The company said brain cancer caused the`.deaths of 12 employees from 1941, wS&i the plant began operations, to Dec. ttf 197?. The company said 765 plant workers and former workers died during tiidt same period. Comparing the data to rational rates, the company said that 7.42 oaaths due to brain cancer would be ex ited. The deaths occurred among 6,588 nt employees. Sitt!hough' th- e study covered 12 brain .Qt&cer deaths, Union Carbide officials said that actually 20 employees with (&in tumors have died to date. The study limited to white males who died be fore or during 1977. The other eight deaths included four black males, and four workers who died after Dec. 31,1977. Another Union Carbide employee was diagnosed three months ago as having brain cancer and is still living. Officials said these were not included for statisti cal reasons. Both Union Carbide and (he National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Administration began separate studies in March 1979 to determine wheth er a correlation existed between brain cancer deaths and exposure to chemicals used at the Texas City plant. The company and the federal agency used the same data in their studies. Re sults of the NIOSH study, however, have not been released. The federal agency earlier this year, while in the midst of its study, said brain cancer deaths at Union Carbide appeared to be excessively high and job-related. Damon Engle, plant manager at Union Carbide, said results of the government study are expected soon. ' - Engle and Dr. David Glenn, plant physician, attributed the higher brain cancer rate at Union Carbide's Texas City plant to chance, not to chemical exposure at the plant. Union Carbide is a diversified petro chemical manufacturing facility with a large number of major product lines. During the years worker deaths were studied, (hose have included ethylene, bu tadiene, naptha, alcohols, plastics and resins, including vinyl chloride. A known carcinogen, vinyl chloride, is used in the manufacturing process at the plant, but no longer is produced at the plant. The company, said Glenn and Susan Austin, corporate epidemiologist for Union Carbide, was unable to "associate these brain cancer deaths with any par ticular chemical exposure." . "The types of brain cancer are present in the same percentages as that seen in the general population," said Glenn. "Ordinarily, chemically caused cancer is a specific and often unusual type, differ ent than those seen in the general popula tion. Finally, excessive brain cancer has not been confirmed in chemical plants similar to ours in other parts of the coun try." Plant manager Engle said letters have been sent to the plant's 2,400 present em ployees informing them of the results. "My message to them (employees) is' that there is no cause for alarm," sail) Engle. He said the company would con tinue its investigation. ' ' *****_. UCC 096523