COA'OAATl COMMUNICATIONS O!'ARTM!NT 270 'ARK AVENUE. NEW YORK. N. Y. 10017 Dill: January 8, 1981 To: From: J. W. Whitte1 •• y - 46 Anne D. Hlugt"lton FYI x Comment Action ucc 013191 to SOLVENTS &~D UC:: u~z INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - INTERMEDIATES DIVISION December 18, 1980 To: Copy to: Hr. J. B. Hr. A. G. Hr. J. W. Hr. L. A. Hr. R. L. Browning Voress /' Whittlesey Wilkinson Yelton ,-: :: C 2 I V E D ... -, -'oJ J. y:. , . 1980 - hri!TTUS£'{ -- Attendees - December 3rd Meetina Hr. J. W. Thompson You are aware that a group of us met on December 3 to outline possible responses when NIOSH reports on the Texas City brain tumor study. These possible conclusions by NIOSH were examined: 1. No increased incidence or association 2. A. Increased incidence - no association B. Correlation with a specific chemical C. Correlation with two or more chemicals 3. Study inconclusive - NIOSH recommends further study 4. Government agencies split on conclusions 5. The two NIOSH studies (cohort and case control) are not released at same time 6. Report identifies another form of cancer We then moved to list logical actions for each of these eight possibilities. The list of thirteen possible actions needs further refinement and annotation to make sense to you, and will be available later. However, we listed seventeen action steps that various attendees should undertake. Several of these are discussed briefly below: 1. An article for the Carbide World has been drafted by Ann Haughton. 2. A "backgrounder" paper for UCC personnel has been drafted. 3. An interim press release, to be continually updated, is being prepared by Cox and Ritchie. UCC 013792 - 2 - 4. An update for plant employees was published on December 10 (copy attached). 5. A random low-key survey was made of employee attitudes. In general. all employees are concerned. with older employees trusting the Company. but young employees unsure whether to believe us. or the worst of the press statements. 6. A special adversary skills (interviewing) workshop has been designed by Cox and is being evaluated. 7. A "Q & A" sheet is being prepared by Ann Haughton. 8. When NIOSH notifies us a report will be ready, a team will go to Cincinnati to "clear i t for trade secrets" to shorten OSHA lead time they would otherwise enjoy with the press. 9. Texas State Health Commissioner Bernstein has agreed to come to Texas City in January for an update before he decides on involvement by his office. We will susgeat he look at the "Blue Ribbon Panel" approach Governor Carey used in the Love Canal matter if be insists the State of Texas should do something. One of our most difficult problems is to keep the internal search for an answer moving along - that is. the scientific investigation. without aiding the plaintiff's lawyers in the "discovery" phase of the pending litigation. I am aware of the concern which Walter Conrad of Baker and Botts has and I do not want to weaken his position as our defense attorney. At the same time. we cannot place our internal epidemiology studies in limbo until that litigation is completed. This issue will require continued helpful guidance from John Whittles.,. Overall. this is a very fluid situation. Something changes almost every day. For an update. pleas. contact Dr. Austin, Ms. Haughton. Dr. Glenn, Ron Ritchie or me. as appropriate to your question. les Attachment " UCC 013793 -12- __an._., I I .: DECEMBER 10, 1910 [ VOL 40. NO••7 NIDSH STUDIES NEAl( COM.PlETION Offidall of tt. NaDcIl.ulnscinaao for Oa:tapuionu Safrty .nd Hnidl (NIOSH) vilirad die Tell. City PlutC !all week. Th.it visie Md .w:ra1 purJIO'" which included upd.cin, plam IIIId Union .offlCiab on chc cunene leaNS of the INdy • _U .. idmtifyin, addiI:ionai infonnuion that will be needld. A brief IIII1111W)1' of die UlU. of tIM project foUOWII AI die ouan it is imp_ chac you lCCopizc th. NIOSH i. !ally conduccin. cwo (2) wp.... lciCllliflC in¥nDption.. Ot. Richard Wuweil« is in ch.,. of the "eohon monality anaIyli.... Thi, p!we of the projccc dctcroninft whrthcr we h.w had an nwnber draths amon, fOrml!' cmploy_ front any ..,.arlC ~..... Ie is noc Umirad co .nadyi... datil. e....cd by • pnm.y blain tuDlOfl but abo looica for ell_ ~u.. of death for any !lumber of poMbIe _ Of. Wuweilct rcpottcd th. of die ••• 51 people who have _rOd here, (1941-1979), 912 aft Im_ co haw died. ThO! e._ of . . . . __ .,... iden~1icd in aU bue "II_ or approaidlll&ly 90 . . . . Pinal df_ arc under way to Ian the c.... of dep in the relll&inina can prUtc:ipdIy by _.kin, with the SodaI Securiry Adminilauion and the 1IIcerna1 aenlll: Scrvi«. This . . . . of the .....y is eapectad to be eomplerad i_ the Fint Qu_ of 1911. Dr. San,.... l.dfIapeIl. uothIr NIOSH official, hat NIpOIUibiliry for chc lCCond projtcc which is kn_ .. • " _ control .....y... Here the lito WRicato.. are attemp" co_rraiII if there is any ......salion with bnia tumor cues and • spccirlJ' chemiall, troup of ehemi..... or • chemial "..... ,",u. far the .....y /I.. round no-a.