Document zbb7wg4XZZk2Vzoxr82ydmkvm

Lorain Journal March 20, 1975 Avon Lake B. F. Goodrich Plant Says Worker Has Liver Cancer By FLORENCE YORK Staff Writer AVON LAKE - The B F. Goodrich Chemical Com pany's Avon LaKe plant, which has been investigated in the past for a possible link bet ween vinyl chloride and can cer, confirmed today that one of its employes has cancer of the fiver. A spokesman for the com pany said today that employes were informed by bulletin board yesterday that one of the workers was found to have angiosarcoma of the liver, a rare form of cancer. The employe, 46-year-old Charles Arthur, of 950 Oakwood, Elyria, is still confined at Lorain Community Hospital, his wife said this morning. She said she believed her husband, who has worked for about 22 years at the Avon Lake plant, worked with vinyl chloride at times. iue uiugnueus vi angiosar coma of the liver was made on Monday, said Mrs. Arthur. She explained her husband had been complaining of a "bellyache" and went to his physician for tests. She said she expects her husband to be released from the hospital by this weekend or the beginning of next week. Mrs. Arthur, when asked if her husband would be retur ning to work at B.F. Goodrich, said they had not discussed the matter yet. The Environmental Protection Agency, which began an investigation of vinyl chloride last June, said vinyl *. chloride has been "im plicated" in 19 worldwide cases of angiosarcoma of the liver among workers engaged m tne conversion <x me chemical into polyvinyl chloride. "We don't normally com ment on an employe's medical condition." noted the spokesman, "but we felt our employes would be interested, because angiosarcoma is a disease that has been associated with vinyl chloride in the past." He would not confirm or deny that the employe worked in an area where vinyl chloride, a gaseous chemical suspected of causing liver can cer, is handled. 24029001