Document wDGRnGmmzQE1GO22NxJw6O883

BFG28704 Summary While the dangers of asbestos have been well recognized for over five decades, the industry was able to largely ignore or suppress these imtil studies in the 1950s by Doll in England and by SelikofI in the U.S. (sponsored by the asbestos insulators union) es tablished the relationship between asbestos and asbestosis and cancers at various sites. Since then the industry has employed scientific expertise to advocate its position in professional journals and to successfully resist and prevent effective government regula tions. With on estimated 8 to 11 million workers having been ex posed since World War II, the toll of asbestos occupational dis ease and cancer is now reaching epidemic proportions. Workers have begun to exercise legal initiatives, including third-party and medical malpractice suits, resulting in mullimillion dollar awards. Concerns are also mounting on the dangers to the public from "low-level" asbestos contamination of air and water and from as bestos-containing consumer products such as hair dryers. As the realization is dawning that asbestos is too expensive in terms of disease and death to continue using, the industry is be ginning to develop the strategies of relocating in lesser developed countries and promoting the use of fiberglass as an asbestos sub stitute in the United States. There are serious unresolved ques tions as to the dangers of fiberglass and there are possibilities that it may be no less hazardous than asbestos. The massive human toll taken by asbestos is probably the single most important incentive to the development of coherent national policies recognizing preventive medicine as a major future compo nent in the delivery of health care. Vinyl Chloride One of the most common pejoralives applied to modern times is "the plastic age." And just as age-old natural materials like wood. The Workplace: Case Studies 103 glass, and metal have been replaced by cheaper synthetic plastics, this seems to imply, so has the value of our lifestyle been degraded. Many things we now touch or use daily are made of plastic. Yet the plastic transformation of our society has only taken place over the last forty years. The consequences to society of its plasticization, in terms both of high energy and health costs, have only recently been appreciated. One of the major costs is from cancer.1 Manufacture Plastics are the leading product of the modern petrochemical in dustry. This era of plastics dawned in the 1930s with the realiza tion that petroleum was the cheapest and simplest starting mate rial for the synthesis of the vast array of organic chemicals now used by modern industry. Petroleum then gradually replaced coal, which had been previously used for this purpose, and is now al most the exclusive basis of the organic chemical industry. Vinyl chloride (VC) lies at the heart of the plastics industry. VC was first discovered in 1837. Large-scale production, how ever, did not start until the 1930s, when it was synthesized from chlorine and ethylene, largely for the manufacture of synthetic rubber.1 Production levels increased rapidly after World War II at a rale of 15 percent per year, reaching a total of about 7 billion pounds this year. VC is a simple chemical consisting of a small single molecular unit (a monomer) which is normally a gas but can be shipped and stored as a liquid under pressure. VC reacts under conditions of heat and pressure and in the presence of plasticizing chemicals to form large molecular chains (polymers) of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins. The polymerization of the VC monomer never proceeds to completion, but always.teaves some unreacted VC en trapped in the PVC resin. Depending on the production process, this unreacted VC has concentrations ranging as high as 8,000 parts per million (ppm).1 This residual VC can be dissolved out of the polymer or released by heating it.1 PVC resins are molded, injected, and extruded in the fabrica tion of a wide array of plastic products. These include phoiio- *3 O, I -* 23942002 BFG28705 v.r:,)-v.L 101 TUB POLITICS OP CANCF.R giupli tccords, wire and cable insulation, floor coverings, garden hose, fui niinre, upholstery fabrics, car bodies, coating of fabrics ami wallpaper, couiuhi'ts, bodies, and food wrappings. It is ilillicult lo get an accurate count of the number of U.S. workers involved in oil the various stages of PVC production. There are nlxjut seventeen VC manufacturing plants, employing about a thousand workers, and forty PVC plants, employing about six thousand workers.