Document gaNd747gaMerndnOrn3Gyq0EG

2/ - - "There's no real substitute for PVC," says Martin J. Kleinfeld, commercial planning director for the chemical Division. "It's extremely versatile. It can be fabricated into many textures and used in many different ways." Uniroyal's share of this industry is very small. We make all our vinyl chloride in Geismar, La.; converting it into PVC at Painesville. Ohio. All together we account for just two percent of the nearly five billion pounds of PVC produced each year in the United States. Nevertheless, it's an important two percent. With PVC we make such //^\ articles as NaugahydeJ waterproof footwear and vinyl clothing. Since that January announcement the United States government, acting through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), has set out to sharply reduce employee exposure to vinyl chloride. The old standard, dating back to the early 1960's, was 500 parts JC. gas per million parts air. In May that was temporarily lowered to 50 ppm. Four months of public testimony by industrial, labor and medical experts followed before OSHA issued its permanent standard. That standard, which takes effect Jan. 1, 1975, calls for an allowable exposure level of 1 ppm (averaged over 8 hours), with a 15minute ceiling of 5 ppm. "Nobody knows exactly at what level vinyl chloride becomes unsafe," says Dr. Walter Harris, our corporate toxicologist. "We do know, however, that the cases of angiosarcoma discovered so far were in people exposed to high concentrations for long periods of time. Although there's no such thing as a risk-free environment, we are reducing that risk." URL 2 2 5 9 5