Document ppKepNrMQvjMpj6qL1BevZ0jX

HEALTH. EDUCATION. Ainu wlli-mkl S^HEALTH SERVICE WKdisease CONTROL NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH U.S. POST OFFICE AND COURTHOUSE CINCINNATI. OHIO 45202 Lil 27, 1976 Xerox copy: .~P . E . Bureau W.E.Nessell.M.D. J.A.Guidi 7 St.Louis P.S.Park - St.Louis Mr. G. M. Ellsworth Plant Manager G.Roush,M.D. " G.L.Smith - " Monsanto Polymers and Petrochemicals Co. 730 Worcester Street hbl,4/30 Indian Orchard, Massachusetts 01151 Dear Mr. Ellsworth: I am responding to your letter of March 24, 1976, to Dr. John Finklea expressing your concern about certain issues relating to a study of cancer deaths among employees at your plant. As you know, an investigation of deaths among former workers at your plant was conducted by Dr. John Lewis, an employee of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) assigned to the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries. Preliminary data from his investigation was discussed with Monsanto officials on January 9. At this meeting, which you attended, the causes of death for 86 former Monsanto employees were discussed. At that time, pre liminary information indicated that cancer, particularly pancreatic cancer, appeared to be an excessive cause of death. Since then. Dr. Lewis has gathered information on a total of 397 former employees from the plant. Review of this information indicated that cancer, and particularly pancreatic cancer, still appears to be an excessive cause of death. As a result, NIOSH has determined that a more systematic study of deaths is needed to clarify the extent of cancer among the plant's employees. At this point, we cannot say whether a health hazard exists at your plant. 'Tkat-de'LeimlhdLluu-Biust -awai-L an iwlunih, comprehensive xnvestirr*i-TnnnlJ health effects as theu relate to specific exposuresl fie would not be prepared to launch such an extensive study until all available death, certificates have been collected and the results evaluated. I am enclosing copies of letters which Dr. Lewis has prepared summarizing the information we have available on causes of death, among Monsanto employees. The data shown in the letter to Dr. Decoufle are essentially RSV0026951 Mr. G. M. Ellsworth - Page 2 an expanded version of the material discussed at the January 9 meeting and represent the efforts of Dr. Lewis in pursuing his earlier work. It is evident that the newspaper articles referred to this larger set of deaths in their stories. I trust we can work cooperatively to complete the study so that we can determine whether or not there is, indeed, a significant increase in cancer deaths among the employees from your plant. We will keep you and other concerned parties informed of further developments. Sincerely yours. Enclosures CC: Dr. John Finklea Dr. Pierre Decoufle Dr. John Lewis Bobby F. Craft, Ph.D. Director, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies RSV0026952 f To: From: iubject: Date: John F. Finklea, M.D., Director, N.I.O.S.H. Mvj? John N. Lewis, M.D., N.I.O.S.H. physician assigned to the Division of Occupational Hygiene, DepartmentJ of Labor and Industries, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Monsanto Polymers and Petrochemicals Company, Indian Orchard, Mass. September 9, 1975 Since July of this year, this office has been informed of eighty-six deaths among past vrorkers at Monsanto, Indian Orchard. This information was provided by K.O.S.H.A., Committee for Occupational Safety and Health Action, a group of vrorkers formed at the time of the vinyl chloride alert to coordinate information on work-related health problems. This group has no official connection with the union. The data were obtained from active and retired Monsanto . Workers who recalled fellow vrorkers in the vinyl chloride and TVC operations who had died of any cause. Eighty-six of these deaths were confirmed by finding a Massachusetts