Document wD0K980zjD609ZpyzXNNj8eNd

ig ,, JJIftVJUI. UTA^r .tri^ jf ot Chemical Wfeek top ofthenews Needed in cancer controversy: facts SOCMA meeting agrees that all the facts must be presented to those making ultimate benefit-risk decisions and that absolute safety is unlikely to be ever achieved "There is too much confusion now. The public has to be told what causes cancer so they won't be misled by such hogwash as charges that Mississippi River water can ' cause cancer because it has three parts per billion of chloroform." That is the task the chemical industry faces, says John Weis burger, research vice-president of the : Naylor Dana Institute. Weisburger and other cancer experts and toxicologists had much to say at a . seminar on chemicals and cancer, spon sored by the Synthetic Organic Chemicals i Manufacturers Assn, in Atlanta last week. And they generally agreed that the emo. tional issue of cancer and chemicals over1 flows with fact and fiction and that the .chemical industry has a long, hard road `to travel to get all the facts before those .who must make the ultimate benefit-risk decisions. There also was general acceptance of the often stated estimate that links up to 90% of cancels with environmental fac tors. The cancer experts and toxicologists put exposure to manufactured chemicals at the bottom of the list of environmental causes--behind life style factors, such as diet and smoking, and a category classi fied as "virus causes." But the picture of ten appears to have been distorted by hysteria and statistical projections of lim ited data that don't stand up to scientific scrutiny. The big question that was asked: When' the chemical industry presents its data is it merely talking to it self? Robert C. Barnard of Cleary Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, counsel to SOCMA, said the industry must realize that it faces an increasing responsibility to ensure that the administrative procedure of regu lation "makes sense, is capable of dealing with the facts and arrives at a sensible ap praisal. And that means having the will ingness to get in and fight on the legisla tive front, the administrative front and, if necessary, the courts." Controlling Diet: Naylor Dana's Weis burger said, "Diet controls will do more to control causes of cancer in the U.S. than any banning of chemicals." He noted, for example, that colon cancer is linked to fat intake. The colon-cancer rate is high in the U.S., where 45% of dietary calories are in the form of fat, and low in Japan, where only 15% of calories come from fats. He also pointed out that stomach can cer has decreased since 1930, while lung cancer has risen sharply--now comprises one-fourth of the 360,000 yearly cancer deaths in the U.S. Weisburger "guesses" that of the 600,000 yearly cancer incidents, 5,000 could be allocated to occupational haz ards, 60,000 to unknown or viral causes and the remainder to life-style factors. But he told the audience that "there is no excuse for occupational cancer in 1976." ANIMAL TESTING is the only means now available for screening possible carcinogens. Chemical Cause; The action of chem ical carcinogens is based on an electrophillic reaction in which the positively charged molecule of the compound at taches to the negative charge on the desoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule of the tissue. This leads to a breakdown of the DNA and possible uncontrolled re action. So-called "ultimate carcinogens" don't need metabolic reactions before attacking DNA, But they can be stopped short of this destructive path by entrapment with nucleophillic agents (charged compounds that tie up the carcinogen's positive charge). Chemical carcinogens, according to Weisburger, require metabolic activa tion before they can attack the DNA. But UCC 093750 March 17, 1976 CHEMICAL WEEK 13 top ofthenews the reaction can be modified by species strain, age, sex and diet of the host. "If there is any hazard from a chemical car cinogen, an older person should be em ployed because the metabolism is slower and there is better detoxification, Weis- burger says. On the other hand, the body's immune system diminishes with age, leading to higher cancer incidence in older people, says John J. Costanzi, director of the can cer center at the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston). "We're all developing cancers con stantly, but the body's T-cell system is constantly killing them," Costanzi says. Cancer patients have depressed immune systems and a lower ability to kill cancer ous cells. The white blood cells (lym phocytes) in the T-cell system are in fluenced by hormones in the thymus gland. Some day research