Document mmKEmVR40RQ4n46z7d2XLO6g0

Interoffice Communication To John Friend - Oklahoma City From David A. Kuhn - Houston Date September 11, 1978 Subject Toxicity of PVC Toxicity of PVC has not been exhaustively studied, though there have been reports in the literature of lung changes in PVC workers. In addition, there have been some studies of the effect of PVC dust on laboratory animals. All of these reports originated outside the United States. Recently,.the PVC dust problem has gained momentum in the United Kingdom, with the news that, a French worker has lung fibrosis alleged to be connected with his job of regu larly cleaning out trade dryers for emulsion resin, said to be very dusty. Two special factors may bear on this report. First, the particle size of emulsion resin is much finer than suspension, so the respirable portion of emulsion resin should be much larger. Second, studies with animals have shown that it is the emulsifier or surfactant that are biologically active, not the resin itself. Consequently, it is generally believed that suspension resin dust will be more inert than the emul sion grade and should there be any biological activity from the adsorbed surfactant, it will be less pronounced in suspend sion resin. My recommendation continues to be to maintain the workplace PVC dust levels below those required by OSHA for nuisance dust. cc: R. E. Lehmkuhl - Houston J. H. McCulley - Ponca City C. L. .Miller - Aberdeen id VAB.0001040852