Document e5yEKpb0XMaXQv7kj4x4o23de

Monsanto Cl TO p. E. Bureau - Springfield, Ma. September 11, 1980 Monsanto's Health Study cc W. R. Gaffey, M. D. C2SH W. E. Smith/A. Z. Garrison C. S. Winfield J. L. Shriver On September 11, 1980, I called Gary Marsh at the University of Pittsburgh to discuss the status of Monsanto's study, Gary indicated chat he had not as yet made any analysis of our data, but would be doing so shortly, i.e.; by early October. He had no feel for the probable results of the study at this point. I informed Gary that we would be mailing today a reply to his Information request dated August 29th. While we were not able to answer all his questions, we were able to resolve a good portion of them. Considering the age of the data, I expect Gary will have some more questions of us when he receives our information. Gary will be talking with Dr. W. R. Gaffey in St. Louis shortly to arrange for an early October visit to Springfield to wrap up any final questions before writing his report. He indicated an interest in touring our facility at that time along with Or. Gaffey and perhaps John Henshaw. At this point, it looks like a final report will be avail able October ending. PEB/SBN P. C. Bureau RSV 0007546 University of Pittsburgh GRADUATE . -P O'JBLIC HEALTH Department q! o-ost.v SEP 2 4 1980 September 19, 1980 J. L. Henshaw Dept, of Medicine & Environmental Health A2 SC Monsanto Company 800 N. Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63166 Dear Mr. Henshaw: As you probably know, my upcoming analysis of the Springfield data will attempt to relate historic formaldehyde exposures at the plant to employee mortality patterns during 1950-1976. In order to do this accurately I need to be certain which departments at the plant were associated with either formaldehyde production, useage, or storage. For this purpose^'primary source of data thus far has been the formaldehyde useage charts you developed, which were for warded to me through Dr. Gaffey. My interpretation of your charts is chat only four areas at the plant have used formaldehyde and these are associated with the following department numbers which appear on personnel records. Plant Area .1 Cast Phenollcs 2. Resinox a. Resins Dept. b. Resin Compounding Dept. c. Molding Powder Dept. 3. Resimines 4 . Formalin Plant Department Humber(s) 13, 14, 15 50, 52, 53, 55, 56, 50 52 53, 55, 56, 57 68, 71, 72, 73, 74 54 Following the computer coding of the work histories for the 600 decedents in the Springfield cohort, a number of departments were discovered whose names suggested formaldehyde exposure. Since these departments were not included in your above scheme, I am uncertain CITT3BUPIGH pa 15261 RSV 0007547 J. L. Henshav Page 2 September 19, 1980 as to their formaldehyde exposure status. The following is a listing of these questionable departments. Department Number 17 58 109 114 133 149 Name Vuepack Resinox Resinox-Tank Form Operator Resinox Lab Ge -al Plant Sh. ing Resinox 173 210 Set ice Depts. Waste Disposal Vuepack Scrap Cutter 512 Laboratory-Saflex 509 Laboratory-Resinox 513 Laboratory-"Fome Cor" There are also some inconsistencies that need to be resolved concerning the appropriate time periods of formaldehyde exposure within many of these departments. More generally, I would also like, if available, any additional infor mation that you might have on the nature and intensity of the formaldehyde exposures which occurred in -hese departments. This could conceivably be used to rank order formaldehyde exposures among the study members thus permitting a more sensitive analysis to be done. Dr. Gaffey and I thought that perhaps a joint meeting with you at the Springfield plant might best serve to answer these issues prior to my statistical analysis. Please contact me by telephone shortly after you have considered these problems. Due to the time constraints involved, I am hoping that it may be possible Co resolve these issues without visiting the plant. Thank you very much for your cooperation in this matter. Gary M. Marsh, Sc.D. Assistant Professor of Biostatistlcs GMM/jmt Gaffey/Monsanto, St. Louis Mr. Paul Bureau, Monsanto, Springfield RSV 0007548