Document baBjX8e7vdzJJ64vKEBVNK00O

m CONFIDENTIAL Copied by MCA. January 30, 1974 Translations Unit/?R.12.897b/"'MHB/V5 8 January 1974 PVC GAS: 40 MSN TAKEN ILL Doctors say: "Very serious" Reference: KHlner Stadt.-Anzeiger, 14.12.73 KB Troisdorf - More than 40 workers at the Dynamit-Nobel Works in Troisdorf bei Siegburg have been attacked by a severe illness which is brought on by gases released during the production of the plastic polyvenyl (sic) chloride (PVC). Doctors at the Bonner UniversitNtskliniken (Bonn University Teaching Hospitals), who have been studying the PVC-sickness for some time, describe it as very serious. It can, in severe cases, prove fatal, particularly in younger men. The most serious symptoms are said to be sensations of giddiness and cold, headaches, swollen finger joints, bone atrophy, difficulties in breathing, reduced blood clotting capacity and liver damage* (Gee Panorama) f * Circulation Mr G J Sleddon, DS0-320 Dr D Winter, F-11 Translations Unit, R-J/3 UCC 083291 i Copied by MCA. January 30, 1974 Ref; Weser-Kurier. No. 300. 20.12 1973, p. 11 Insidious Disease Chemical Workers threatened by Hideous Disease due to PVC Gas Poisoning Bonn Ministry sets up Special Committee of Enquiry Bonn (our own correspondent). Chemical workers directly ngaged in PVC autoclave production in large chemical factories are threatened by a new and serious disease. At least 40 employees of a Troisdorf factory are reported to be poisoned by dangerous vinyl chloride gas. "A serious prognosis" for the victims, according to the Bonn skin specialist Professor Gunther Veltmann. Mortality from PVC gas poisoning is reported to be "relatively high" and particularly serious in young male workers. According to the medical specialists the frightening consequences of the gas poisoning are reflected in the softening of the bones in hands and feet, enlargement of liver and spleen, severe effects to blood formation and coagulation, and as sociated grave lung disorders. The victims have increasing difficulty with breathing, and varicose veins can form in the esophagus. i This previously unknown disease, according to Professor Veltmann, is "irreversible," i.e. incurable. No remedy has so far been discovered, and the only thing that can be treated is the defective organ. The victim can only look forward to in creasing disablement and insidious encroachment of the disease. Experiments on animals are now being commenced to study the causes arid course of the illness and to find antidotes. This evil disease is not even recognized yet as an occupational illness. As a result of the alarming medical reports. Federal Labour Minister Arendt has set up a special committee to inv stigate and report back. The more seriously affected victims are now claiming disablement pensions. However, they have as yet no entitlement to a pension, since this particular illness is not yet officially recognized as an occupational disease by the health authorities. The Committee for Dangerous Raw Materials of the F deral Labour Ministry considers that r gular medical insp ctioh of workers engaged in plastics production is ss ntial. Guidelines UCC 083292 TR 12902 Translation from Der Spiegel No 50/1973 Copied by MCA January 30, 1974 MEDICINE Dangerous Plastic A new and deadly occupational disease has been discovered by Medical Specialists in Bonn: workers engaged in the production of FVC risk incurable diseases of th liver. Pipes and Venetian blinds, curtains and films and whole host of articles in common use are made from PVC, a hard, durable plastic which can be moulded into almost any product, German producers alone have distributed almost a million tonnes of polyvinyl chloride over the country in the last year. PVC has so far been responsible for the death of as yet unknown numbers of ch mical workers* For the production of this much desired material, wiich can b combined in so many different ways with plasticisers, fillers and pigments that it has become one of the leading products of the plastics age within th last twenty years, is apparently very much more dangerous than had beei pr viously been assumed. ? i ; j Medical specialists of the Bonn University Clinics have this year diagnosed a "vinyl chloride disease" in at least 40 of the 120 PVC workers in a labouring chemical factory# However, the number of cases is probably considerably higher than this. According to preliminary comments made by the doctors thlE newly discovered \ "occupational illness" is characterised by a "serious prognosis and a relatively high mortality rate in men of predominantly younger age groups". According to Prof. Gilnther Veltman writing in the "Deutsche Kedizinische Wochenschrift" : . \ "Certainly more than 10# as revealed by our enquiries". i| This occupational disease first came to the notice of dermatologist Veltman and his team in the form of characteristic changes to the skin, particularly in the fingers. However, they were soon forced to the conclusion that still worse was to be revealed by this already well-known PVC symptom : vinyl chloride harms bl od and blood vessels, bones, nerves, liver and lungs. As summed up by Veltman : "A disease of the system". i i i This plastics material apparently places at risk only those individuals actually pr sent when the colourless vinyl chloride gas, obtained from mineral oils, is liquefied under pressure and compressed to form powder in the large reactors known as "autoclaves". This "polymerisation process" is necessary to produce the PVC which is then sold as "Hoetalit" (Farbwerke Hoechst) or "Vinoflex" (BASF): Products whieh are not toxic as far as the end consumer is concerned, unless, in the words of plastics experts, "Plasticisers migrate from them". Those cases in which these toxic substances have been liberated from such materials hav indeed been reported for a considerable period of time. j J j On the other hand, the "closed system" of the autoclaves gives rise tc dangerous leakages. The Bonn Medical Specialists