Document jByX7J8Q5Mnw6oNRMJMZpqYnZ

-T * j:C'.,;r* _i.*$ T/ j. J tlAj; l'jT4 n (V{^y`H: u Li1 r.^ln:i^v^V-i ^^ - d PAGE OT 0:% Defedis lickedlOm aP. A iiL By Judith DsndaJ KUT-Ntm:- ! Wtiwt Accumulatm;: evidence is hewhtcriir.g the suspicion ikut *1:2 plastic jKilyvin; ! chloride -- already linUeci. to unexpectedly large r.t::nPar,. of a rare form cf l;'.\r r: -rcr -- m;,y also be implicated in coos' birth ihAxts. 7i.r evid :r.cc is : parJed as prelim' ry bet ij ri:ffi- ciei.tly ci. quieting tc bo rrons.-tir.: flurry of srEn- tifie i"vl1"*.iy.r' on, bath :u and o_t c/r go ernment, in Unite,' btatri. and a no;.-.'' of of other countries \*'iibillion, f tons of ii.e jijr It .v ' :r: do for many purposes i :li year. Jn every cas\ so far, the da' -oyo is ap ter.siy causIcd by in!', .laiior of vinyl c!11 : iC v ; ns. Th gas ii> vs' in the '.nanui 'tu' ' of the . olid ;'..-.stic 1 . ,.s poly.:;c::.c. :J i ,n re- I.- there i . the form of re b twjc^* * At tho Ohio State Depart ment of Health : Colutr.b:'s, ,, example, l-T. Peter Infante- of the division of chronic diseases, hr in th>_last several \ ticks exam inee! ti e vital staii:tics record,, cf the three c :n* nr.initi. j in the state v. ro there arc vinyl chloride plants. HIS l'XAMINATJO:' of the re; .'s has discla.rd that, wi.'.o the 1970 to *973 rate of such defect *. the state as a whole was 11. per 1,000 live births, thi rate in tho three communi ties -- Ashtabula, Lake Avon and Peinesvillc -- was nl: ust twice as great. In a telephone interview. Inf. .me stressed th/it enitsrs unrelated to vinyl chinrl a one generation to the next. may explain the differ Thus, if the chrom : ernes of ences. But he emphasized either pa rent are not intact, that ik.c possibility shat there is a real possibility exposure to the chemical that any offspring of the may be responsible is also union will have a birth de very real. He is now in the fect ash result. process, he raid, i r deter Sc-likoff ho; done much of mining the precise nature cf the scientific detective the birth defects in Question work linking vinyl chloride to see if there is any pai.cr to angiosarcomas (the rare of uniformity. cancers) of the.liver. He Meanwhile, Dr. Irving !. has also recently question helikoff of the Mount Si..ni ed men r.t two plants -- or.e School of Mtd'cirie in New owned by Union Carbide, York, told the environirw nt the other by the Dow sober...mitt' e in the Senate Chemical Co. -- where yeitc"J;y that a gradoam. polyvinyl chloride is made student colleague had about the stilloirths and ex;.mined the v to bh. d miscarriages experienced cells of 11 men '..irking :n by their wives. vinyl chloride plants and found annorm: chromo *`I FEEL an uneasiness somes ir. more- m llie sam because of the apparent in- ples th n would have been err e in these stillbirths e..pe.Lcd when t..e findings and miscarriages," Selikoif were compared with those told a reporter alter yester of 10 men matched for r.>.e day's hearing. ``The e are and other factors who had plants wiser many . hemi* no; been occupationaliy ex cals arc made sr. that expo* posed to the* chemical. jure to substances other Ono ever;, four cases of angiosarcoma in S' -den. occurring between ls-J cru.' 1969, for example, was found in babies. And, in addition, the work of Dr. Ceasnre Maltoni of Italy, the sci; ntist who did much of the original laboratory work on vinyl ci ioridc in anil, als, clearly demon- strat-J that when pregnant rats were exp-aed the gas, many of*i u- pups de velop J angiosarco:.... More recently, sc ir.tist at the University of Stock holm in Swed n have beer, g st its salmonella ctcriu I'' determine ether e: g them to .inyl chk.iwu causes changes in their genetic traits. Tho