Document daKR233VEY3kNj703dmbpawV6

r THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, i- Friday,-February 6, 1076, 19; : To Higher Incidence [vj r^^?Ex|osure the y.Sr government under the Freedom -eSry* Information Act. The * Health Research>, Group then distributed the report aa- theEavtronmental Protection Agency opened hear.'[ tags, on proposals, to limit, vinyl 'chloride emissions from PVC plants. ' J \ : . . yri . < Previous government regulations . have, - placed limits-op the amount of vinyl,chloridet-j to' whiclr workers inside plant* can be ex-X/ ' *i. T<r;CjfremicalMay Damage posed, and use of the gas Is restricted in j Consumer products, especially aerosols, l-S ' -jfr'l~ui/.-,'/.., -- t, -' based on -studies' that have linked some 50 1 cases of a rare liver cancer to vinyl chloride j. , la PVC worker* around the'world. - Vr ^';!>By BJUttY JCfcAMW-'*' ' "" The new study" Speculates that vinyl' , , S*F **i>eri1*r,4/fits vW Stum JpuaHii. chloride may damage the sperm cells of the / 'NEW ;io^^lnyl^di^r}d,` tll Indus workers, causing a higher number'd de^. trie! chetalcaltfil^hsV'been Jinked to cancer formed fetuses that ire spontaneously among 'workert.,who are exposed to it,, ap aborted. They noted that other studies have/<% parently aMo.piies a hlgherinddehce than shown vinyl chloride and"its metabolites i,, normal or'mjseacrfagee nmongtfie workers' (chemicals created when vlnvl chloridej;-' Iwives, 'gi^r^Ww;;>ea#ajrehir"Jitported^ passes through the body) .can cause cells to- ii They, suggestair the' `"reason isrth'at vinyl mutate in the test tii5. Other studies have . cfllorlde may damage the sperm cells ot thf showir exctla. chromosome, break*, la-thevii- wbrker-huHnri^- tells of vinyl chloride workers. - , . . - '.A.study;.o;w families lit.which the-hua- One of the euthorl of the current study, V?, bends workedrih'plant* that-.pcoces*#l vinyl Peter FJ Iiifante ot NIOSH. previously found,'` chToridfc-tatn*dhe widely -usdpia*tic poly that;birth, defects of the'central nervous sys- * vinyl. chloridtoidt PVC.vghowedaiit' preg- tem were, significantly, higher, in thyee phlo^, nancies .werai-twice as,likely;to end in ipon- communities where PVC- Is, manufactured, "' - ,tan*qu*.abortion-as compsreifcwlth families from;' vinyl-chloride. However,. CDC sclen-,^; Whose husbandsT-worked. ln'.lhdnstrlea. with tilts who looked at his results were -upable -]-r- . little.^ orno-ivinyl-chlorids exposUreiaThOire' to.link tho higher rate of birth defects spe-./f' searcher* alsdtcompared *<fetai-.watag*`t'tn ciflcally to ytayl chloride.., . ; .,^-'Te tfie.tamUles-.hefore and' after Ihei husbands . ` "The increased occurrence of fetal aiotr^-'"- began worWintthe PVG.plant.and found that tallty among wives of workers subsequent to the* mlecarrtagSvrate' was-more than.2.5 vinyl chloride exposure now raises serious ' - times greater in- pregnancies that occurred scientific end public health concern fo^ the' after exposure to vinyl chloride/ ;; possible genetic risks ot vinyl chloride to hu- . Previous studies of, the effect of.vinyl mans," the government scientists5 con- - chloride on the outcome of. pregnancies'ln> eluded,.-------- ^ volvtng' person* who' had been^exposed to The new. findings aren't unexpected. Pre- - ; vinyl chlride have been hindered because vious research has shown that hospital-oper i there aren't 'any good national record* oh ating-room personnel--who are exposed to spontaneous^ abortions' Thus, . the ' rata -` at high levels of anesthetic gases that are which miscarriage occurs' normally isn't chemically similar to vinyl chloride--havs a known.' ' ' higher incidence of spontaneous abortion, So the. government researcher* set up a birth defects in offspring, cancer add' liver "control" group consisting of 113 families in and kidney disease. which the husbands worked witjirubber or *r---------- :........ ....................................... ........-i fashioned PVC into finished product* (where exposure to vinyl chloride Is. minimal). The group exposed to vinyl chloride and tha con* trol group were carefully matched for . age, as it's known that fetal wastage Is greater in older couples.. .. . The etudy was conducted by scientists from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health,' or NIOSH, and from tho Center for Diseaee Control, or CDC. both units of the Department of Health, Educa tion and Welfare and from the School of Public Health of the University of North Carolina. It was first presented at a scien tific meeting In Czechoslovakia last October and has been submitted for publication in the British medical journal, The Lancet. The study wasn't released In this coun try. however, until Ralph Nader's Health Research Group demanded a copy from P<rJ, Vto*/ CffJlifi,,,. h JZ.C r^s mk ... zfthC riii ju i MAR 1-6 1976 R, R WHl.r- - 1R- occ 005512