* There are no figures available, however, on the number of fabricating plants or on (he number of their employees. T hese must run into the hundreds of thousands. i Suppression by the Industry of Data on the Carcinogenicity of Vinyl Chloride In May, 1970, an Italian toxicologist, Pier Luigi Viola (employed by S*lvar Manufacturing Corporation), reported at an interna tional cancer congress in Houston, Texas, that long-term inter mittent exposure of a small group of rats to 3 percent of VC in air (30,000 ppm) resulted in the production of cancers in a wide range of organs.* This fust report on the carcinogenicity of VC created little im pact because Viola had claimed that the type of tumors induced were peculiar to rats aud without human significance, and also be cause of the very high levels of VC to which the rats were ex posed. In fact, Viola had induced tumors at much lower concen trations, extending down to less than 5,000 ppm. These facts were discussed in detail at a Manufacturing Chemists Association meet ing in November, 1971, where it was concluded that they should not l>e published, as this would otherwise "lead to serious prob lems with regard to the vinyl chloride monomer and resin industry . . . and force an industrial upheaval via new laws or strict inter pretation of pollution and occupational health laws."1 Union Car bide further expressed its concerns that in view of the large stake it had in "areas most likely to be affected, such as food, food packaging, fiber and aerosols |it) would be seriously hurt by arbiliaiy or panic-induced government reductions." Pi ior lo this, there .had _appamitly_liccn no rlurJics in Iha-plastj^ industry on the pnyihje p;>rfinnnyi)}rjly of Vf, nllhmiph lgn of iliouymds of workers (he world over bad been exposed to it for The Workplace: Case Studies 105 nv/T %** amLaUfli.rl rninn had occurred in VC/PVC workers prior to 1*170." Disturbed by Viola's public report, a consortium of giant European chemical industries, led by Italy's scmi-govcrnmcntal Montedison, ami with contributions from British, Belgian, and French firms, financed a major study initiated in July, 1971, by Ccsare Maltoui o! the Bologna Cancer Institute.** An extensive series of tests were con ducted in which adult, infant, and pregnant mice, rats, and hamsters were exposed to VC in inhalation chambers at concen trations ranging from the relatively low SO ppm level to the toxic 100,000 ppm (10 percent) level. Bylate^972^J^^UiafaJhMb confirmed and extended Viola's rcsuisTVCTwas shown to be a S' /SIS'IjffW^^liver cancer (called an giosarcoma), as well as more common liver cancers (hepatomas) and cancers of other organs, including kidney, brain, and lung. The cancers were subsequently found even at the lowest level then tested, 50 ppm. The overall tumor incidence was concentraiion- dependent, with higher doses increasing the incidence and rate of development of the cancers.1* In October, 1972, the Manufacturing Chemists Association, the major trade association of the U.S. chemical industry, entered into an agreement with the European consortium to share their infor mation, but not to disclose it without prior consent.11 In January, 1973, the U.S. industry representatives visited Maltoni and were given full details of his experimental studies. The Manufacturing Chemists Association (and Maltoni) subsequently failed to dis close this information, in spite of the fact that NIOSH, in the same month, had publicly requested all available data on the toxic effects of VC. In March, 1973, the Manufacturing Chemists Asso ciation recommended to NIOSH a precautionary label for VC that made no reference lo toxic or carcinogenic effects on animals or humans. Four months later, however, representatives of the Manufac turing Chemists Association met in secret with Marcus Key, then Director of NIOSII and now Professor of Occupational Medicine at the University of Texas, Houston, and a small group of his sen- * An additional reason (or initiating these tesla, revealed by Maltoni in 1975, was bit hitherto undisclosed finding in 196V of mtiigiuni cells (of a large cell adenocarciuoniitoui type not seen in smokers) in the spwluei of VC/PVC workers, suggestive of early lung cancer or prc-canccrous changes. *>n,%% ? 106 THE POLITICS OP CANCER $ ior stair. They were informed lhat Maltoni had induced tumors in lais e.v|v*at lo VC levels of 250 ppm. At one stage of the mcct- in.!'