Document jg0pzKgZwmj6e98oNKD7wKa1O

It* id $135 mDllon \ speclaT'suppn* mental appropriations bill "This particular virus bar* two--a vi r erier Goodrwich to Probe Possible Link 4'' tad XD- ter urt Between Rubber-Making, Leukemia tain be- T By Das Morgan plant NIOSH officials in KdS ^ Washinpoo rc*t atilt Writer Cincinnati said that, given* ram The B-F. Goodrich Co. an that total number of em ling nounced .yesteijlay_.that it - ployees, the .number of leu inti- -would- investigate ajppwiWe;' kemia cases turned up was ,,`Iiik* between a?ath&c'ruj~ '-^potentially significant.-'" - type of the diesease, was higher than for other types. ' mi Lymphatic leukemia is a by cancer of white blood cells he; that chiefly occurs late in' roz Efe, after the age of 50. s pr< ber manufacturing and leu- But they added that more , kemla after finding that five information was needed | employees of its Texas plant about job turnover and gen- I J PM had contracted the disease eral health of present and ! since I960. former employees to deters I At the same time, doctors | at the-National Institute for mine if the findings were : "just the tip of an iceberg."' \ Occupational Safety and The discovery of the leu* | ,-jj Health said, that ptfvftte r fcemia cases came as a result j 'kaeardh already was under of an exhaustive Siud? "`of ') S^.^Lgay ltt.daUemine the-effect. employed healtiuracords- at* J S-- in .-** Tinjm^ttSftaarasT manufacturer? bs^GopflllS^ -- -..* *****" and other companies was ^'Drs. Joseph Wagner and linked to a rare liver cancer. Robert Kraft of NIOSH*s Dl-. Vinyl chloride Is not in vision of Surveillance in volved in Goodrich's Texas Cincinnati said in a tele^ operations. phone interview that further NIOSH officials said that study was "very much, ib or- _Lthe industry and the Oil, der" and deserved Chemical and Atomic Work `-`immediate attention" after ers Union were sponsoring - the Goodrich findings. research on the health im They said that' the exist pact pf sjyrenes by Harvard ence of a cobber; hazard in and JJojA Carolina Univer the auIiibiiliOfl-dollar syn-" sities.- ' thetic rubber industry" Employees and unions at would have bToaV Economic the Texas plant were in Impact. formed yesterday of the leu The leukemia cases kemia findings, and KIOSK tbraed up at the Goodrich also was informed. Port Necbes plant, which Dr. Anthony J. McMich- makes synthetic rubber for ael, of the Department of tires and conveyor belts in a Epidemiology at the Univer process involving the chemi- sity of North Carolina in . cal substances styrene and Chapel Hill, said yesterday* butadiene. that there had been a "fairly - Dr. M. N. Johnson, the company's director of envi ronmental health, said that a 59-year-old man employed it the plant died in Febru ary and another worker who became ill'with leukemia re cently is receiving treat ment consistent excess of leuke mia deaths" at synthetic rubber.company plants stud ied during the research pro ject * - He said that the number . of deaths had varied, but that the death rate for lymp hatic leukemia, a particular Two retired employees. 76 - < and 64. died of the disease mg so lsy Be nd int at\n:ul since 1971, and a.man who had left the plant for an other job died in 1968. Cleveland Lane, manager of public affairs communica tions, said that the company planned to launch a "complete epidemiological study" to determine if there was a link and what sub stances were responsible. There are 453 production workers at the Port Neches Correction A Washington Post article Q^ttashingtai$)ost twarjaShuSkmw cten wtiaa* MW MumMr: (Aim CM Si) 223-6000---News & Business 223*4100---Circulation Service 223-6200--Classified Adv. Onset Urns: 223-7300--District News Desk 223-7313--Md/Vs News Desk 223*7562--<Ombudsman 223*6060--Sports Scorns Viw AnaelatM > n. <|y*lvWv i* v* tw rMuaucatien * all nawt dtsMtcfwt crafttM <o it op snap** -~~ RSV 0006529