have been investigating "possibilities f gas leakages and associated inhalation risks" at numerous points ir the production process. VC-gas escapes when the reactors are discharged r.nd opened as w 11 as thr ugh "leaks in the autoclav s". For many years doctors hav been awar f the toxic natur of th gas and its narcotic effect. Almost with ut exc ption personnel engag d on the cleaning of autoclaves complain of feeling "dopey", giddiness and headaches. For this reason the "maximum allow;,ble concentration" ("MAX") of the VC gas has been repeatedly reduced. According t V ltman, how ver, "we hav s far not be n aware of regular gas concentration measurements being carried out on production sites." U c c 083293 Copied by MCA January 30, 1974 Translations Unit/TR. 12.897a/EMSAS 4 January 1974 PVC DISEASE TO BE INVESTIGATED Reference: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 20.12.73 Bonn/Troisdorf 19 December Many cases of illness among persons employed in the' PVC plant at Dynamit Nobel AG in Troisdorf have caused concern among the local population. As Dynamit Nobel AG confirmed on Wednesday, 43 workers so far have shown symptoms of the mystery illness, which is known only as "PVC disease" at present. Two foreign workers are said to have become completely incapable of working already. PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is a widely used plastic that is produced by a number of other chemical companies apart from Dynamit Nobel AG. How seriously the situation is regarded is apparent from a statement issued by the West German Minister of labour on Wednesday to the effect that the government had instructed investigations to be carried out into the hitherto unknown causes of the disease. Details are to be laid down in January by a panel of experts. According to the Ministry of labour, the relevant employers' association is working on the assumption that the disease is caused by vinyl chloride. It was stated that the Ministry of labour Committee considers that operatives working in the neighbourhood of PVC autoclaves must be medically examined; When the various cases of illness became known local factory inspectorates ordered steps to be taken to provide increased health safeguards on the plant. The symptoms of the condition are unconsciousness, attacks of dizziness, changes in the hands and feet, headache and nausea. According to a report from the works in question, the first cases of physical damage to workers in the PVC plants were observed in Germany in the Spring of 1972. Dynamit Nobel have been producing PVC since 1951. The Press Section at the Troisdorf works stated that: The government industrial medical officer, in agreement with the Chemical Industry Employers' Association, has instructed Professor Rudolf Gross, who holds the chair of Medecine at the University of Cologne to examine some of the affected persons and to produce a report. 6 patients from the PVC plant have now been examined by Professor Gross at the university teaching hospital. A report on some of his findings will be issued in December. 083294 y_' Copied by MCA Translation: TR.12,917 January 30, 1974 Ref: Frankfurter Allgcmeine, Zeitung, 2 Jan 74 LIVER DAMAGE IN PVC PRODUCTION In spite of abundant warning signs no adequate supervision Like many other occupational diseases, the damage incurred during the production of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is only now, more than JO years after the start of industrial PVC production, being fully realised. The scale of the health hazard involved in PVC production was first exposed in a publication by doctors of Bonn University Teaching Hospital (UniversitHtsklinik Bonn), who found skin damage, changes in the ends of fingers and toes, as well as liver and spleen damage, in 45 workers at Dynamit Nobel AG's PVC plant in Troisdorf, According to reports by H J Marsteller of the Medical Klinik and Susanne Juhe of the Skin Klinik in the "Deutsehen Medizinischen Wochenschrift" (Vol. 98, p 2311), 45 of the 120 workers in this plant have so far been exhaustively examined in Bonn. Some of these patients were suffering from skin changes, in others the examination was carried out on prophylactic grounds. Most of these workers were found to be suffering from various types of liver damage of obscure origin. In addition to enlargement of the liver, biochemical malfunctions of the liver were detected. Histological tissue changes were finally established. Since, in spite of the diversity of the liver changes all the patients had been engaged in PVC production for 1.5 to 21 years. Ibis can only be an occupational disease involving FVC. In 1963 circulatory disorders, inflammation -.nd hardening of the skin, thyroid deficiency and enclargement of the liver in PVC workers were reported for the first time in Roumania. It was only after re-Tiublication of this work in 196? that similar observations were reported in Germany, France, England and the United States. But here the emphasis was on changes to fingers and toes. This led, according to the Marsteller and Jtthe report, to ''attention being directed to the liver damage first noted in PVC production in the Soviet Union dn 1949". The scientists are making no statements about the prognosis of the FfC liver damage. Even the frequency of this illness among other PVC producer:* is unknown. Possibly the threat to personnel is heavily dependent on local working conditions Since the morphological picture of these liver changes corresponds to chronic toxemia, such as also occurs from contact with chlorinated hydrocarbons, eg chloroform, the health risk could be determined by the concentration of the gaseous initial product, vinyl chloride, in the atmosphere. Since such a hazard was certainly not unfor&eeable, and must indeed have been expected in vi w of the existing publications, the question arises as to whether either the v.nyl chloride concentration or the health of the workers were properly supervised in these plants. UCC 083295