~_ All paniet aft fairly op~ th. both trIIdin cumndy under _y wiD be completed ucI releucd in Mach or April of _ yQt. Aa .. NIOSH completes &Del releun ehcif ....... the find • • wiD be ...... wilh aU Tea. City Plane ....,Ioyns. We __ eo nnp/luiR chat we haw noe "denied """" is a PfObII!In" NJI- haw III. . . . . . 0., poIiUon it way limp.. and • 101M ptnI pro'*'ly the same • you", II cheft • problem' If 10, teD .. whac ic is 10 I eM pc with iL uee or • NIOSH eM _ .dial quntion ~ -day. ~ Dr. Sanfonl t.lfinpcn, Medical j OfflCl!l' of the Illdustry • wide Scud.. 8tanch of NIOSH, and Employee R~ Ialions Adminiscn.to' DOROTHY I HEYEN diacuQ additional i n l _ lion needed from Ullion Carbide by NIOSH EO complclf: eh..ir ~pidemi· oJosy.nady. Neil..... UCC 013794 ·. PUZZLE -The search for a pattern in deaths among Texas chemical workers T he ehemlcal worker eallinr the Clear Lake City, Texas, otBee of the Oc:eupatJonai Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) late in 1978 wanted lOme answen. He had a brain tumor, he told Riehud Miller, an OSHA mdustrial hy(ienist. He knew of two fellow workers who had died of brain tumors, and he wanted IOmebociy to invettirat.e the Union Carbide plant (pictured at left) where they had III been employed. SpUTred into action by that c:a1l. federal investirators by lut November had found 18 eon1lnned dntha Crom brain eancer amonr people who had worked at the plant over the lut 40 yean. Their studies _m to show that 10nf1.ime employ_ oC the plant are fae«! with an elevated risk of dyinJ of brain eaneer. The Union Carbide plant in Texas City is just one oC MVeral factories l»inr invest.ipt.ed alonr the Texu ruJ! c:out.. where dozen. of plants refine oil and produee a ",ide variety of ~ troleum-bued ehemicals. At a Call eonferem:e sponlOred by the N_ York Aeademy of Scienees. rovemment ~ MaTChers report.ed hirher than normal rates of brain eaneer in eertain f1'OUPI of workers at several of thole plants. One of the rnmmest pictures wu painted by William Niehoiaon. an epldemiolorist at Manhattan', Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He found in a study of members of the operatinr enpeers' union that workers in ehemical plantl like Union Carbide'•• eompand with thole in oil Belds or in reBneries. sufCered an inereued risk not only of bram eancer but of 1unr eaneer and other kinds of malignanci.. u weU. Some seientiltl at the meeunr, partieularly thOle from mdustry. di~ with the validity of these findinrs. How the brain c:aneer eues earne to li,ht il a dramatle story of epldemiolorY, the $elenee of traonr the eourse ~ of a disease in a papulation. A!\er -''-'',,0!11 i he reeel\'ed the worker'S c:ompillint, OSHA', Miller began his own invesI tlratlon. He c:alled loeal doetors, union i offioals, ""orkers, families oC workers, Vlo=terAlex___, ....................... ..,in Meter, ...lpect.,.1y tile ~ of .plel_i.loU t • e-et' __ eM In Teu. and plant and Nte oftieiall, and earne up with a total of foW' brain c:aneer dntha amon, former employees at the Union Carbide plant. The worker who made the oririnal eomplaint wu not amon, them. His c:aneer turned out to have be(un elsewhere than in his brain (and he wu still alive late in 1980). In January 1979 OSHA', Clear Lake City dee tent a memo on the Union Carbide 6ndinrs to the rerional dee in Dallas, wtueh pUMd it on to OSHA headquarters in Wuhinrton. There it immedieuly aroused the suspicion oC Vietor Alexander. an oeeupational health physician. and his eolleaguea. "Someone else eould have said the foW' eases were within the lilTlltl oC statistical variation," said Alexander, "But oW' prior knowledre ln1lueneed us. We knew that a number or potent c:arcinopns are used In the ehemical industry." Alexander decided 1.0 \iSlt OSHA 's ~ gional olfiee. ~'hile in Tex&s he went to Union Carbide to talk to the plant phy· sician. Oavid Glenn. Aware that Miller had been lookinr Inl.O the brlJn c:a.nc:er problem, Glenn had already reviewed a eollect.ion of death c:ertlfieates or 455 employees, primarib' those who over i' .... ;- •• Uee 013796 , EPIDJMIOLOGY RicMrd Wa.... iter nd hi' ~I"a,.,. Sanford L.ffl",,_11 comb tlw'0UIh filn In 1M NIOSH office ito Ci~iflnatl the years had died on the job or had ~ come elirible for pension benetlt.a. He had found ten brain cancer death•• includinr the four that OSHA had uncovered. Thus the toU 111'11 more than doubled. "After