death certificate, and the causes of death were tabulated. These diagnoses are shown in the table using the I.C.D. code numbers (eight revision). "Vinyl Chloride" workers were said to have worked in buildings 84, 88, or 92 in which vinyl chloride monomer vas used. "P.V.C,. fabrication" workers were said to have worked in building 8? in which V.C,M. was not used. "Maintenance" vrorkers were said to have worked in any of the above buildings. Among workers said to have worked in P.V.C. fabrication . %(building 85), 27 5 of the deaths, 14 of 51,. were from cancer. This compares to 16.5 of deaths caused by cancer nationally. Furthermore, 4 of these 14 cancers were pancreatic. Cancer of the pancreas accounts for only 5*5 of cancer deaths nationally. Officers of Monsanto, Indian Orchard have been informed of this apparent excess of cancer deaths, and they have expressed doubt about the reported employment history of some of the de ceased vrorkers. They have been asked to permit review by this office of the complete employment records for the P.V.C. fabri cation area. Employment records of the deceased workers have also been requested. We propose to Investigate the mortality experience ppong these workers by means of a cohort study. JNL/mc cc: Paul Alvarado, N.ID.S.H. Paul E. Bureau, Monsanto k'.O.S.II.A. Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, Local 288 RSV0026953 CAUSE OF DEATH OF 56 f-*OMSANTO CHEMICAL WORKERS Cl.C.D. Eighth Revision) Cause of Death Vinyl P.V.C. Hain- Chloride Fabrication tonnnee Total Infectious diseases 000 - 136 0 I 0I Cancer: Esophaaus Colon 3ile system Pancreas Lunn Cone and connective Prostate Lymph and blood 150 153 156 157 162 170 - 174 105 9AA ,, 9AO M. J 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 4 3 2 1 1 V 1 0 0 0 1 r o 1 2 2 1 4 6 3' ! 2 f Vxoma Diatetes Dementia Polyneuritis 215 250 290 354 Rheumatic heart disease Ischemic heart disease Cerebrovascu1ar disease Aortic aneurysm 394 410 - 4|4 430 - 435 4d| Pneumonia 436 Emphysema 492 Intestinal and peritoneal dis. 560 - 569 Liver necrosis and cirrhosis 570 - 571 Nephritis 5S2 - 583 Auto, accidents 300, 302, 864 Chemical toxins 963, 930, 956 Drownino 994 0 .1 01 01 10 0l 7 2C 27 00 1 0 1 .2 02 1I 20 03 7n 10 01 f) I 01 6 1 Al n 33 15 11 C1 03 02 2A 02 03 0A 01 Total 51 13 36 RSV0026954 NICHOLAS ROUSSOS COMMISSIONER February 3, 1976 IN YOUR REPLY REFER TO FILE 39 / / ,f t rct <%,**, 02//6 Pierre Decouflc, Sc.D, Office of Occupational Health Surveillance and Biometrics N.I.OeSoH* Rockville, Maryland 20852 Dear Pierre:-- Here is a summary of my crude analysis of the death certificate data forwarded to me by K.O.SoH.A. I have double-checked the data and done additional search of death certificates, and X can confirm that they r?Pfesent a complete .list of deaths in Springfield and Ludloxv, Massachusetts, from 1960-1975, for which Monsanto is named as employer* The eighty-six death certificates for the VC-PVC areas are included, even though some of them did not come from the Springfield-Ludlow source. The deaths of 397 Monsanto employes are compared to the U. S. deaths of white males in 1972. This is a crude comparison because (1) a few of the 397 were black or female and (2) there is no correction for age or for year of death. The I.C.D. 8th revision code numbers are used. CAUSE OF DEATH OBSERVED DEATHS 140-209 410--413 ItSenary E800-E999 AcctdJt , 28 150 Cfaancerr jHeflttgirS 5 151 CCCaaa**K*t**** ,t $$ iie*#***>***e, /hh 3 153,154 /Aff/**-WeA*i2 155 ftV*r 3 EXPECTED DEATHS 66.5 148.8 38*1 1.5 3.3 8.7 , 0.5 0.6 3.8 18.4 208 1.8 10.7 7.1 RSV0026955 Pierre Dccouflc, Sc*D 2- February 3, 1976 Hopefully, the company record will be helpful in producing many more deaths of employes who did not die in these towns or who did not have Monsanto specifically mentioned on the certificate* Sincerelyj ''v> t) ri-H/V'V V John N* Lewis Occupational Hygiene Physician JNL s RSV0026956