. an industry representalive, V. K. Rowe of Dow Chemical Company, adjourned lo a separate oflice for a private meeting $ with Key.11 Rowe subsequently commented that "Ihis private dis cussion of the carcinogen problem was worth the whole effort." f Finally, industry concluded that as a result of a meeting "the chances of precipitous action by NIOSH on VC was materially t lessened. NIOSI! did not appear to want to alienate a cooperative industry or they did not want to know too much unpublished data" i In March, 1973, following complaints of an unpleasant taste, I Sihenley Distillers found 10-20 ppm levels of VC in their liquors sold in 1'VC bottles. On the basis of these findings, and still i knowing nothing about the carcinogenicity data, FDA then banned the use of these liquor bottles. In (December, 1973, the -a Society of Plastics Industry, the plastics industry trade associa tion, provided the FDA with data on migration of VC from PVC containers to food, but made no reference to problems of car f cinogenicity. On January 22, 1974, D. F. Goodrich announced that since &!<v ^971 three PVC workers in their Louisville, Kentucky, plant had died of angiosarcoma of the liver. On that same day, the Manu facturing Chemists Association revealed the by now fifleen- nionih-ot<l Maltoni data to NIOSH. According to a recent special committee report of the American Association for Advancement of Science, the Manufacturing Chemists Association "appears lo have deliberately deceived NIOSH regarding the true facts. . . . Because of the suppression of these data, tens of thousands of workers were exposed without warning, for perhaps some two years, to toxic concentrations of vinyl chloride."13 Distortion by the industry of Data on the t fircinogjiiicity oj Vinyl Chloride 'IT'* first published case reports of angiosarcoma of the liver in VC/PVC woiLers generated an intensive epidemiological investi- The Workplace: Gate Stiulics 107 gation of cancer mortality in the industry in several countries. A British Petroleum Coiporation study, published in Lancet in 1975, claimed that the longer one worked in a VC plant, the less was the risk of getting cancer.14 Closer examination by NIOSH, however, questioned the interpretation of the English data. Ex pected death rates in workers exposed to VC for Gfteen or more years were artificially reduced, and rales in workers with lesser ex posures were artificially inflated. Re-analysis of the data by NIOSH, using standard methods, showed a clear excess of mortal ity from all causes and all cancers, including digestive system and lung cancers, besides angiosarcoma of the liver (Table 5.3). Exaggeration by the Industry of the Costs of Regulating Occupational Exposure to VC As information on the carcinogenicity of VC began to surface, OSHA was prodded into action. On April 5, 1974, OSHA re duced permissible exposure levels frorlTTW ppm to a new iiW8rgency standard ol Su ppm. Undfer pilS!iUHrntflU IdUm JIIU IhdepeiKieftk scItUnlislk1, wilb insisted that the new standard was too high for safety, on May 10, 1974, OSHA proposed a VC standard "at no detectable level" (in the range of 0 lo 1 ppm) to be achieved by the use of engineering controls, rather than worker use of respirators. Faced with strenuous industry opposition and alarming economic impact analyses, OSHA did not proceed to -adopt this standard, but on October 4, 1978, instead issued the more lenient final 1 ppm standard.1" Even at that time, however, it had been shown that exposure of small numbers of rats to 5 ppm VC induced an increased incidence of cancer, and there was no evidence then (or now) of any safe exposure level for VC, or indeed to any other cardnogen.t Nevertheless, industry objected strongly lo the "no delectable level" proposal on the grounds lhat it was unnecessary, too exten sive, and beyond their compliance capability. To bolster these claims, contracts were given out by the Society of the Plastics In- t Later studies by Maltoni and others demonstrated carcinogenic effect*, in cluding breast cancer, in rodents following inhalation of VC at levels as low as I ppm. 108 TUB POLITICS OP CANCER Tultlr 5.3 ('om|Kimon of Causes of Death in VC Workers fit <I by tii/liih Petroleum (HP) and Recalculated by NIOSH Cause of Death, Reported by UP amt Recalculated by NIOSH Standard Mortality Ratios* for Workers Exposed to VC for Varying Times Years of Exposure 9 or less 10-14 15 or more All causes HP NIOSH All cancers 111* NlOSIl Digestive system cancer BP NIOSH Lune cancer BP NIOSH 112 107 61 79 137 333 123 58 73 86 76 428 106 47 12! 