Document rBXdkra8VpYX7416NO5KYbVj0

The Chemical World This W k EVIDENCE MOUNTS LINKING So far three major resin produc ers--Dow Chemical. Monsanto, and Union Carbide--have spelled VINYL CHLORIDE AND CANCER out large and wide-ranging price in creases for resins following the CLC action. These boosts come after a The growing suspicion that expo another four liver disease cases at year in which listed chemical prices sure to vinyl chloride has led to the the plant under investigation, in have moved up relatively modestly. deaths of polyvinyl chloride workers volved persons who cleaned poly According to Labor Department from a most rare form of liver can merization reactors after this step data, the price index for plastics cer has apparently been reinforced. in the suspension process for PVC. resins and materials moved up A research study in which rats ex BFG has used a less hazardous 4.1% between December 1972 and posed to high levels (apparently cleaning process for the past five December 1973. For chemicals and 30.000 p.p.m.) of vinyl chloride years, however. allied products the gain was 4.9%. vapor also develop angiosarcoma of Significantly, the latency period Of course, the "gray market" price the liver was slated to be disclosed for most cancers to develop nearly for resins and many other chemical publicly in the U.S. by Prof. Cesare products has been spiraling upward Maltoni of the University of Bo for some months. logna, Italy, just after press time. Among the recent price moves The study has been supported by a Monsanto has posted increases of 5 consortium of European firms, in cents a pound on bulk shipments of cluding Imperial Chemical Indus polystyrene resins, and increases of tries (C&EN, Feb. 11, page 8). 4 cents a pound on bulk acryloni- What's more, the view that the trile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and deaths are an isolated event limited styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) resins. to just one of B. F. Goodrich's U.S. New price for general-purpose poly plants and not proved to be occu styrene is 19 cents a pound. Truck- pationally linked is fast disappear load quantities of ABS resins now ing. Four angiosarcoma deaths now range from 32 to 45 cents a pound, have been confirmed at the BFG and SAN in truckload bags is plant instead of the three revealed 27 cents a pound. Monsanto says earlier (C&EN, Jan. 28, page 6). that "these increases are consistent Another diagnosed case of angiosar coma occurred in an ICI employee Key: not explained by chance with the Cost of Living Council ac tion of Jan. 30" and reflect in who worked in a U.K. vinyl chlo matches the great growth in the creased cost of raw materials, ener ride operation for 20 years, sources U.S. PVC industry that has taken gy, and distribution, among other in the U.K. and U.S. say. place over the past two decades or factors. The clustering of the four BFG so. NIOSH estimates there are 5000 Dow, citing reasons much the cases "cannot be explained by workers at risk in U.S. PVC plants same as Monsanto's, has raised the chance alone," Dr. Marcus M. Key, and 1500 at vinyl chloride plants. price of its general-purpose polysty director of the National Institute NIOSH will contract out an epi rene from 17 to 26 cents a pound. for Occupational Safety and demiology study that will be inde ABS and SAN now go for 32 Health, told those at a Cleveland pendent of the study on workers al cents a pound, up from 23.5 and briefing on the cancer hazard ear ready under way at member firms 24 cents a pound. Price of high- lier last week. of the Manufacturing Chemists As density injection- and blow-mold What action the U.S. takes, if sociation. MCA's results will not be ing polyethylene was increased any, beyond interim procedures ready for "at least two to three from 14.5 to 18.5 cents a pound. NIOSH has recommended hinges months," a spokesman says. Ear Dow's low-density film-grade poly upon the outcome of a fact-finding lier, MCA halted circulation of its ethylene is now 17 cents a pound, hearing at the Labor Department 1972 safety data sheet on vinyl up from 13 cents. The company on Feb. 15. Prof. Maltoni, BFG, chloride, which stated that human says that these new prices still do Dow Chemical, organized labor, carcinogenicity had not been ob not match those of the world mar and others were scheduled to testi served. ket but should help it compete on fyAFL-CIO was to present a uni fied, organized labor position urg Plastic prices the world market for petrochemical feedstocks. Carbide's new prices for high- ing the department to promulgate get big boostsan emergency temporary standard, density injection- and blow-mold ing polyethylene are the same as a procedure used earlier for 14 Dows, but its low-density film other carcinogens. Dr. V. K. Rowe, As U.S. chemical makers sort out grade is a bit higher at 1,8.5 cents a Dow's top toxicologist, was expect the fine points of the recent Cost of pound. SAN is now 28 cents a ed to oppose this procedure, asking Living Council action relaxing pound, up from 22 cents, while instead for regular rule-making for Phase IV price controls on petro high-impact polystyrene increased a permanent standard. He suggests chemicals, plastics resins, and syn from 16.5 cents a pound to 21.5 the deaths result from gross expo thetic fibers (C&EN, Feb. 4, page cents a pound. Carbide raised the sure 10 to 30 years in the past. 4), price hikes are being announced tab on its polyvinyl chloride resin All four BFG deaths, as well as with resin makers leading the way. suspensions by 5 cents bringing the 6 C&EN Feb. 18, 1974 OCC 6499 Letters Chasing rainbows? SIR Once more we are regaled by the re port of a committee composed--as usual! --"of leading educators. ' that of the Panel on Alternate Approaches to Graduate Edu cation (C&EN, Dec. 24. 