Document gDMELRbLmn70eyqZbngrJBZKN

I SOL- 1 j/V. fi G**- Jrt.J - Chemists Croup Ha! Vinyl Chloride Safety Report as Douhts Arise flit *i Wai.i, Sthkiit J'.i hnai. Hhift K*'inrl^r WASHINGTON--The Mmiurucltirlrifc Chom Irt.s An.-ncl.-dion, or MCA, lias cliculat- tn.e n saf-lv publication dealing will) vinyl chloride folhr.vini; re|*irta the chcniic.il may possibly be associated wiih four fatal cases of a rare form of liver cancer among workers who handled the material. The action by the Industry tmde group retultod from an announcement last month by H, F. Goodrich Co. that It wan Inveetigating the cancer deaths of three workers at its 1-ouisvllte, Ky., polyvinyl-chloride plant, A spokes man said yesterday the company had con firmed a fourth worker at the plant had also died of the same form of liver cancer. The association had revised its vinyl-chlorIde safely publication in 1873 following reports by an Italian researcher that rata exposed to very large doses of vinyl-chloride vapors had developed malignant tumors of a kind that isn't found in man. At that time, the MCA report aid that such an effect hadn't been observed in humans. The association said it would issue a revised safety report on vinyl chloride after the ques tion raised by the B. F. Goodrich finding is re solved. Meanwhile, an MCA-sponsored task force on vinyl chloride, consisting of 19 companies that make the chemical, ora continuing to study health records of vinyl-chloride workers through the industry. Animal studies nrc also being conducted. The task force began Ua work following the Italian report but has accelerated Ua study since Goodrich raised suspicions about the chemical, a spokesman for one of the companies said. A Goodrich spokesman said the MCA taskforce study on worker health records might be ready for presentation to the association "by I the end of the month." The animal studies, he said, would take longer. Almost oil the vinyl chloride produced in the | U.S. la used to make pnlyvinvt chloride, a plas tic used in myriad products. Rome five billion pounds of polyvinyl chloride, also known as rVC. wee produced lust year. B. F. Goodrich ! is the largest maker, accounting for on cstl| mated 18',:. til U.S. production. ! Tlic Ijilior Department will hold hearings I beginning next Monday to examine the extent of worker exposure fo vinyl chloride and to ex- ; ptore whether h'dcud x|Misure standards I should bo tightened. ' A spokesman for the MCA, wlmse 174 U.S. member companies account for 0V, of vinylchloride production, said nn attempt wouldn't be made to recall the vinyl-chloride safety pub lication but that medical representatives of ait i member companies and "vnrlous technical committees" have been alerted to the possible link between the chemical and human cancer. res ASI 000012055 r THE WALL STR^T JOURNAL - MONDAU, OCT, 7 1374 fcltf.e0' 111974 Hazards Wiyl-Chloride Sc^re It would be difficult to find a person any where v, ho hasn't iomc into commit with pi .s.Jcta eut'h ns plastics. anotfi-tics, i'l.-eetivi.ivs -J'.ci hrrinud-s. solventa and phar* nincemiiils, sli nf wl",rh can ue made fro.n theV.fc'.A who s'.oj'red work(.:c during their1 presrwuwy. O'n'r surveys hive fcur.d high-1 er-lh.'-i-efad rates of mi.x.'rn.ice nn.1 stilibTUia ' the wives of anesthrsiolo- fr.,.'.-. even '.iiav.^h these wives presumably chlorinated hydrocarbons. As a result of doin'! enter mi operating roim jntil the Points U p Dangers their widespread manufacture and use. mci- time ol ihi ir ii-liveries. One explanation ad ecu'es from tnese products can be fcur.d ev vanced oy r-j-. rvers is that the anethcsivia- erywhere cn earth arid in the upper atmo p4*j so;r..'.:w- earned home sufficient Of Other Chemicals sphere. Such molecules are also commonly found in human tissues. amour1-, of r.resthetic in ihcir breath or or, their clothes to affect their spouse*. Wlut is particularly concerning some Substances Long Believed scientists is the "rarely fm.rd In lact that U.c compounds n.