75 62 702 129 101 62 90 133 366 Sokicc: ). K Wagoner. P. p. InhiiHc. ami R. Saracci, "Vinyl Chloride and Mortality." Lancet 2 (1975): 194-95. * Values greater than 10U indicate excessive deaths relative to expected population values. duslry, Inc. to Arthur D. Little, Inc., of Cambridge, Massa chusetts. Also, OSHA gave out a contract to Foster D. Snell, a di vision of ttooz, Allen and Hamilton, for the purpose of estimating the economic impact of the new standard. The consulting firms predicted costs as high as $90 billion and losses up to 2.2 million j. rhs. persuasive arguments in the depressed economic climate of 1974. However, these estimates were shown by the subsequent ex perience of the plastics industry to be gross exaggerations.14 In spite of massive industry lobbying and pressures, OSKA stood tii m on the new I ppm standard, which was passed nh April 1, 1975. 1 he Society of Ihe Plastics Industry then petitioned the 2nd Cir cuit Couit of Appeals to review the 1 ppm final OSHA standard stating: The Workplace: Case Studies 109 The evidence clearly demonstrates that the Standard is simply beyond the compliance of the industry. . . . The general increase in raw materials costs (an unavoidable result of this Standard), and the costs of monitoring, respiratory protection, medical sur veillance and record keeping all militate against the likelihood that the bulk of thb segment of the industry would be able to survive economically. The evidence is dear (that these various industries) would at the very least suffer economic disaster if not close down completely. Within one year, the VC/PVC manufacturing industry had suc cessfully met the new standard, and without any major economic dislocation or plant shutdowns. B. F. Goodrich, one of tire in dustry giants, redesigned its manufacturing technology toTKclcrc Vc .manufacturing and handling processes and plug jwssihlc sources of leaks. Additionally, a "stripping" process was developed to reduce levels of thc"unrcacted~VC monomer in the PVC resin and~to decrease Vdo5s'~in the process. The initial capital costs of the compliance technology were only $34 million. Contrary to the estimates of the industry consulting firms, B. F. Goodrich found that the new clean-up technology actually cut labor costs and could be profitably teased. (In spite of this, B. F. Goodrich increased the price erf its PVC products in 1976, claiming higlier production costs and blaming these on regulatory standards.) The experience erf Union Carbide is similar. In late 197$, R. N. Wheeler, a senior technical official expressed surprise as to how unexpectedly easy it had been for his company to comply with the ! ppm standard. However, earlier Intercompany reports had documented the economic advantages of compliance through re covering and recycling VC which would have otherwise been discharged into the environment. Estimates of the economic im pact of compliance had Ignored the major costs to industry from tosses of VC gas, with resulting air pollution of the plant and adjacent community. They had also ignored or discounted the major costs to society, both direct and indirect, from failure to regulate, with resulting VC-Induced discare. Finally, these esti mates did not reflect the emergence of a small and boonim*' in dustry manufacturing tlvc monitoring equipment now required to meet OSHA regulations. 110 run rourirs op canctir li is clear lhal, despite uniform ami overwhelming protestations ami prophecies lo the contrary, the industry had no major difficulty in meeting (lie l ppm standard. It is also clear that the industry is lloiiijsliini* villi high production, strong demand, growing capacity, and steady prices. The stump in the PVC market in 1974 and 1975, reflecting the 1973 oil embargo and a general pattern of recession, has been replaced by a boom, well recognized in chemical trade publications since 1976. (See for instance, Chemical and Engineering News, July 24, 1978, p. 12, and September 4, 1978, p. 13.) Cancer and Other Diseases Due to VC Long before the 1974 reports of angiosarcoma in VC/PVC workers.. VC was known to be toxic to experimental animals and to Immaiis at relatively high concentrations. Studies on experi mental animals in the early 1960s, by Dow Chemical Company and others, established that VC induced toxic effects in the liver and kidney at concentrations as low