1973, page 35). I feel at a great disadvantage in having only the C&EN report in front of me but the ne cessity of making at least some reply be fore. hopefully, this report follows others into oblivion, mandates a quick (and mer cifully brief) comment. Once more the universities are being told that they must buckle on their soup kitchen aprons and save society! Lets make sure that we train these students in all those things which this panel thinks so ciety wants and yet we of the universities are so ill qualified to do! The list of shibbo leths is breath-taking: "enhance prepara tion for problem solving." "increase the breadth of students' outlooks." "make them aware ... of industry' (Do I get cu cumbers from sunshine or sunshine from cucumbers' I always forget!)--away with discipline-oriented attitudes (!)--"reorient themselves to fulfill a pivotal role in socie tal planning" (I enjoyed that one!), "too many overtrained students" (whatever that means!), "each major discipline . . . re-ex amine its . . . aims and social uses," "pref erential treatment to groups hitherto dis criminated (unfairly?) against (Dr. Page's pronouncements on that question in col umn 3 of page 36 were sophistry of a high order). Need I continue' One might seriously ask many questions but surely the first one is whether, perhaps, we have not already chased too many rain bows and whether each of us individually and departmental^ should not simply ask ourselves whether we have not already strayed too far from our field of compe tence and expertise, that of educating stu dents to think in chemical terms. The hilarity engendered by the metaphor (?) at the end of the article prompted me to recall that, no doubt apocryphal, story about the great leader (or was it a commit tee') who. having exhorted his followers on to greater things, replied to the an guished question of "but what should we do" with the ringing phrase "EVEN MORE!" Thomas M. Dunn Professor of Chemistry. University ot Mich igan. Ann Arbor. Mich. More on petrochemicals SIR: The Jan. 7 issue of C&EN (page 5) quotes the Shah of Iran as saying. "You cannot get petrochemical products from atomic energy." Most of your readers will realize that statement is not quite correct. Mineral oil, the Shah's oil, is basically a grand mixture of hydrocarbons. Given lime stone as a source of carbon, i.e. C02. water as a source of hydrogen via electrol ysis. heat and electrical energy from nu clear power plants and some selected cat alysts. the chemical industry can produce hydrocarbons as desired. Coal may now be a cheaper source of carbon than limestone and can yield either carbon monoxide or dioxide, or carbon monoxide and hydrogen with addition of water, without nuclear en ergy My point is that production of petro chemicals is possible without natural oil or gas. and even without coal given nuclear energy The process is just one of energy conversion The cost of hydrocarbons via this route sets an upper limit, in the long run, on the price of oil. That upper limit is probably not as much above the present price for oil as many would imagine. Much further along the road, an upper limit on the price of uranium is in turn set by the cost of recovery from the Gulf Stream for example, and doesn t frighten me at all I do agree with the Shah in the sense that an overall systems approach to oil consumption should be taken, and the best use be made of this nonrenewable re source. However, i remember two lines from my first chemistry textbook, authored by Prof. Cornish, "You can make anything from a salve to a star, if you only know how from black coal tar." The textbook was written before Chadwick proposed the existence of the neutron, and before oil was a commodity in the Middle East. Deep River. Ont. W. H. Stevens Use your right to vote SIR: I am in accord with your editorial concern about the lack of votes sent in by ACS members in various elections and other matters where voting of the member ship is concerned. How about increasing the membership charges for those members who can t muster enough energy to vote' As an al ternate. give reduced rates to those who are sufficiently interested in the Society to utilize their voting rights. That should gath er a few more votes. R. W. Curtis Commercial Development Dept.. Cincinnati Milacron. Cincinnati. Ohio No asbestos here SIR: I would like to point out that on page 19 of your Dec. 10. 1973. issue of C&EN, under the article "Asbestos health question perplexes experts," you have published a picture of a cement worker shaking out a bag of Utility Cement, which happens to be an insulating cement manufactured by C-E Refractories. We have not used asbestos in this product since early 1972, and we cer tainly don't appreciate the implication that this product is one that is dangerous to workers. In the future. I would suggest that before using proprietary items in your articles you check with the manufacturer as to contents of materials, particularly in such sensitive areas as asbestos. R. T, Hegeman President. C-E Refractories, Valley Forge. Pa. Yes, Dominique, there are ... SIR: Yes. Dominique, in spite of all rumors to the contrary, chemists are people (C&EN. Feb. 4, page 3). Some of us love the beauty of sun. stars and wind: some of us even write poems about sunsets. A long time ago it was shown that there is a positive correlation between all human excellencies if you are willing to accept large feet as an excellency. So chemists, who are well above average in intelligence, are also musical, good. kind, and great people in general--with a few exceptions. Summit. N.J. H. B. Hass An A inexpensive* dithiol yp\ EVANSt GLYCOL dimer! CAPTOACETATE HS-(CK2C0,CH2)-SH Cross-Linking agent and specialty monomer by addition across unsaturation -- by reaction with aldehyde, ketone and acid chloride groups. I-f- HS(CHj COiCHihSM iHC -- S -- (CH, COi CH,), -- S -- H ftc iw II HC-- C--Cl CI-C-CH+H$(CH,CO,CH,)i$H II 0I 1 II f II I HC~C~S--(CHjCOi CH,),--S--C-CH II 0 nX-C-X+sHS-M-SH XI* X I I I -- S-M-S-C -S-M-S-C --S--M--S-- C yX X DATA SHEETS AND SAMPLES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST ch erne tics. irvc. 90 Tokeneke Road Darien, Connecticut 06820 Phone: 203-655-87'* Cable: EVANSCHE TWX: 710-457-33 QCC 6500 Feb. 18. 1974 C&EN 4