NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) Testimony to the Subcommittee on the Environment, Committee on Commerce, United States Senate by Dr. Marcus M. Key on Wednesday, August 21, 1974

摘要

The testimony before the Subcommittee on the Environment reviewed the activities of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare concerning health hazards associated with exposure to vinyl-chloride (75014) (VC). The speaker first reviewed the use of the monomer vinyl-chloride in the manufacturing of plastics and the production statistics. An occupational exposure limit of 500 parts per million (ppm), established in 1946, was lowered to 200 ppm on the demonstration of liver toxicity in animal studies. A renewed interest in the toxicity of the chemical occurred with the outbreak of acroosteolysis, a rare bone disease, among polyvinyl-chloride (PVC) reactor cleaners in the 1960s. The use of PVC bottles for distilled spirits was prohibited in 1973 when the results of tests indicated VC was leaching out of the bottles into the contents. A cluster of deaths from an unusual liver cancer within a 5-year period at one facility of the BF Goodrich's VC production company caused an extreme amount of concern and activity to pinpoint the causes and take the necessary steps to prevent further disease. Two of the outcomes of this intense study were the development of a liver angiosarcoma network by NIOSH and the Center for Diseases Control (CDC) and an epidemiologic study of workers exposed to VC as conducted by NIOSH and CDC.