as 500 ppm, then the U.S. oc cupational standard.11 At higher levels skin and bone abnor malities were also noted. Acute toxic effects, such as headaches, disorientation, dizziness, drowsiness, and loss of consciousness had been noted in VC/PVC workers as long ago as 1949.18 In the same year, the Russian scientific literature reported the occurrence of chronic gastritis, hepatitis, and skin lesions from VC exposure. In 1957 there ap peared die first report of a new occupational disease among vinyl plastic workers called acroostcnlysis, characterized by a thicken ing or dubbing of the fingers and toes, spasmodic contraction of (Iw UIo'kI vessels, painful bone changes, and arthritis of the knuckles Additional cases of acroostcolysis have since been nmed from plastic plants all over the world. By 1966, it was rec ognized thoi liver damage, hepatitis and cirrhosis, was common among VCVJ'VC wuikcrs and in sonic cases occurred after only one or two years of employment. `mice 1971, seven independent retrospective epidemiological studies have identified over seventy deaths from angiosarcoma of :i1 S* irl The Workplace: Case Studies Ml the liver in VC/PVC plants in the United States and clscwlicre.t While most have involved polymerization workers, others have occurred in workers exposed to lower concentrations of VC, in cluding four cases in PVC fabricating plants, where PVC levels were probably below 10 ppm. Cancers at various other sites in cluding the lung, brain, kidney, and digestive tract, besides lymphomas and leukaemias, have also been found in VC/PVC workers.* The lung cancers were mainly of a type (adenocar cinoma and undifferentiated large-cell) not generally associated with smoking, and were found in workers engaged in a wide range of VC/PVC operations, including PVC milling and packaging. While the occupational exposures preceding these various cancers Ahave generally ranged from thirteen to twenty years, there have been four reports of liver angiosarcoma following less than six years of exposure. The true incidence of VC/PVC cancers in ex posed workers is still unknown, because of considerations of la tency, and also because of the ever-increasing number of cancers reported in organs other than the liver, which can no longer be considered the exclusive or even predominant site of VC/PVC-induced cancers.1* It should be noted that the wide range of VC cancers found In workers is, in general, similar to the types and distribution of cancers induced in animal tests. Despite the growing evidence of chronic human disease and the many thousands of workers at risk worldwide, the industry failed for more than thirty years to undertake any carcinogenicity tests in animals. Such tests could as easily have detected the car cinogenic effects of VC in the 1940s as they eventually did in the 1970s, There are still dements of the academic community who mini mize the risks of VC exposure. A recent brochure from the Uni versity of Louisville's Vinyl Chloride Project, a multtmillion dol t Al least seven fatal cases of primary carcinoma of the liver, subsequently diagnosed as angiosarcoma, had been recognized in VC/PVC worfccis be fore 1970. Six of these cases occurred in the United Slates between 1941 and 1968. and the other in Sweden. An excessive incidence of brain tumors fgliobajlumt inultiformc) has been noted among VC workers in Union Carbide and Monsanto plants in Texas City, Texas, and is now being investigated by OSIIA anti NIOSIt. There have been ten deaths from the brain tumor among workers at (lie Carbide plant since 1962. I' 1 23942005 112 THE POLITICS OP CANCER lai NCI-fiiiulo'l program for the prevention and detection of VC-iii'luccd occupational cancer and other diseases, states: Mv; low incidence of cancer development among people with prolonged exposure lo vinyl chloride is a reflection of the body's uhilily to remove the chemical agent safely without developing can cer. Some individuals do not have this capability and develop cancer after years of exposure.34 The brochure makes QQ-jeferonec-tn-thc-f&cMhftl-the-prcaenfap parent "low incidence of [VC1 cancer" may simpJy.Jeflect-iU-long latency period. Additionally, the independence of this University protect liasT.ccn questioned following recent disclosure of its re ceipt of undisclosed support from the Manufacturing Chemists Association.t Cancer and Other Diseases Due w PVC While in the past concerns have focused on VC itself as the major toxic and carcinogenic agent lo VC/PVC