Document evrRYmbNjY75arLEp69LQ01oy

-ZDLuARD HOUPRB & CO. Robert H. Burnett itcf* C eO July 1, 1992 TO: Vinyl Institute Board Members Committee Chairmen Communications Committee FR; Bob Burnett RE: Chlorine Health Study I wanted to alert you to the attached news development, which broke late yesterday. We are in contact with the Chlorine Institute or. this, and evpect that group to take the lead in responding to the media on it As other developments occur, or we learn more from the Cl, I will let you know. CTL007373 Wayne Interchange Flaza II 155 Route 46 West * 'Wayne, NJ 07470 * (201) 890-9299 Fax # (201) 890-7029 I------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------ cDl'iri-tD K. d-D !.ij . TE_ Tin ni'.'.v nuns NATIONAL >' . \.c- --y, hjly *: All Tiny Cancer Risk in Chlorinated Water By Lawrence k. altman Chlormaiod drinking water has been linked ;o small increases In tlie rates si recial and bladder cancer in h new analysis by researchers at Harvard University and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The findings, reported ioday in ;he American Journal of Public Health, are drawn from a combination of 10 previous studies. 'Using stafstka! methods, the researchers found -hat ihe slightly higher rates of the iwo cancers seemed to correlate with the amount of byproducts produced bv Chlorinated water. Previous stud'es had offered contradictory findings, but many of them, taken by themselves, were no! siailsncaily significant / boi.' three-fourths of the water supply in cue United States is chlorinated. The degree of chlorination vanes w idely. depending largely on toe source of the water and the contaminants present in It. Also, die studies the re searchers analyzed were done m the 1970's, when allowable levels of chlori nation were substantially higher than they are now. One Peril Is Greater The authors and other experts stressed that ihe new study should not lead to slopping chlorination. "The po tential heahh risks of microbial con tamination of drinking water greatly exceed the risks'1 of cancer, the au thors said. But the new study is likelv to push government and Industry harder to find more effective alternatives for chlorination to disinfect water sup plies, epidemiologists and experis :n water safety said in interviews. Scientists are handicapped in evalu ating the benefits and hazards of chlo rination because they do not know how many cases of serious infection would occur if disinfection of water supplies was stopped. Although the study found the risk of cancer from chlorinated water to be small, the authors calculated mat ,t accounted for 6,500 cases of recta! can cer and 4,200 cases of bladder cancer in the United States each year. Each year, 47,000 cases of bladder cancer and 44.000 cases of rectal cancel are diagnosed m the United States. Federal Standards Change The study team was headed by Dr Robert D. Morris of the Medical Col lege Of Wisconsin in Milwaukee It comes at a time when previously-re ported studies have suggested that ex isting American chlorination levels are too low to prevent many esses of uasiro-lmcstinal illness The 10 studies that Dr. Morns e\ abl ated were carried out n the 1070 s Because Federal standards for tne amounts of chlorinated byproducts al lowed in water were tightened in 1973. the risk of the two cancers may now oe lower than indicated in the figures found by Dr. Morris. Experts warned 'ha: ! v ~ " ' ' nation stundjids aiv b1"- c . ; r Untied States. j-?iv :r 'h" ) ;r1r , ,'c.uld experience ep -A rrt - - , ` A * 1 and other diseases ruth -- /. ` f*\C J have occurred rererr'-'- a: t ` S South America whe'e cMcr,- -; stopped or standards ,ewercd 'j'tC- perts said "This is a real .npcr'ar.t dr water ..sue mat has v . Vs , health of evp- \ A.-er: or ' s.-.. d Ron me Levui, an ufflclal o' '.ht i is i; Or mental Proiecl.on Agents Question of Balance Ms Levn, who ,s a pokey Mf;c-m m ilie :esea;0h slid developT.