Document nkKJZ9kpBxODZdz9REKkJBz02

jBUjgKMttNBDlOllE f '. j. -> :Tr: -"irioil nii.rt/iiuU Homfy*^"fn^ioW^>c^&hhrfet*&Ti ptrt?R3he<f"P toratgMrt#* j^yfeafr damage incurred by workers in the eleven PVC plants in the Federal Republic. )S(D jjw to lelqa'ncbiJziltjZ >huG industrial death toll They are to be found in-a paper pro1 duced -by the North Rhme-Westphalia ^ ofpvc Health Ministry entitled Diseases Caused by Vinylchloride. Troisdorf, the industrial inspection board ' It is a special item in the 1974 annual . doctor stated "The patient had never been 'report by the State-run industrial inspec ill before. It was only in 1968 that he began tion board and includes a special investiga to feel a pain in his chest Within a few tion into the disastrous effects of PVC. months. Theodor L. was past all hope of gases 'in-view of-diseases contracted by ^ v iecbvet)LThe poison bad raged in his body workers who have since died. > ' foyfartoo long, his liverhad been eaten up At least 50 people involved in PVC pro- arid cancerous tumours had been formed" duction have died from cancer caused by - poison. ' ^ V: In all 225 deaths were investigated. Amongst this number were eleven stii- ,-ides. In some cases it is almost certain that the workers killed themselves because, they could not stand the long drawn out j suffering involved. . . . "Apart from vomiting large amounts of blood the patient's subjective condition waiuelatively good In the end it was possibleW.feel tumours the size ofa fust imder thie ^abdominal wall which was swollen witi.excess liquid caused"by.oedentaxlle died'oft"^5 January l9691fiom Beajt fail- These 225 cases cover all deaths during a ' certain period, however, and ; naturally 'Theodor L received treatment from Ore some who died in other ways as well. , liver specialist. Professor GQtgemann from The aim of the investigation was to - Bonn; but even this couftftrof save him.' establish the proportion of <teaths caused Death occurred just as quickly in the case by PVC to those caused byotherfactors. It of Alfred U, foreman in a factory in the was only a few years ago that doctors dis south of the Federal Republic. He too was covered this terrible new occupational ill. bom in 1930. To quote the report by the ness and the dangers involved ih the pro Freiburg industrial inspection board doc duction of PVC which is the most popular tor, "In March the patient suddenly began plastic in use nowadays. - to feel pains in the upper stomach. His It is stated in the report ttiat the poison liver which had previously been a normal contained in the gases given off by PVC size became very enlarged. Above the liver can give rise to cancer. a systolic movement could be discerned. In his report on the patient Theodor L, At this stage the patient was transferred to bom in 1930 and employed from 1956 to a hospital in Lorcach where a tumour of J958 at the PVC plant, Dynamit Nobel the liver was diagnosed. Despite every '"VllonifiJ f'jrav.V" - 'ion^rYfi?n ifie^t*enf^Tiid on 10 October toTiW^nuc^tt The Munich' m'^ustnaffnspec^on board doctor made the following report on Johannes S4 of the same age who was a boiler cleaner in a PVC factory in the south of the country; "April 1974 _ first signs of illness provoked by PVC. Later a certain weakness in the arms. Heavy bleed ing of the stomach. Diagnosis: malignant tumour in the liver. Extensive bleeding in the tumour. Blockage of the spleen." Johannes S. died at the end of November 1974. Other" reports also show the cause of death to be cancer of the liver as a result of PVC poisoning. Evidence of other malig nant tumours was also discovered in peo ple with PVC illnesses or those who had died, it is an insidious poisonous gas' which also decomposes and alters the bone structure. Despite increased control over regula tions concerning the protection of those who work in this industry experts still do not agree on the maximum concentration of the gas which is permissible in areas where men are at work. The former proportion of S00 parts of PVC gas to one million parts air has now been reduced to a maximum of SO parts per million. In the United States PVC workers are required to wear gas masks when the 25 per million level is reached. American authorities have more or less established the danger level at zero, yet the experts doubt whether the possibility of small amounts of the gas escaping can be entirely eliminated. Hans Wiillenweber (MQnchner Merkur, 12 June 197$) RSV 0006791