workers, there is grow ing realization of other serious hazards posed by PVC dust to far greater numbers of workers in operations involving the packaging and milling of PVC, and its fabrication into innumerable plastic products. These hazards most probably reflect the presence of ii,-treacled *VC entrapped at concentrations up to about 1 percent (10,000 ppin) in the PVC resin or products, and which can be released by their healing or processing, or can be dissolved from inhaled PVC dust by tissue fluids. Additionally, VC gas can be nh'nrhcd on PVC or on other dusts which may act as inert car riers. Experimental studies have shown that inhalation of PVC dust or its instillation into the lungs of rodents can induce ncutc inflam mation followed by chronic granulomatous changes. Similarly, a wide range of abnormalities has been recognized in the lungs of workers expused to PVC dust in a variety of operations involving hogging and packaging of PVC resins and their fabrication of PVC 1 litis '.\;,s at an NCI site visit meeting at the University of Louis ville on September 26 and 27, 1977. pi- The Workplace: Case Studies 113 products, where dust levels have been found to range as high as 20 mg/m*, and where the dust may be so fine that most is in haled deep into the lungs. The lung abnormalities reported include reduction of lung function, radiological changes, and chronic lung disease (pneumoconiosis). *'Meat-wrapper*s asthma" is a pos sibly related problem well recognized among supermarket and wholesale meat workers who. In packaging cuts of meat, use a "hot wire" or "cool rod" to cut and seal the sheet of Saran Wrapt or other PVC plastic film used for wrapping.*1 In the cut ting process, particularly when high temperatures are used, irritant fumes, including hydrochloric acid, are given off. Whild the in dustry has readily ascribed the asthma to such irritants, it is not yet known whether there are any carcinogenic hazards posed by unreacted VC, or other related carcinogenic agents, such as vinylidene chloride, which may be liberated from the plastic film by the heat cutting. More ominous than the inflammatory lung changes, an excess frequency of cancer deaths has been reported in four retrospective epidemiological studies of workers predominantly exposed to PVC dust.*3 These include lung cancer (of the same type as de scribed in VC workers), and cancers of the urinary tract, digestive system, and lymphatic system. . * Public Exposure to VC The public and the regulatory agencies are now beginning to real ize that what goes on In a plant often affects the health of those living nearby in the community. The closer you live lo a plant manufacturing VC or PVC or fabricating PVC products, the more VC you are likely to breathe. EPA has estimated that 4.6 million people live within five miles of VC/PVC plants.** No estimates are available for the presumably greater number of people living near the uncounted PVC fabricating plants scattered over the country. Measurements by EPA in 1974 and 197$ indicated that in 90 percent of cases, VC levels in the vicinity of VC/PVC I Saran Wrap, a product of Dow Chemical, is a co-polymer of VC and the related vinylideae chloride, which has recently also been shown to be carcinogenic In rodents, inducing angiosarcoma of the liver in addition to oilier cancers. 23342006 i i m CO Tl o to oo -o 3O l 14 THE POLITICS OF CANCER p|,mis were below 1 ppm; EPA estimated tlmt average exjmsure within a five-mile radius would be about 17 parts per billion (pptij. Higher levels, however, were found in 10 percent of com munities sampled--33 ppm at a distance of one-third of a mile from the center of one plant. EPA also estimated that VC/PVC plants were losing 220 mil lion (rounds of VC into the air annually, mainly from PVC plants. These considerations, together with reports of excess birth defects in Ohio women living near VC/PVC plants, prompted EPA in October, 1976, to propose regulating VC as a "hazardous air pol lutant" and to limit plant emissions to 10 ppm. These regulations would be expected to reduce VC emissions by about 95 percent of previous levels and to reduce community exposure by a similar amount. However, no regulations have yet been developed for plants fabricating PVC products nor for municipal incinerators, which discharge VC into the air from thermal processing and combustion of plastic products, respectively. The results of a June, 1977, EPA investigation of an elemen tary school in Saugus, California, located across the road from Keysor-Ct iiiury Corporation, which manufactures PVC and pho nograph records, arc disturbing.'