we talked a bit, he showed me the list," Alexander recalls. "I must say that I wu almost speechlea... That number of deaths Willi enourh to persuade OSHA to uk a sister lien. c)" the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), for assistance in a fuU-lIedred epiden'lloIOlleal study. In February 1979 oJIicialJ from both qenClel met company representatives and \UUon leaden, and aveed on a plan of attack. Their lim step was to try to find out whether more employees had died of brain eancer.' Matehinr state of Texu death records alfllnst the names of all the employ_ who had worked at the Union Carbide plant since It opened in 19.41. the No searchers had found three more brain caneer deaths by June. , Cnion Carbide, which cooperaUid fully ""th the IfOvernment investirators, went to work on it.a own files. combinr Its employee recorda for medical and work-histo,..,· Information. 'nIat search turned up - two more brlln cancer deaths. In the meantime. three more employees had developed brain tumors. All have since died, bringing the total to 18. No one contesU the number of deaths. The t&$k that now faces IfOv70 ernment and industry is to find out whether the victims (Ot eanc:er from their jobs. and if 10, how. For answen, researchers aTe tncinr the fate of 8.850 past and ptellent Union Carbide workers. This search, which Alexander calla "the real ICUt work of epidemioIOlY." is necessary to establish whether the 18 deaths really represent a brain cancer rate hirher than that of the reneraJ po» u1ation. To determine what the expected number of deaths from brain cancer would be for the Union Carbide work· ers, scientists need to know not only the number of those employed and their ares but also the lenith of time they worked at the plant. The death rates are hued on pel'lOn-yean (every year a worker lives after startinr at Union Carbide counta If one pel'lOn·year). To determine the actual number of deaths. the epidemiologist.a are tryinc to follow at least 95 per cent of the workers throurh an arbitrary eut-oll' point, the end of 1977. Lut summer, when the study was about 80 per cent complete. Rlchard Waxweiler of 1':'IOSH reporUld some preliminary results: for the entire Union Carbide population at the Texu plant, the nsk of brain eancer ""as about 50 per cent lurher than could be expect· ed on the bUls of the employees' ares and tow person-years. For those ""ho had worked less than ten years, there ""as no excess risk; for those who had worked ten 1.0 20 years, some excess risk wu e,ident; and for those who had been there 20 years or more, the mk was three times what it should have been. Waxweiler says these firures are just what one would expect "''lth cancer, ""ruch can take 20 or more years to develop. "The weicht of the eVIdence points to an occupational nlk factor," he reports. F'indinr asubstance in the Union Carbide plant that might be responsible for the increued risk of brain caneer will be an even harder job. With this tuk in mind. the (OVernment seientlstl set. up a MCOnd study, directed by NIOSH's Sanford Let!npell. For each cue of brain cancer, researchers have chosen SIX other people, ea1Jed controls. who closely mateh the victim in age, sex, race, date of hiring, and time worked at Union Carbide. Now they are studyinr the jobs of the control. and the jobs of the brain cancer victims. payinr particular attention to each worker's exposure to ehemiea!l, to see if any pattern !lets the two (J'Oups apart. BeeaIlM the plant ',operation hu chanred dramatically Over the years. chemical engineers must be brought in to tell the researchers about the componenta and by-product.a of out-of-date pl"OC8UllL That investigation is more than half done. and 10 far there is no SIgn of any correlation between a .pecific chemical exposure and brain cancer. Thourh Letfinpell thinks something at the plant call1ed the deaths, he says that there is to date no proof thal the apparent excell risk at Union Carbide is not the result of chance. H. Michael Utidjian. Union Carbide'. auoeiate corporate medical direetor for toxieololrY and epidemiology, also maltes this point. Utidjhin emphuizes the failure so far to demonstrate a cause of the brain cancers. He is not convinced that they are the result. of the work environment at Union Carbide. The cause of the deaths. he says. could be some factor in the community at larre, rather than in the planL Whatever the outcome, the Union Carbide cue hu changed the epidemiologists' attitude toward brlln cancer. Once so rare that it wu imored in surveys, the disease has become so notonous, says Alexander. that It would almost be epidemlolOlflcal malpract.ice to i(nore it_ With this kind of atten· tion. and time. the anln... ers may emerp. DIKOVll' I JAN',JARY 1.1 UCC 013797 , t , ~ ~ UfliOfI r,fI!"