-e natural ayricms unless those systems have been expuseti to man-made^ Safe Now Are Regarded pollution. "Although ail living things contain y V< ith Greater considerable amounts of chloride ion , . ,i Skepticism! very few chlorinated organic compounds ac-J ____ . tually occur in living things." say* Dr.: Si'.id.es are currently under way to deter mine whether or not the wives of vinylchloride workers have been affected by min-j me amounts of the gas unwivir.gly carried home by their husbands from the plants. Of pariicular intciest is tlie rate of tfilibirth* and miscarriages among thebe women. The stuiies are by*;,o means simple, since the . .t , I Barry Commoner, director nf :hc Center for A Kospitals hidden Perils; tne B.c'.rgy of Natural Systems 3p-W*sfiirg true rule cf fri.il wastage throughout the na tion isn't exactly known and therefore a : ton t'nwniilv in Si l,,nii. bars of comparison i> difficult. Further- io*. the women's husbands are also ordi-j By BaKKY KRaMEB M ill liwir il THE Wu. STv.tEI JiHSStt It s a simple molecule: two atoms bon. tnr-e atoms of hydrogen and a sfhle atom (d chlorine- At room temperature it is a gas. The molecule is called efcloroetMylene by chemists, but it is more comsponly known as vinyl chloride. The chemical structure of vinyl chloV^de has be*"n known since the 1830s. Since a d' alter the Civil War. scientists have Trial and Ernie Dr. Commoner further notes that biol ogic evolution is a process of trial and error over millions of years; therefore, he says, die assumption 'can be made that since the chlorinated hydrocarbons arc virtually ab sent from all living things, the compounds are likciy to be "evolutionary rejects." And that means, he says, that if such compounds tr.vade a natural system like that of man, they are likely to be toxic. tlv exposed to a wide variety of chenu-i caliviifher than vinyl chlorides, hampering!! ; directyorrelations. There arc. of course, other carcinogens, or cancM-causlng agents, and toxic chemi cals m widespread industry use that are even nvoie dangerous Uian vinyl chloride. Before tije I-ibcr Department teran setting stsnd.irdb for vinyl-chloride emissions tn factonys-by an emergency decree in May andjhcn by a "permanent" standard e/fec- k-.-.-un how to link, or polymerise, the vinyl jThis means that industrial operations r.rxt jar.. 1--it had issued standards crijoride molecules like beads on a chain to Uiat'Syn^iasize or make use of such sub tegs a plastic called polyvinyl chloride, or stances, tpH iprirnllynl ini] rilhse fiprrT last January for U ether carcinogens. The implications of all these studies and Since the late l30s, when 8.F. Good- tions that disseminate them into the envi standards are clear: Industry wilf no longer f-ertecled a commercial process for po- ronment. ought to be governed by the level be able to assume blithely that untested* irrii'nt-r.e vinyl chloride, the plastic has Of prudence that is demanded by the inher chemical* in the work environment are safe come to be a staple in thousands of house ently dangerous situation," Dr. Common; simply because they've never demonstrated hold products ranging from kitchen faod says. "That we now are discovering, with- any overt harm. Lake vinyl chloride, which wraps to construction materials. increasing frequency, health hazards due to, took years to Uke its loll on worker health, Laat January, the world learned some dissemination of synthetic organic sub-, many chemicals thought to bs harmless thing eie about vinyl chloride: It can cause stances, both in the workplace and the gciv j may be equally insidious. This may welil eral environment, is evidence that we have ! Th ix is Ike second of two stones con- thus far failed to appreciate the need for icirinmj implications of the discoucry such care." *) tk'it vinyl chloride ca-n--c-a-u--s-e--c-a--n-c-e-r-.