may make it possible to use the E-rosette test of the immune system to determine why a par ticular host is a victim of cancer, Costanzi adds. Test Data: At present epidemiological data and large-scale animal testing must be used to indicate a material's possible carcinogenicity. Researchers at the Uni versity of California have found a corre lation of up to 90% between mutagenic testing of bacteria and known carcino gens. Weisburger sees the technique as a possible prescreening method, but says, "Not all carcinogens are mutagenic." Alexander Munn, industrial medical officer for IC1, calls the technique "so ar tificial in so many ways its only purpose is in seeing if more testing is needed." And in animal testing, extremely high exposures often are necessary to obtain quick results; `Translation of the data to predict the hazard of low-level exposure is presumptuous guesswork at best," says. Perry J. Gehring, director of Dow's toxi cology research laboratory. Experimentation at Dow has shown that when the body's elimination systems for some carcinogens become overloaded (e.g., with high doses), the carcinogens can't be eliminated. In the case of vinyl chloride monomer, the, primary (respi ratory) elimination system is over whelmed as the expsoure concentration is increased. At concentrations exceeding 220 ppm., the secondary (digestive) elimi nation system becomes the predominant path. Dealing with Definitions: Meanwhile, government agencies seem to be fum bling for cancer definitions. The Environ mental Protection Agency developed nine principles that became 17 for car- DOW'S GEHRING: `Predicting hazard of lowlevel exposure is presumptuous guesswork.' cinogen determination. They have been used in pesticides hearings to translate test data into evidence of carcinogenicity. But EPA hasn't felt too secure in using the principles and the National Cancer Advisory Board is developing a new set. At the SOCMA seminar Raymond Harbison, assistant professor of pharma cology and biochemistry .at Vanderbilt Medical Center, read a letter of Jan. 20 from the Society of Toxicology to EPA that "put the agency on notice for what we consider to be its irresponsible acts in publishing the principles of carcinogenic ity." Harbison pointed out that neither ani mal research nor epidemiology have been particularly useful in discovering cancer hazards to humans, and he asserted that it is impossible "to promulgate hard and fast rules for identifying chemicals as car cinogens at this time." And he warned that the chemical in dustry must not be misled into over simplifying the causes of cancers or the chemical mechanisms that induce cancer. "There are no quick and easy screening tests at this time." he said. And there probably will always be some risk. As ICI's Munn puts it: "Abso lute safety is unlikely to ever be achieved. Safe is not synonymous with zero risk. The real issue iss Does the use of the compound constitute a carcinogenic risk? It is not whether the compound is car cinogenic." And the big question is whether fuller disclosures and additional data by the chemical industry can bring this point home to those who must make the deci sions. Spending going up The U.S. chemical industry is planning a 6.7% spending hike for domestic plants and equipment in 1976. says the Com merce Dept. Latest estimates of business spending were gathered by Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis. The de partment's data are not adjusted for cost changes. On a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis, Commerce pegs chemical industry estimated spending at $6.31 billion in first-quarter 1976, $6.56 billion in the sec ond quarter and $6.87 billion in the sec ond half. These figures compare with annual rate spending in 1975 of $6.29 billion in the first quarter, $6.46 billion in the second, $6.40 billion in the third and $5.89 billion in the fourth. Actual expenditures by chemical firms: $1.42 billion during the first quarter, $1.66 billion in the second and $3.59 bil lion in the second half. Last year the in dustry spent $1.42 billion in the first quar ter, $1.63 billion in the second, $1.52 billion in the third and $1.68 billion in the fourth. Total 1976 estimated spending of $6.67 billion compares with actual payouts of $6.25 billion in 1975, $5.69 bil lion in 1974, Projected 1976 spending for all U.S. in dustries is $120.1 billion, a 6.5% boost over the previous year. Spending in 1975 of $112.8 billion was, in turn, 0.3% above 1974 outlays. Commerce notes, however, that its data do not take into account price changes. It says that respondents to a survey con ducted near the end of 1975 indicated that capital goods prices