!f'IDE I-:H~ I"~ /-411 •• L\J,..NIf\ w.;"o;, ... ",.." nil. O. C. conr(lr.~,TlfllI ~VLN'J~ 7(1(106 I/I/il January 8, 1981 TO: J. D. H. R. J. B. Browning L. Engle M. D. Utidjian Van Mynen w. WhittleSey~ CC: J. C. Rowland, Jr. FROM: J. J. Kenney. Jr. Epidemiology Study at Texas City Enclosed is a reprint from The Washington Star, Sunday. January 4. 1981. discussing a report.prepared by Rep. Bob Eckhardt just before he left office. recommending some changes in the laws in an effort to facilitate the kind of epidemiology study which NIOSH is now undertaking at Texas City. The full text of the subcommittee report has not yet come back from the printer. As soon as it is available 1 will send you copies. but in the meantime 1 have discussed this with the staff member who wrote the report for Rep. Eckhardt. He indicates to me that he regards this report as the final step in the subcommittee's inquiry into this matter. Neither he nor the subcommittee plan to take any further action in this area except to keep track of developments unless the NIOSH report, when it emerges this spring or summer. clearly indicates a need for additional action. I am hopeful that Eckhardt's defeat and a halfway balanced report from NIOSH will prevent this from beco~ing a congressional issue of any kind. \ / .,":'EC-/ _/, , .' i JJK/emw Enclosure / UCC 013798 ) , Law Hinders Safety Effort, Panel Says Act Seen Impeding Health Investigation By Lance GIY Wool.."".. Sq, SUfI WrI_ A post.Watergate Ilw designed to protect people from abuses of government power has unwittingly thwarted efforts to study the effects REP. ROBERT ECItHARDT of occupational diseases. the chlir· man of I House subcommittee said', Proposes chall,es in Tas Reform Act in a report made public today. . . Eckhardt's staff said the proposed changes in the IRS Ilw were consid· Rep. Bob Eckhardt. D-Tex., chair· ered by House leaders in the closins maD of the House Interstate and For· days of the last Congress but were elgn Commerce investigations lost in the lost-minute crunch IS subcommittee. said changes should tbe Congress wound up its leaisl. be made in the 1976 Tax Reform Act to permIt the National Institute tive business. Eckhadt's subcommittee last year on Occupational Safety and Health launched hearings Into an unusu· to use tax and Social Security Illy hIgh outbreak of braID cancer records in its Investigations of oc· deaths among workers In tbe pet. cupattonal dIseases. rocbemical Industry that suggested Investigative efforts of 14 federal tbere IIIlght be a link between the agencies have been blocked or cancers Ind tbe oil refining process. slowed down by provisions of the DUring the bearing o(ficlals of law thlt were desIgned to stop fed· the occupatIOnal sa(ety Institute eral agencies from abUSing procecomplained tbat their efforts to e. dures of the Internal Revenue tlbUsh epldemiolOilcal studies of Service. Eckhardt reported. workers in the petrocbemcl.llndu. The law was enacted to ,revent try were impeded by IRS Ind Social such Watergate·type activities as Security Administration rules that u~lng the IRS to harass taxpayers barred access to records of workers who were amonl those on White at some of these facilities. House "enemies" hsts. Under the The Social Security Administr. measure the IRS IS forbIdden to lion maintaIns records on workers share the tax Information 11 I.thers who died durin•• given calendar with other federal qencies. IRS CommiSSioner ".rome Kuru year and their employment history. told the committee last year th.t The IRS also maintaIns slmil.r datL he would Dot oppose amendments The occupatlon.1 safety Institute. to the 1916 law to permit use of IRS al.;o known as NIOSH. is investigatdata by the National Institute on Ing tbe effects on workers of expoOccupatiOnal Safety and Health in sure to dIOXID. (ormaldehyde. wood liS effort to collect epIdemiologIcal preservatIves. vinyl chloride. ver· data. The institute urged that the mlcullte and other chemicals linked change be made. saYIng it could save by some studies to cancer. millions of dollars now belllg spent The research done by NIOSH is to duplicate informatton it could get used by tbe Occupational Safety and more cheaply and eaSIly by uslllg Health AdmInistration. the Mine IRS Ind SocIal Security data. Safety and Health AdmInIstration, Ind tbe Department of Labor in developing regulations for workpl.ce standards. In tts report. issued today. the House subcommittee suggests amen· dln~ the 19i4 legislation to allow NI05H access to IRS information. WIth certaIn safeguards to ensure • clPlt the privacy of IndIVIduals WIll be protectl!d. UCC 013799