**Levels as high as 2.8 ppm VC have been measured in the air in classrooms. This heavy contami nation la gely results from VC losses during tank car unloading at the plant in the night. T lie occurrence of VC disease in the general population has been suggested by preliminary findings of an incidence of 18 con genital malformations per 1,000 live births in women living in three Ohio communities near PVC plants, in comparison with an incidence of 10.5 per 1,000 in those living at a distance.11 Most of these malformations were of the brain. In addition, an excessive number of brain tumors in adult males were found in those com munities near the PVC plants. A similar excess of birth defects over a period from 1966 to 1974, has been recently noted in Shawinignn, Quebec, where a large VC/PVC plant is located.*** * M.uc u-cuitly, five cases of angiosarcoma of the liver have been reported in women who have livc'l for prolonged periods close to VC polymerizing or I'VC fat ricniing plunla, and who have never worked in these plants or l-'-cn expow-.l to other carcinogens known to induce angiosarcoma (such as luvnii; or lliorium dioxide). ..id. The Workplace: Care Stiulies H5 These various effects have been associated with the detection of VC in the air of communities adjacent to VC/PVC plants. Another way in which thcjubljc. has been exposed, la. VC is from aerosol propellants in consumer products^igcb-as--iiiscciicicies, hair'lpravs. dtsmfecjants, and furnilur* polishes_UPA studies show that during use of hyr or spray* ntin brcalKetTVCio tfie_i00 to 400 ppm range. After much prodding, the FDA 'banned the use of VC as a propellant iq cosmetic prod-_ ucts. mcltidmg hair sprays. However, the FDA did not consider the matter serious enough to order a recall of VC-confaining products so~lhir~the "public-c6ufa' avoId~~funKeir exposure. The Health Research'Group eventually pried out from the FDA the brand names of hair sprays that used VC as a propellant, identi fying Clairol as a top selling product. According to a recent sur vey by Consumer Product Safety Commission staff, no new con sumer products containing VC have been manufactured since 1974, and no VC-containing products remain on the market in 1978, The FDA also showed reluctance in moving against the use of PVC containers for food products, although it was aware that unreacted VC was leached out of the container walls by the foods or fluids inside. By 1974 the FDA knew that VC levels,as high as 9 PPm had been foun3_ in vegetable oils sold in rigid PVC containers" High levels were alsolfounB fiTolhefT*VC-packaged products, including beverages and cosmetics/` While-tfiirFDApro- posed a ban on the use of rigid PVC containers for food products and beverages, the use oif PVCjfilmJpL wrappingJocdsDslstiH saacilonet^ Extensive research is now being done by industry with the ob ject of reducing VC levels in PVC products, especially those in tended for food packaging and medical applications.11 However, as indicated in a recent trade journal article, the prospects of suc cess seem slim: ' At present conventional devolatilizing techniques cannot be success fully offered to PVC. ... It cannot be expected, however, that a completely monomer-free PVC resin will be a commercial reality in the near future." 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MJnsodxg joqij so|,;.'qs\\ PUK .lnJupq uijoj{j<ioqsy ut 0| posodxa wnuipj pjoo qoog pjnfi 3umun suioi jtj Xji|C)JOjv jo onbpiJ3, uo *iuotuuio3,, * | i *jouo8nA\ ^ 7 61 jOAunci) luotujitdaa ^I'-S PU1 (Oirtl *!;) * di>3 n||!Anpi-siH|or PI^O PJrH * Uj ssjuvjdxg JOqi,J sor^jsy, pun jnj? -1144 uuojjisoqsy UB o pwodrg J?U1|4 p|OQ pin Suomy su'jtiiKj Xij|i?uojq, uo sjuottiiuoj,, `051143 h O ! uuoq ,1 si sa3Kauad3tt 23942010 BFG28713 566 REFERENCES 7. K. N UWL'i. Jr., Union Carbide Memo "MCA Occupational lie,lib Committee: Vinyl Chloride Conference,'' Novcmhcr 23, IV7I. 8. C. W. IIcuili, If. Falk, and J. I.. Creech. "Characteristics of Cases of Augh'isauoma of the Liver Among Vinyl Chloride Workers in the U.S." in Selikoff and Hammond, eds., Toxicity of Vinyl Ciihnidt-Polyvinyl Chloride, pp. 2JI-36; D. Byren, and B, llolmherg. Two Possible Case* of Angiosarcoma of the Liver in a <.i up <>i Swedish Vinyl Chloride-Polyvinyl Chloride Work ers'' in Svlil.dr and Hammond eds.. 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