rose 12% in 1975 and are expected to go up 10% this year. That means that despite the increases in outlays, investment in real terms may have declined more than 10% last year and may drop 3% this year. Pipeline delay likely Canadian National Energy Board hearings on construction of a pipeline to cany natural gas from Alaska's North Slope may be in for some delay following a Supreme Court ruling that disqualified Chairman Marshall Crowe. The hearings began last October and were adjourned early in February for the court hearings. In a five-to-three decision the court agreed with three public interest groups that there is danger Crowe might be biased in the matter because he had once been a member of the board of Ca nadian Arctic Gas (CAG), one of the 14 CHEMICAL WEEK MARCH 17, 1976 UCC 093751 -rate top ofthe news companies seeking lo build the pipeline. fined and demonstrated before it defi Chlatafprm.bandue..One of the groups that challenged nitely could be considered competitive Crowe, Committee for Justice and Lib with alternative existing methods of ura The Food and Drug Administration erty Foundation, is now asking that the nium enrichment." will ban all use of chloroform in medi hearings begin again with a new panel. On a related topic, Exxon Nuclear says cine and toothpaste this week, according Before being named NEB chairman in it is not yet ready to announce a possible to a well-informed industry source. The October 1973, Crowe was president of site for a $ 1-billion gas-centrifuge enrich move comes in response to the recent Na government-owned Canada Develop ment plant it proposed last year (CIV, tional Cancer Institute report showing ment Corp,, which he represented on July 30,1975, p. 11). that the substance caused cancer in [pjr? CAG's board. The groups opposing his and to a lawsuit initiated by a Ralph Na chairmanship of the pipeline hearings der group aimed at forcing FDA to ban said he might have already made up his mind on some of the issues. They noted Arco spinoff on the products. The NCI rodent experiments showed a that as the committee chairman Crowe Saskoil, a Saskatchewan government high incidence of liver cancer among would have had to judge some of the de company, has purchased the province's mice fed high doses of chloroform, and a cisions he and other CAG directors made assets of Atlantic Richfield Canada for lower incidence at lower feeding levels. in preparing a pipeline application. about $23 million, subject to a final Kidney tumors were also seen in the test CAG says it still expects- NEB to rule agreement. The arrangement was un animals. by next fall on competing applications. veiled a week after it was disclosed that FDA's cough and cold medicine over- The company has proposed a $ 10-billion negotiations for the sale of all of Arco's the-counter advisory committee has rec ; line from Prudhoe Bay to U.S. and Cana Canadian assets to Petro-Canada. state- ommended that chloroform in such prep dian markets by way of the Mackenzie owned oil company, were under way. arations be reduced drastically, to 0.4%. Delta, and Foothills Pipe Lines wants to The Saskoil deal calls for the transfer That recommendation was based on a re build a $4.6-billion line from the delta, of all of Arco's production, transmission view of NCI data. In addition, the com mainly for Canadian markets. facilities, land holdings and easements in mittee said that chloroform has no value 1 Gulf Canada has already awarded an Saskatchewan, including oil production as an expectorant, only as a flavor agent. engineering and design contract for a of about 2,800 bbls./day, approximately The lawsuit, filed last week in federal plant to gather and process 300 million 400,000 acres and a small amount of gas district court in Washington by Public ,cu.ft./day of gas in the area for delivery production and gathering facilities. Citizen, Inc., sought to force FDA to ban to one of the two proposed pipelines. Arco's proposed'sale to Petro-Canada medicines and toothpaste containing the of 100% of the Canadian i subsidiary's substance. Enrichment by laser common shares included a price tag of In addition, Sidney Wolfe, director of $400 million, now reduced by $23 mil the Health Research Group, wrote a let Ufl- Exxon Nuclear applied to the Nuclear lion. Under terms of the deal, Petro-Can ter last week to Health, Education and Regulatory Commission last week for ada has a 90-day option, which expires Welfare Secretary David Mathews re permission to build and operate an ex June 1. Petro-Canada says it had been questing a ban and recall. Wolfe's group perimental facility to test the feasibility aware of the Saskoil talks, and "actively had petitioned FDA for a ban on uses of of uranium enrichment by laser. If ap encouraged" them. It adds that at no time the substance earlier this year based on proval is given, the company expects to were Arco's Saskatchewan interests the knowledge of the NCI report (CIV, Jan. begin construction in 1977, start up the subject of negotiation with Petro-Canada. 