The Chemical World This Week
RECORD DECLINE IN CHEMICAL PRODUCTION IS The record dropoff in chemical in dustry production that began last fall is continuing. The latest read ing, a seasonally adjusted figure from the Federal Reserve Board for production of chemicals and allied products in January, shows a 3% decline just from December. This means that overall chemical output has slumped nearly 13% since its peak last September. Perhaps the only consolation in this bleak situation is that the severity of the decline appears to be diminishing. The output drop for January was bad but slightly less than the 4% drop in December and the 4.8% decline in November. But although the new figure for January is one of the first hints that the worst may be over, it is still just a hint. The latest detailed chemical output numbers from various sources, running generally through December, show only a deepening recession in the basic chemicals business. In the hardest-hit area, synthetic fibers, for instance, FRB's seasonal ly adjusted production index for December dropped 27% just since November. One of the first major casualties of the current recession in the chemical industry, fibers now have suffered a 48% cut in output since September and a 49% drop since their peak output in July. Plastics output began to fall after the decline in fibers. But once be-
Chemical production fell 13% in four months Production index, 1967 = 100 a 160
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6
C&EN Feb. 24, 1975
gun, the plastics decline accelerated fast. Seasonally unadjusted figures from the Society of the Plastics Industry for December indicate that plastics production fell 13% from the November level. Seasonally adjusted FRB figures show plastics production drops of 7% in Novem ber and 2% in October from the previous month. The December debacle in plas tics is no surprise. Industry reports had predicted an especially sharp decline for the month due to yearend inventory cleanouts. Still, SPI's numbers, just out, are a slight shock. Some thermoplastics, in cluding polypropylene and poly vinyl chloride, registered sudden output drops after holding up fairly well earlier in the fall. The sharpness of the output drop
in plastics in November and Decem ber has trimmed about half a billion lb from a full-year 1974 production forecast made by SPI just last month based on data through October. The new year-end figures have lowered the year's output gain in major thermosets and thermo plastics to 2.2% over 1973 from the earlier 4.3%. The actual production figure for the year (not including about 10% of total production made up of small-volume resins) is now 24.6 billion lb, up from 24.1 billion lb in 1973. Basic organics and inorganics also reflected the general production drop in December. Swiftly falling organics production dropped an other 7% in December from Novem ber to give an 11% decrease since September, according to FRB. Alkalies and chlorine outputs showed their first drop in December, a 3% decline from peak production in November. And other inorganics continued their slippage with a 1% drop in December from November, α
Meat wrapper asthma tied to label fumes Adhesives in price labels applied with heat to meat packages, and not polyvinyl chloride in the plastic wrapping, are probably the princi pal cause of "meat wrapper's asth ma," according to studies carried out at the University of Oregon Health Science Center in Portland. Under simulated working condi tions, 13 meat-wrapping personnel were exposed to fumes generated when price labels were heated on the electric hot plate of a commer cial labeling machine. Within 30 seconds to 20 minutes, nine workers rapidly developed severe cough, tightness of the chest, dizziness, rapid heart beat, runny nose, and other asthma symptoms. The epi sodes were serious enough to re quire treatment with epinephrine, aminophylline, and other drugs, the university's Dr. Rudi Andrasch told the 31st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy held in San Diego. In a related Oregon study, work ers who were exposed to PVC fumes from plastic meat-wrapping films for three hours developed similar but less severe respiratory symp toms. When meat wrapper's asth ma was first observed about two years ago, it was believed that PVC fumes were the chief cause of the
occupational illness, Andrasch ex plains. Although the fumes from the meat labels still have not been identified chemically, the adhesive backings contain miscellaneous elastomers, thermoplastic copoly mers, styrene-butadiene copoly mers, styrene-acrylonitrile copoly mers, polyphenylene oxides, polysulfones, and phthalic acid plasticizers, the Oregon researcher says. Thermal decomposition of PVC film produces carbon monox ide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen chlo ride, toluene, and benzene phthalate plasticizers, as well as numer ous hydrocarbons and chlorinated compounds. The Oregon study, supported by the local meat cutters union, fol lowed a survey of meat wrappers in the Portland area. Of 67 affected, 57% reported "moderate to severe respiratory symptoms," whereas smaller percentages experienced headache, nasal congestion, sore throat, and stomach cramps, among other symptoms. Some workers said that asthma attacks began within three to four hours after starting work; others reported attacks after only 10 to 15 minutes of exposure. Three damage suits relating to