*ri -.t-."lo" at 'ho E P 4, said ihe issue invoked balancing chlor.r.aib/c's be-efns n pi oven! ng large nunbois of .rfeo'ior-agnin'i j small risk o` came: Dr Morris s stud", w II maxe east cr to evaluaie the .'iskj and the benefit 0 of chlorination, Ms Levir said ana ` it is likely to push research aboji auv-native disinfectants " Chlorination was firs', used in pro'ei pi.b.hc drinking water ct the end u! last century, and it has beer. treduc-d with preventing typhoid and many oth er water-borne diseases In 1893. chlorination was used io treat sewage officer;: at 3'-"wstcr, N.V , to pro'.ec: New Yoix City water In 1908 tr.lorina'ion was used successfully to stob the spread of typhoid in Chicago by treating contaminated drinking water a: the stockyards That was five \eai s after the Erst .'ortmiia! use of ch'ici.ne m water treatment, >r. the small Belgium (own o! M'.ddel- kerke. alarm Stems From 19M Thereaf'vr cltlorinufon `'t water supplies spread rapidly Today v.ru.ai "y all surface wito: is disinfected, and .hlorna'.iu.o >5 the overwhelming Choice for tiesti-g public water sup plies. Ground water is chloi mated l?tc often. Pnva'c ,,e,",j ird bot'.'ed water are generally no; chlorinated Concern about cancer from chlori nated d'mki'-g water -icns Turn toe d.scovery :n I5"4 'hat 'he r Vnstion Accepting one small risk to ward off a much larger one. n: chlorate and organ re.-- pounds m d-icktrg wa'er cnulj mod > -* i`pl,.v'oh.fm and other potenva.'- lingetnas byproducts Toe discovers' ed : a "un'bn' ' 3'udics. But "he\ car e ap A meonsisteni and cuni'lir' .:g intuits Dr. Morrr- bar .logiecs in ngineei mg and moon .ne. and ms main micros! . m eov'l'r.i-ct.rl health .mi/ndi To nclo ' a : f y r.e issue nf chloi idled Jrit'kmg watt-- and cancel he turned "a a new naiisttc.il method, ctdlec a me1 j-a-eivi's wmlc- working it t.ne Hanwd I'.ti - ersuy School Of Public Health r" Boston Meta-anak s.s aims at gleaning more information from existing data by pcolt-g 'he results of many smaller studies and apprv.ng one or more Sti;S11c21 ""Chnioues The iHrgcr .lum bers obuiint-d by combining studies can provide a greater statistical :>owr than ait/ of the individual, smalle: studies Ihe method can produce a unified 'esi.i; from diverse appurcniiy contrad'c'orv studies. Taking a Second Look in. the chlorinated water and .ance: cont.-o-e. s>. Di Morns reasoned that a siandaid review of literature might erroneously conclude that r.-j statist) cally significant risk exists when a meta-analysis might show one. By pooling data from 10 published studies mat met the enter.a for the meia-anaiys;s. Dr Morris's ie= found that the relative risk for black - cancer was 1 21 For recial cancer it was I 38 In other words, people dt ink ing chlorinated water had a 21 percent gieater msk of getting bladder cancer and a JS percent greater risk of gemng i eittai cancer than those who drank non-chionnaied water. Dr. Morns said a new study conduct ed tn Colorado and reported at a i eceni meeting of the Society for Epidemio logic Research found a relative risk uf 1.2 for chloi mation and bladder cancer. The study was reported by Mike McGeehtn of the Federal Agency for Toxtc Substances and Disease Regls:;y in Atlar.'u, who did not return calls o his office There is n wide variation m the i mount o' cliict mated byproducts found in water "If you take waier out o; the Potomac and add chlorine to it. you are going m get more byproducts than if you take water out of Lake Superior and add chlorine to u." Dr Morns said Hunting the Culprit Scientists do not know what byprod uct Is the mnsi important carcinogen in chlorinated water One suspect ;s chlo rinated hydroxy-furanone Exoerts sa;a the second-most-com mon form uf disinfection was chloraminatiofi. which adds both chloi ine and lmncnia to filtered drinking water fo 'orm chloramines. It tends to reduce the amount of byproducts An even less frequent foi m is u/one, although chlorine often is added m tins process Ozone byproducts have not been fj.lv evaluated for safety As scientists explore newer mc-mods and ask whet.iei "hey are safer, 'hey must determine whether ihe question i dales "j disir.tecuon or the htuii ds uf oyproducts Dr fbom.is C. Chalmers, a rr.-,iuthor, said it look more than a year and CTL007374 --fljort. --  n m a - n i TEL rejection by three journals before the team got Its analysis published Science, the Journal of the Amercan Medical Association, and the America-, Journal of Public Health all rejected the paper, Dr Chalmers said Generally, scientific journals only tell the authors why they turn down i paper. Bui Dr, Chalmers iaid -he e\perts who reviewed the paper "were uneasy about informing people about this problem until some alternative was available" for fear that people would demand an end to chlorinating water. "But we fell people ought to have the data, not suppress it," Dr Chalmers said. So when The American Journal of Public Health appointed a new editor, the authors sent their paper in again, and It was accepted 30 CTL007375