----- cancer in. humans. Twenty-six cases of ai rare liver cancer have been discovered ar.'ong workers in polyvinyl-chloride plants.J Ml of the worker* were exposed over many' ye.irs to large quantities of vinyl-chloride p us. In recent months, lurther evidence has! come to light indicating that the gas is also rc< vensihte tor an increase of other cancers ar the workers in the PVC plants. As a rr-.ilt. there now are standards regulating vinyl-* hiorule.emissions in factories. Vinylcl.lcri .c pus has also been banned for Use as It is interesting to consider that vinyl chloride, in the early days following its dta covery, was actively considered as an anes thetic lor surgery. But animal tests showed that the gas caused heart irritation, and it was abandoned tor that use in favor of outer substances. However, many anesthetics in use today are chemically related to vinyl chloride--and there is growing evidence that they aren't without harmful side ef fects. Far the past several years, for example, there have been scattered reports of 111 ef an r propellant, and die Food and Drue Administration toughening restric tion of the amount of vinyl-chlonde in PVCi fects suffered by those who administer anes thesia and among others continually ex posed to anesthetic gases while working in lood wrap*. I h.Cipital operating rooms. It has also been V.nyl chloride, of course, is far from the only man-made chemical known to cause corn er or. for that matter, other human ail mciits. Indjstry regularly works with toxic known for some time that there is greaterthan-expected incidences of spontaneous abortion among female anes:hesiologiris| and nurse-anesthetists and, more tellingly, a' substances of all types known to cause ill ef greater than expected rate of certain types. fects rurging from skin disorders to dam- at fatal cancer among anesthesiologists ct i lur.^s, kidneys and livers. In fact, the both saxes. (There is no evidence that such fr.es about vinyl chloride point up the anesthetics pose long-term dangers to surgi iiual dangers of an entire group of simi cal patients. I lar chemicals, which, like vinyl chloride,B! irth Defects cc::i.`uh hV ircgen. carbor. anti chlorine. The! One recent survey of nurse-anesthetist* cl-'.'.r.-.nt>1 hydrocarbcr.s, ax the chemicalsIn' Michigan showed that ci there who ar collectively called, arc uued In a broadworked in the operating room during preg me.m that there will have to be extensive! ! animal Ueti.cg of new chemicals before they; : are Ir.lrsJuced and that workers' health will ; have So be continually monitored to detect j dusters of disease. The task of such testing and monitoring would l>e mammoth indeed. There are cur- renUy 23,000 industrial chemicals More than > new cnee are Introduced every year. With an array Uke this. It's likely that other vinyl clJorides are lurking tn the background. * Allied Chemical Corp. and DowCherr.ical Co., for example, recently reported to the Labor Department's Occupation:: 1 Safety sad Ilealtn Avlmini.-.tratlon that they had found excess cancer mortality aincns w-ork-i ers at two plants that made pesticide;: with, inorganic arsenic. One study, conducted byj Johns Hopkins University's School of Hy giene and Fubhc Health, found that vt the 22 retired mule workers from Allied's Balti more pesticide pic.-H who died between l-o2 and 1ST2, IT hud dic-1 of cancer. At Dow's Midland, Mich,, arsenical pesticide plant, which whs clou.td dnwn 20 years a<o. Dow resrafcK'rs found that of 173 workers who died between 1^0 and 1472. 57 died of can cer. Both studies chow highcr-than-*xpoctedi rate* of cancer death. .' F Os An*,** *** i*4 - ^ ranae of products to which every human nancy. more than t*'.'e delivered infants L-irg h.u r.iultiple exposures- with birth delects, compared with * turth- d.-lect rate of under *7 among nurse-snes- * i `ri V THE - T*TALL STREET JOURNAL - MONDA". OCT. 7, 1974 Baaed on previous, lesa-conclusive evi dence linking ?T^enic with cancer, the Nntiuuil I'.j-jtutc (or Occupational S.tfety and Health last January recommended reducing maximum levels of arsenic in the air o! fac tories from the present 0.5 milligrams per cubic meter of air to 0.05 milligram*. Indus try has opposed that reduction, but there is growing pressure cn the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to impoae a "no detectable" limit on arsenic. Obviously, it isn't enough to learn tn.it workers exposed decades before -to vinyi i chloride, arsenic and asbestos--to name ai few carcinogens--are dying today ef canceror of other toxic effects of those substances. But the question of how to go about deter mining whether chemicais are indeed lethal In the long term la the subject of some dis pute. Skiggreted .