technic,ve, d< velopc:' by Dr. Brit. Antes at he University o nlifcr- r. Berkeley, is : egnrdvJ ; p'.rticularly se: itive in : . rt:ing out biological k ioc in lower erg., -isms that is predictive of similar biological bchau Chromosomes arc the than vie: 1 chloride or in ior in man. units in the nucleus of cyery deed factors unrelated to eel! -- inelvJi: g the eggs employment may be to TIIE SV.'EDIS, work has a:.I sp' *m, ~ that transmit blame. Neve:*1 elcss, this is been publi: :i in English. bodily .iiaracteristice from a lead that ust be pur It reports t: 4 expos;. ' to sued." Should proof posh . e develop that vinyl chlor.de causes birth defects, many scientists would n,ot be sur prised. It has become in creasingly apparent from the work of several labora tories that substances which cau e cancer fre quently are capable of damaging the fetus s well. Moreover, some of the data on angiosarcoma -- the car.ccr linked to plastic manufacture -- suggests that a heightened risk of tumors may have existed from birth. OLI 374 ,s 2- - PAC.M Thu r c; tires t1 ; : ir. tnry rc- t. ( ; '. .s'.-.erin %1 * lb Ci-: b urn' - v.' \ ' th.y v.i1 prow. <*: i.. ! cr way, t! :: me. i.s Jr. : the cb:'u im! acir on - 1 of thu ,! er.es of the or:'i i:i ms, p :;mai'.ei'.l!y c' ' the stwer'.-.r of t, * ;'ri!cins hv" v.'iilzi* '"'-y U 1 - : bl-.iepritr. in celiS. 1 cu abmt the bV.L dir'.l v . : ester ; -i r. be ar.d Dr. Jc a i *.\ *. :.;t. r.t .1 i. r y -- ., in-1 - ` '* . r V itii Dr . Vi-.. - r.ii.i* rrr-rt r ; me i,r. -y;.' bird i ' i\: A c.vrh Ir,-` ' , :c -- i'cvc 1/ .*r> d'.-in;: e.-:;-.e:; -.'ntr t ir.ti 'r r to t'.G ;; ?:: i- S: '. i. e n ' 1: s a:t 1bmu. ' If- w ' stc J, ! ..I'M ; . ;; .to \ ivi\ 1 chloric. ; - , t ' e` m t.c capable of m: IU Tiv c key que-iti'in, A in-, sou! a telephone- in * view, whether h'-man e-pom to the cho.niml 1Hie germ or i: :od uiivo cells so that they me altered when a preg nancy is cc eivrd. Yesterday's Senate hear ing did not rcrobo this isme. However, Dr. Joseph W'agc.ticr, a government scientist for bo h fha JA-jtm..;.l Institute ..i Creura* tia.'.r.l Safety and He;;511. and the renter for D;;. :se (vn'.:o! Atlanta, reported ti nt a study will scot: get under way which may pro vide the answer. T study, lie raid, is to be ii.wh- for beamy parlor p- so.,. .1 who have baJ Ion; an onstant exprstue lo h: 'r;-;-:. vs, Vinyl chlo ride w .s c'-;,t: hied in the prrpt-l'm of rmr-v hairsprays fto.n about iv.ttl until curlier this year when it: potw'ial danger: becalm- knew Meanwhile, anrthcr wit ness at (he hearing - I'r. Robert Schnffncr oi \re Food ar.d Drug Administra tion -- told cf recent evi dence that -- besides being inhaled -- some vinyl chlo ride may have gotten into the food supply. TESTS HAVE shown, Schaftner reported, that the chemical is capable of "mi grating" out of plat tic liq uor bottles 'or flash:, into alcohol ar.d cut of the plas tic containers in v.-hi~h fooJ product:-, such as some coalitr.*: oils, have been cold. Standards soon to he pub lish' in the Federal Krgi:- ter, he mid, will ~ " "-a manufacturer.-. u ]'* ' plat-lie Rod central..r, 1:. of.nararc.v.i:. Icvrl* ,.f the chemical. Hut .h . t he admitted, is t.Y.t m?;y such materials hr a been produced for year:. No feeding studies have been done on animals to demon strate whether tubing vir.-l chloride by mouth as c gcrous as brealhir a it nppcars to be, he c.vpia.. d, but the possibility cur.:; be ignored. AH of this caused subcom mittee Chairman Pen. Joan V. Tunne-y. D-Cr.ih.,com ment: "There has to ho a belter way of te:minuting potentially to IT tcr-oM in food -- live m so. :.s in this care, v. ..m no ter;: h2ve been done in r.nrc on the possible imr-:;ct on public he; !tii." OU 375