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* Applied Chemistry, Creative Solutions March 26, 1999 Solutia Inc. 10300 Olive Boulevard P.O. Box 66760 St. Louis, Missouri 63166-6760 Tel 314-674-1000 Dear Solutia Employee or Former Monsanto Employee: A study entitled "Epidemiological study of men employed in the vinyl chloride industry between 1942 and 1972," sponsored by the Chemical Manufacturers Association has recently been completed.. This study reports on 10,109 workers from 37 plants throughout the United States and Canada who may have been exposed to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and/or polymerized vinyl chloride (PVC) for one or more years between 1942 and 1972. This is the largest group of vinyl chloride workers ever studied and updates an earlier study. This study includes 226 workers from Solutia's Indian Orchard Plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, and 202 workers from a former Monsanto plant in Texas City, Texas. This study uses work history and death certificates to determine the rates of death among workers. This letter is being sent to employees and retirees who were included in the study at Indian Orchard and Texas City. The study finds no increased rates of lung cancer, or cancers of lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue reported in other vinyl chloride studies. Contrary to a previous report, there was no elevated rate of emphysema; the earlier study's indication of elevated rates of emphysema appears to be a result of incorrectly classified cases. As with previous studies of vinyl chloride workers, elevated rates of liver cancer, especially angiosarcoma, were reported. In this study high rates of soft tissue sarcoma and cancer of the central nervous system including the brain were also reported. Two angiosarcoma deaths occurred among the Texas City workers included in the latest study. As noted above, angiosarcoma has been associated with vinyl chloride exposure in this and other studies. Other studies of Monsanto/Solutia employees and retirees at the Indian Orchard and Texas City plants have not shown abnormal rates of any disease. No deaths from liver cancer or soft tissue sarcoma (including angiosarcoma) occurred among the Indian Orchard workers included in this study. One Indian Orchard worker in this study did die of RSV0023886 Page 2 March 26, 1999 a cancer of central nervous system, but this could be expected given the number of workers included. Monsanto ended production of vinyl chloride at Texas City in 1974 and at Indian Orchard in 1975. The authors of this latest study conclude that the elevated rates of liver and biliary tumors, brain cancer, and soft tissue sarcoma may have been the result of exposure to vinyl chloride. Soft tissue sarcoma is a difficult disease to study. The disease is very rare making it difficult to compile valid statistical information. Historically, soft tissue sarcoma is often reported inaccurately and some types were not identified until the very end of the study period. Four of the 12 cases of soft tissue sarcoma reported in this study were actually angiosarcoma, indicating they were misclassified. We will continue to monitor the health of our employees and report findings to you. You may wish to share this information with your personal physician. Ifyou or your doctor have questions, please call me at 314-674-7862. Sincerely, David C. Shepperly M.Df Corporate Medical Director RSV0023887