<ioluti<Mi One eupgvn^d solution ic to test all chemicals alrc.idy In (he workplace and to test other rnenilrnls before they are used. However. Dr Irvine J. StIUoff, an expert on environir-nt-d carcinogen* at Mount Slnni Sthool of Medicine in New York, claim* that tins would be "unrealistic and scientific dly impossible. "Besiurcci nrr limited," he says, "so we enn't go rh;!: ging off in nil directions at once," ln..tn,j. Dr. selikoff says that he and Dr. E. Cuylcr Hammond, the chief health i stallsUcum of the American Cancer .Society, have worked cut some tentative testing guidelines. First, he nays, chemical* to be tested should be those to which large num bers of worki-rs are exposed. If many con sumers ,u-e exposed to the chemical as well, he adds, the substance is an even likelier target for study. , An example of one such chemical is car bon black, an ingredient in rubber tires and. consequently, a Cidespread air pollutant. "We ought to be taking a look at wnal s hap-| pemng to c irbo/i-alack workers." the doctor I wiys. (Scientists currently know that mas-| . wve done* of carbon black pointed on the I akin of mice has caused tumors, i Other| j prime study targets, he says, are sub-j > stances who,-*e chemical structure Is "suspi*; ; clous" lor not unlike the structures of j known earrir.ncensi, i The testing envisioned by Dr. Selikoff j would be r. combination of animal trials, in . which hundreds of antmala would be ex- pa*od for long periods to the chemicals bring studied, and statistical surveys of working pcpula'-ona that have handled the chemicals. "There are agents to which mil lions of people have teen exposed which now can be evaluated in terms of lon--t"rm . human cxperirr.ee." he says. "The human data is there waiting for us to evaluate iL" (Because aniir. d studies din't always prw cict what will h inpT*n in humar.s exp-rsed to ; the same sub -.tar,7**, he sayr., the human moftiionny U e.-st.'itjaJ.) | A CompUeittai All this testing svould be compUcated by! the possibility that some chemicais in the workplace cause cancer only in combination with other chemicals. And the exposure of most workers to many chemicals at the . same time would make it difficult to pin* point the offending chemical. 1 The cancer danger ef vinyl chloride was spotted only because It caused an exceed ingly rare tumor, Uver angiosarcoma, of which there are only slightly more than ICO case* in medical literature. If vinyl chloride were to cause a mere common malignancy, such p* lung cancer, it wouldn't have been so readily detected as a carcinogen. But testing is only one part of the prob lem, the other part being what do do about, toxic substances once their dangers are ex-j posed. There's some risk in almost every1 i activity, meaning that "acceptable" risks ' hive to be determined for various sub- stances. For example, even sugar, if in jected in sufficiently targe does, will cause cancer in laboratory animals: yet no cne is suggesting that sugar use be drastically cur tailed among humans for that reason. To arrive at a balance between risk* and I benefits, the risks must be fully understood. But very little is known about the dir:":TM posed to workers by the thousands of sub stance* they work with, and there is little optimism that such substances will be fully tested In the near future. Government agen cies arc understaffed r.nd working with lim ited funds. A Toxic Substances Control Act, which tile Labor Department says it needs to strengthen its hand in controlling indus trial chemicals, is stuck in a House-Senate conference committee. . Of course, even if such an act were to be panned, even die most sanguine aren't sug gesting that the workplaces of American in dustry wlil be cleared cf danger. N'cvertne* less. It Is becoming mere and more evident that there is less willingness to accept chemical dangers as simply an inescapable pari of working life. "Whatever happens." editorialises Lan cet. the British medical journal, "the vinylchloride episode will have provided a salu tary le.<xon. It will not be quite *0 eo-iy in the future as It lias been in the p-'.st for any ; chemical manufacturer to assume, until proved otherwise, that a chemical to which workers arc exposed is carcinogemcaliy safe. There must surely be more syster.iitic evaluation of industrially used chemical* for carcinogenic risk to workers." ASI 000012057