Document bp49YvG3L44Bpwe0oe861kGZ

^CV *(* ?-OCL ^feVSdetttfk 2S~Jnae'lSr73 Feedback had curious origins- Dr Fred Rose of the. Biochemistry Department at University College- Cardiff happens to live near BP PVC plant. PVC dust often forms a %>VC dust fells factory mice suggesting new work hazard Guinea-pigs and rats kept in dusty areas of PVC factories next to regular workers developed pneumoconiosis--tie - lung disease caused by asbestos, silica, and coal Just. Additional tests show- PVC cujt ro be as biologically- active as chcysotile asbestos. This means that PVC powder--the product of polymerisation of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)--must be treated as a health hazard potentially more widespread than VCM itself. VCM was discovered last year to be carcino genic and the chemical industry has made considerable efforts to control this gas. Efforts may now be needed to con trol PVC powder as well. Following a report that a 31-year-old worker who bad inhaled PVC powder atwork for a year developed a new type of pneumoconiosis. Professors N. Fron* gia, D. Casula, and R. Camba at Cag liari (Italy) University began a long term investigation of the possible harm ful effects of PVC powder. They put rats and guinea-pigs in cages with large win dows in the bagging section of a PVC plant in Sardinia. Because PVC manufac ture is largely automated, the bagging section is usually the dustiest. The fact that the animal* were exposed to the same atmosphere as workers in the plant is an unusual procedure whicl^ partly overcomes- objections ter drawing con clusions from animal experiments about the biological effects of chemicals on man. The animals were killed after two to - seven months of exposure to PVC dust and their lungs examined microscopic ally. Reporting their work (Medicine- del Lavoro, Sept-Oct 1974) the three pro fessors say: "we are dealing with an authentic pneumoconiosis, or at least with a PVC pneumopathy which suggests very strongly not a few of the significant aspects of pneumoconiosis". Although they admit that much more research has to be done before firm conclusions can be drawn, they say their results form a "highly consistent picture" and are "dearly correlated with the length of exposure to PVC powder". The second piece of recent research which throws suspidon on PVC powder fine film on the road outside the plant and also finds its way n to the roofs of cars parked nearby and on to washing hung out to dry. Rose's department carries out work on the biochemistry of asbestosis. Putting the two together, he' , derided that he ought to have at least a brief look at PVC dust. Rose and Dr Roy Richards used a test that had beem found to be a good indi cator of the biological activity of other materials such-as asbestos. The dost is incubated with red blood cells from rab bits and the- amount of haemoglobin re leased by the dust breaking the cell walls (haemolysis) is measured. So far only two samples have been tested and so the results are difficult to interpret. However one of the PVC dust samples was found to be as active in the haemolysis- test as chiysotile -asbestos. When the PVC particles were washed, this activity- surprisingly disappeared. Rose and his colleagues tentatively con cluded that the biological activity is due to a soluble. surface-associated agent. Even more surprising is that the other PVC dust sample showed practically no activity at all.' One possibility is that the tw samples were from different processes which pro duced different size particles, with dif ferent biological- activities. Large dust particles do-.not reads the long, which suggests they may be less dangerous Will dockers black PVC powder? than small ones. The particles in the Italian factory were very small--about London dockers are to reconsider a | 1 micrometre in diameter, total ban on the handling of cargoes j The significance of these two pieces of PVC powder. The National Associa j of research, if their results are confirmed tion of Stevedores and Dockworkers | by further experimentation, could be (NASD) originally refused to "black" - immense. PVC powders are bandied by a PVC cargoes following the refusal of } much larger number of workers than some dockers at the Royal group of VCM. Workers in practically every plant docks to unload bagged PVC But making goods from PVC powder are armed with the new evidence that is potentially at risk. Further, the discharge emerging about the hazards of PVC of PVC dust from factories Is by no powder the issue will be raised again. means a rare event, so communities near Last January one gang of dockers refused to unload about 80 tonnes of PVC plants might also be at risk. , Lawrwnc* McGinty bagged PVC from two bargee onto a Romanian ship. According to one of the dockers involved, the cargo had French court been lying in the barges fpr a year and many of the bags were rotten. The refusal was prompted by publicity, especially on TV, surrounding the di> covery that vinyl chloride monomer-- from which PVC is made--causes liver cancer. But the dockers were also sus picious that the PVC powder itself might be a health hazard. A Factory Inspector had the cargo analysed and he assured the dockers that there was no measurable vinyl chloride monomer in the PVC and that fcvC powder . itself is harmless. says one docker. This was the first cargo of PVC to pass through the Royal docks, but employer's assurances that any future cargoes would be in hessian, not paper, hags indicates the possibility of future cargoes. Now the dockers who originally re fused to handle the cargo are raising the question again. This time they have the admittedly preliminary find ings of the Italian and Cardiff research to back up their claim that PVC dust could be a health hazard. Their intui backs breeder Two environmental groups were refused an injunction to stop El6ctririt da France from building a fast breeder . reactor at Bugey. The court ruled that there had been no infringement of property or of a fundamental right. The environmentalists had argued tha: clean air and lack of pollution is a legs right. EUctridti de France, on the othe hand, argued that "quality of life" neither a public right nor an essentia liberty, but rather an aspiration. Pfevidence that PVC powder could cause pneumoconiosis had been pub lished three months earlier.) Similar tive feelings about PVC powder, which must be seen against a long history of "unscientific'' bans on dan BOR 014911 Testing techno! gy assurances came from Robert Murray, gerous cargoes (asbestos for example) "The Police Department yesterday r the TUC's medical advisor. long belore medical evidence of ill- mitted the following message on : After eight days the cargo was un effects appeared, could well be a teletype machine: 'This is a t*- ..Jit loaded from the barges by other better guide to action than the Fac for L.I. press only. If you ( receive dockers. "The dust was just evory- tory Inspector's reassurances. LJVf. this message, you need j v-pairi." ** * w