14, p. 19). first phase in 1978-1979. The unit will be An Arco official says the move out of located at Exxon's nuclear installation in Canada is part of an already stated goal Drop in new ideasRichland, Wash. Estimated first-phase of becoming a "self-sufficient operator" costs: $15 million. in the U.S., and he notes that increases in Innovation in the chemical industry The test facility would use a patented Canadian royalties and taxes plus Can has gone downhill since the late 1960s, laser isotope-separation technique devel ada's reduction in allowable exports according to a study sponsored by the oped by Jersey Nuclear-Avco Isotopes-a played a part. Revenues from the deals National Science Foundation and con joint venture owned 80% by Exxon and will go for "U.S. investment opportu ducted by Gellman Research Associates. 20% by an Avco Corp. subsidiary, Avco nities," he says, which could mean in In 1968 the chemical, electrical, mechani Everett Research Laboratory (CW Tech creasing cash resources to finance North cal and instrument industries accounted nology Newsletter, Aug. 14, 1974). The Slope activities.. But the Arco official for 80% of all industrial innovations, NSF plant will be operated on behalf of this notes the company is "looking for op reports. Those sectors account for only t joint firm. portunities in the lower 48." 66% now. Noting that domestic uranium enrich More Shaheen Developments: Also in The innovation rate of the petroleum, ment at present is performed only in Canada last week, the Newfoundland Su rubber, fabricated metals and trans large gaseous-diffusion plants owned and preme Court began bankruptcy hearings portation industries has increased. operated by the government, Exxon involving a Shaheen Natural Resources Although small firms had been consid maintains that the laser technique holds refinery at Come-By-Chance, brought by ered most fertile for novel ideas, Gellman the potential for significantly reducing Ataka & Co.'s subsidiary, Atlantic Trad indicates that the largest companies \ the cost of uranium enrichment. ing, which claims it is owed $21 million (more than 10,000 employees) have in R. L. Diekeman, Exxon Nuclear presi by the refinery's operators. Shaheen law creased their rate of innovation. Small- dent, cautioned, however, that "the ulti yers had obtained a restraining order in company innovation has dropped from mate practical feasibility and economics New York forbidding a bankruptcy ac about 50% to less than 40%, while big of the technique remain to be fully de tion by Atlantic Trading, firms jumped from 35% in 1959 to 45%. March 17, 1976 CHEMICAL WEEK 15 21 . _ UCC 093752 Vi- ilar }ol- ued irm ned lay-' s of J. It tries oay- jp a but op- said aled year paych it I in000ly to d or r as d to for- payvarilated : forosidi- at ah en of 1 imfrom is for most OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM'S BAIRD will avoid petrochemical area's cyclical swings. * Oxy avoids cycles * Occidental Petroleum last week told analysts in Chicago its chemical expansion plans do not include entry into petrochemicals. And Alco Standard (Valley Forge, Pa.) says it expects a 15% sales growth this year in the proprietary fertilizer products of its Synthane Group. Joseph E. Baird, president of Occidental, is "not terribly optimistic" about petrochemicals because it is even more cap ital intensive than the fertilizer business and subject to similar cycles. But he says Oxy will substantially expand its chemleal and coal operations, believes earn ings from Hooker Chemicals should be up moderately in 1976. Oxy's capital spending plans in 1976 will approximate 1975's $496 million, he says, while earnings are projected to drop substantially in first-quarter 1976, from $73.8 million in the year-ago quarter. He sees an over-all gain in performance in 1976. Ray B. Mundt, president of Alco, pro jects a 10% earnings increase this year over 1975's $31-million net income on $939.6 million in sales, He says Synthane Companies, a chemicals rubber and plastics operation, expects sales and earnings hikes of 20% or more for the year to be fueled by gains in areas such as proprietary formulated fertilizer products. This operation also produces pesticides, water-treatment chemicals, and epoxy adhesives. Synthane's revenues