Document xjkMz3bMnERnJOLOrJE3mZQJE

*UbbM a PiaaMea Firestone, Buddto appeal recordiudament Multipiece rim suit ends in $4.29 million award URL 05022 Bv Miles Moore RPN Washington Bureau KANSAS CITY. Mo.--A federal jury has ordered Firestone and Budd Co. to pay 54 20 million to a Missouri couple lor in juries the husband received in n multipiece truck lire nm explosion. Both cumpames said they will appeal the award, the largest ever ordered tn a multipiece nm ease. Kelsey Haws Co., a third nm manufacturer, was cleared of anv liability by* the jury. The jurv in the U.S. District Court or dered Firestone and Budd to split pay ment of $350,000 in compensatory dam ages to Larry Hale, owner of a smalt trucking firm in Sheldon. Mo. The firms also nave to pay $40,000 to Hale's wife. Linda, for loss of consortium. In addition, the jury ordered Firestone to pay $2.8 million and Budd $700,000 in punitive damages to Hale The jury also told Firestone to pay $320,000 and Budd SSG.000 in punitive damagea to Linda Hale. Hale was injured Oct. 4. 1977. while he was using an air hose to inflate a tire on a two-ton truck. The multipiece wheel nm, a Firestone RH5* model, separated explo URW shares federal grant for cancer awareness study AKRON--Th* United Rubber Worker* and the University of North Carolina have received a $750,000 gTant from the National Cancer Institute to help educate rubber workers on the risk of getting cancer in the workplace. The URW and the university will use the grant to study ways to improve health education programs in 26 rubber industry plants. The study will begin in Septem ber. when researchers will interview a sampling of 26.000 employees in a range of position* in th* industry about their health, the URW said. The grant, spread over the next three years, was awarded on the eve of the URW'* three-day conference on cancer. Aug. 15-17, which featured talks by doctors, scientists and representative* from labor, rubber companies and govern ment agencies. The conference speakers discussed the relatively high incidence of some cancers among rubber workers, as well as how an individual can cope with cancer and what might bedone to prevent it. Studies in the 1970s indicated that rub ber workers nsk getting certain types of cancer at a rate two to six time* thatof the average worker. URW Director of Industrial Hygiene Louis Beliciky said the union hope* to change the attitudes of both the workers and management concerning potential risks of cancer. The grant program calls for effort* to encourage workers at half the plants to wear protective clothing, stop smoking and stay physically fit, and they will re ceive pamphlets concerning health. At the other plants, employee! will design health program* to generate worker in terest and awmrsneaa. The URW also will urge management to reduce the danger by improving venti lation systems. Nitrosamines controversy flares Continued from pcft I sion aiao confirmed it I* looking into th* affect of nitrosamines in pacifiers and nipples. A spokesman declined to discus* the investigation. Only two of the companies involved at the outset. West Co. Inc. and Faultless Rubber Co., are members of the KMA. Since then. Helvoet Pharma Pennsauken Inc., a firm that plans to begin production of baby bottle nipples later this year, joined RMA in June. (The other three firm* involved are Evenflo Product* Co.. Plasticoid Co. and the Elastomenc Prod uct* Department of J.P. Steven* & Co., which manufactures nipples for Interna tional Plavtcx Inc.) The proposal on which the RMA and the manufacturer* now are working would set a nitrosaminc "action level"-- that is. a nitrosaminc content limit a nipple manufacturer would have to meet nr have his product* removed from the market. All nipple manufacturer* would under go compliance testing at regular inter vale. and the RMA would tabulate the result* for th* FDA to review at it* dis cretion. Lowering nitrosamine levels in baby bottle nipple* has been problematic for the manufacturers because of the need to maintain product quality, aaid Frank T. Ryan, RMA government relation* vice president. "You don't just change your formulation overnight." he said "You hav* to maintain the qualities consumers look for--bite, durability, shelf-life." There are other problem* a* well. Ryan sstd. One has been with the FDA test pro tocols to determine nitroeamine level*, which yield highly varying result* even with the ism* lot of test nipples. Anotner issue concerns a German test method for nitrosamines. w hich reputedly allows the West German government to maintain a nitrosaminc limit of 10 part* per billion. "What most people don't realize it that the Germans use an aqueous-solution method to test for nnrooaminei. while Americana uae a solvent-extraction method that is much more sensitive." be said. "A 10-ppb reading in Germany is equivalent to a 100-ppb reading in the u.s- (At an indualry-FDA meeting June 16, Ryan proposed an action level of 60 ppb for consumer nipplee and 150 ppb for single-use hospital nipples.) Despite the problems, nitroeamine levels in U-S- nipples have fallen steadily end substantially, Ryan said. The antimtrosamme program is "an example of great cooperation between the manufac turer* and th* FDA," he added. THE RMA statement closely followed the letter* sent by Ruth G. Desmond, president of the Federation of Home makers. to HHS Secretary Heckler and several members of Congress. Desmond urged Heckler to "elevate this matter beyond the 'all deliberate speed' category of attention. "If removal of nitrosamines simply mean* that we have to go back to those short-life rubber nipples, doesn't pru dence euggeet this slightly inconvenient but more vigorous step be token by gov ernment...?" aaid Desmond. Desmond complained to members of Congress that the RMA-FDA program "substitutes `dialogue' for effective prw taction of suckling infants." She said the