in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 1975, were $105 million. Alco also tli-,inbutes containers and paper, 6 U nsurej?iLcy.clamates A special review hy the National Can cer Institute concludes that there is no_ adequate evidence that eyelamates S cancer in rats, Furthermore, an NCI com mittee, in its final report issued last week, could reach no conclusion on the cancercausing potential in humans. The final 200-page report, delivered to Food and Drug Commissioner Alexander Schmidt, corresponds ,, to a preliminary view given earlier this year (CW, Jan. 21. p. IT). The study was undertaken a year ago by NCI at FDA's request. The com mittee did say. however, that its extensive review of eyelamates data had raised a number of concerns, including the higher rates of all types of tumors in eyelamatefed animals. Abbott Laboratories, which has been persistent in its efforts to get FDA to overturn the six-year-old ban, says the NCI review '`should satisfy FDA." The agency, however, was taking a far more sober view. "Care should be taken not to add to speculation that an FDA decision on cyclamate is imminent," it empha sized. FDA will evaluate the report, along with all other data, including the possi bility of eyelamates' relationship to hy pertension and effects on reproductive systems of animals. Cancer-link inquiries An arsenic-based pesticide may have played a role in*four deaths in Wisconsin caused by a rare liver cancer. And a study of cosmetic talc preparations found con centrations of 2-20% of asbestos fibers, also linked to cancer, in nine of 19 prod ucts tested. These findings were disclosed last week by researchers working with Dr. Irving Selikoff at the laboratory of environmen tal sciences at Mount Sinai Hospital (New York). Dr. Henry A. Anderson, who special izes in internal and occupational medi cine, says the Marshfield Clinic (Marshfield, Wis.) reported to the Fed eral Center for Disease Control (Atlanta) four deaths caused by the rare cancer since July 1974. A recent inquiry by Rep resentative David R. Obey (D., Wis.) into the case prompted a request that Mount Sinai join the study because of its previous investigation of cases of the dis ease among polyvinyl chloride plant workers (C W, Feb. 25, p. 41). Anderson notes that the early findings are based on interviews with survivors, who said the men had mixed an arsenic- based insecticide by hand before apply- ing"the chemical by hand-pump sprayers. It appears that the pesticide used was cal cium arsenate, he says, but adds that the laboratory does not have materials to analyze. Actual levels of the pesticide in the workers are still to be determined from tissue tests. Anderson adds he might seek data on the pesticide from Allied Chemical, which halted production of arsenical acids at its Race Street plant in Baltimore in 1974, and any other producers. Talc Cited: Researchers involved with the talc study, begun in 1973 and com pleted six months ago. say their findings of asbestos indicate that the Food and Drug Administration should look at talc products again to determine whether they are safe for human use. Asbestos has been linked with a rare form of chest and abdominal cancer, and previous talc stud ies at Mount Sinai discovered that talc used to coat short-grained rice may also contain asbestos. Test results showed levels of 8% or more of asbestos in several products, the researchers say. Included: Sterling's ZBT Baby Powder with baby oil, Colgate's Cashmere BouquetBodyTale, Pfizer's Coty Division's Coty Airspun Face Powder; and two discontinued products--Kendall. Co.'s Bauer & Black Baby Talc and McKesson's Rosemary Talc. But FDA says results of its 1975 survey of 76 commercial cosmetic talc products did not find asbestos. < Chemical jobs up i Chemical industry employment rose nearly 0.6% in February, seasonally ad justed, to 1.031 million, compared with 1.025 million the month before, the La bor Dept.'s Bureau of Labor Statistics re ported- last week. BLS noted also that there were over-the-month employment gains in 64% of the 172 industries in the nonagricultural payroll employment cate gory, helping to raise over-all U.S. em ployment nearly 0.2%, to more than 86.3 million from almost 86.2 million the month before. On an unadjusted basis, chemical jobs increased about 0.5%, to 1.022 million from about 1.017 million in January. This was also above the more than 1.015 mil lion employed in February 1975. Most chemical process categories posted gains for the month: rubber and plastic products, to 616,000 from 613,000 in January; textile mill products, to 961,000 from 958,000; and paper and al lied products, to 669,000 from 664,000. UCC 093753