incidence in children of liver cancer--a disease with which nitro samines are associated--is higher than thatof leukemia and muscular dystrophy combined. sively. striking Hale in the face Hale's top teeth were knocked out, hie facial bones fractured, his tear ducts damaged and his hand broken, according to court testimony. His nose was severed, but doctors were able to reattach it. John C Risjord. Hale s attorney, said Hale will need at least three more opera tions to eorect problems with facial scars, nasal passages and sinus cavities and to remove a Teflon plate in his eye eocket. "The jury really wound up and kicked them pretty hard with the punitive dam ages," Slid Risjord, who added that he had presented documentation in court that Firestone had acted to equelch in vestigations of RH5* rims. "They (the jury) were pretty incensed at the end." Fireetone and Budd spokesmen said their companies are considering option* concerning appeal. Before the Hale decieion. the largest award ever made in a multipiece rim caie was the SI.8 million Goodyear wae ordered to pay to Dennis Kutper, a Mon tana man whose skull was fractured by an exploding nm. The Hale ease was on* of 25 consoli dated civil suits seeking more than $175 million in damages against multipiece rim manufacturers. Documents filed in those esses claim that more than 400 in stances of explosive separations have caused at least 71 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The next case in this group scheduled for trial, to begin in October, is a suit brought by two Georgia men. Lloyd James and Arthur Ramey, against Finstone. General Motors Corp, and KelseyHayes. The suit claims James was permanent ly crippled and Ramey ioat an eye when a multipiece rim exploded. American, Russian running for buffer stock manager KUALA LUMPUR. Malaysia--Aji Amer ican and a Sovtat are the only candidates for manager of the International Natural Rubber Organisation's buffer stock, while anothet American has withdrawn his nomination. The candidate* are Harvey Adams, pur chasing agent for synthetic rubber at Firestone, and Arkady Mitrefanov, a rubber buyer with the Soviet Union im port-'export trading company. Robert Sanders, theU.S representative to INRO since Msy 1982 and formerly of ACL1 International, withdraw from the competition to replace John Riedl, who resigned earlier this year but stayed on while INRO select* hu successor Sander* was the only person nominated by the original Feb. 22 deadline, and INRO later tabled the voting issue. INRO is echeduled to vote on the new msnager--who controls ourchdSe* of natural rubber for * buffer stock, which is designed to take NR off the market to support prices when needed--at its Sept. 1&14 meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Adams has served in Firestone'* Syn thetic Rubber Division since 1981. He began hiscareeratFireatonein 1955, and held various position* until he was named manager for natural rubber purchasing in 1972. He moved to Intematio Inc., an interna tional trading firm, a* manager of the natural rubber department for two year*. Ht joined ACLI in 1979 as a vice presi dent. where he worked until returning to Firestone. Tessmer to head IISRP HOUSTON--A retired executive from Ex xon Chemical Americas will succeed Milton J. Rhoad a* managing director of the International Institute of Synthetic Rub ber Producer*. The appointment ofWilliam E. Tessmer as managing director-designate was made during a recent meeting of the IISRP executive board sc the group's headquarters in Houston. Tessmer willjoin the institute on Nov. 1 end will assume full duties on Dec. 31 when Rhoad retires, the IISRP said. A graduate of the University of Minne sota with a degree in industrial manage ment, Tessmer retired recently from Exxon Chemical after a 26-year career. Hebegan with Exxon in 1957 as a sales trainee in Lindtn. N.J.and later worked in technical sale* capacities in the US. and London. From 1963 to 1971. he was assigned to the firm's Brussels. Belgium, office where he eventually became mar keting manager for agricultural chemi cals. He later served as Benelux marketing manager in The Hague. Netherlands At the uae of hi* retirement, he was corpo rate account* executive. Rhoad, who succeeded Ralph Limberson as IISRP managing director in 1978. had agreed to stay in the job until the end of the year even though hi* contract ex pired in June. He is a retired Goodyear executive, having spent 35 yean with th* tire maker. Reichhold buys Uniroyal's TPR line Continued from page l product. We feel we're well positioned for it." TPR is a very cost-efftetive material that can be fabricated more easily and at a lower cost than thermoaet rubbers, he said. Several similar products, such as Mon santo Co.'s Santoprene*. compete with TPR. DiCreece aaid the total demand of all these products is about 30 million to 40 million pounds per year. Reichhold is better suited to produce TPR than Uniroval because of its focus on specialty compounding, DiCreece said. Reichhold * equipment can do s wider range of processes, such as more exten sive mixing, than the rubber's developer, and "we can realize the potential better." he said. Becauee of these broader capabilities. Reichhold also aeea new market* for the product, although these areas haven't been identified yet. Currently TPRis used in th* auto industry for fascia, rub atnpe and sound-deadening devices: in the wire and cable field for cord eel* and battery booster cables; and for a variety of me chanical good* from wheel* to handle* to grips. Reichhold already makes a wide range of specialty products for these markets; the acquisition should enhance the com pany's capabilities in those areas, tht firm said. DeCresce said if Reichhold'* TPR pro duction increases it will benefit Uniroyal, a* EPDM is one of the key ingredients in the material and is an important product area for Uniroyal.