Chemicals get stern warning from OSHA Dr. Morton Corn, the new head of the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, has served notice on the chemical industry that it is going to be a primary focus for his agency's regulatory efforts in the immediate future. And that emphasis will be continued. Speaking to a Manufacturing Chemists Association luncheon in Washington, D.C., last week, Corn said that present OSHA standards are almost entirely related to safety hazards, but a major shift in emphasis has been made to stress agents in the work place that affect health. This new direction for OSHA will have increasing importance for the chemical industry, for there will "assuredly be future increased contact with OSHA compliance personnel." In the next two years, all new hires of compliance officers will be health compliance officers with their numbers increasing from the present 135 to 1000. And they'll be busy. "We plan to factor into our inspections priority recognition of at least the classic, well-known hazards relating to chemical and physical agents that may affect employee health at work These altered schedules for general compliance inspections will raise the chemical industry to a position higher on the priority scale for inspections." However, "for those compounds not yet evaluated for toxic potential all the regulatory tools at the disposal of OSHA and [the Environmental Protection Agency] are ineffective," Corn said. At present, for compounds without known toxic properties, "we can only wait until effects on the health of the working population are such that individuals are conspicuous because they are different from their fellow workers; they are sick Some form of toxic substances legislation is urgently needed if we are to be aware of chemicals in the work environment which may cause ill effects." Further, "rather than place the burden of proof of the nontoxicity of a chemical compound on the regulator, the burden of proof should be on the user when a chemical is utilized in the production of a product. It should be demonstrated that men and women hired to work with the chemical and the general public purchasing the final product will not be harmed by exposure to, and utilization of the chemical and the final product."
Finally, Corn hit hard on the chemical industry's credibility. "Unfortunately, the tone has been set for your industry by the vinyl chloride hearing. It was stated by several corporations that the proposed standard would put the industry out of business. Although it is not unusual to have strident promotional cries in the hearing process, you cannot afford that luxury. Certainly, you cannot afford it another time." D
Scientists' image: some improvement The National Science Board's just unveiled second assessment of the health of the nation's science and technology effort in 1974 includes one statistical indicator that ought to make practitioners in that effort downright proud. In the public's ranking of nine professions and occupations, scientists were second only to physicians. Engineers were in third place. And in general, the NSB-funded survey of the public's attitudes toward science and technology, which are detailed in NSB's "Science Indicators, 1974" report, are refreshingly positive (see also
story on page 13). NSB is the policy-making advisory group for the National Science Foundation. Among other things, the NSB survey asked: "Do you feel that science and technology have changed life for the better or for the worse?" Fully 75% of those responding in the 1974 survey said that it was for the better, 5% said it was for the worse, and 11% said it was both. In comparison, 70% of those asked the same question in a 1972 survey said it was for the better, 8% said for the worse, and 11% said both. In a related query, NSB found in 1974 that 57% of those surveyed believed that science and technology have done more good than harm. This compares with 54% in 1972. 31% of those surveyed in both years view the impact as about evenly divided between good and harm. In contrast, the 1974 survey found 2% with a view that science does more harm than good compared with 4% in the 1972 survey. NSB reports that about half of those surveyed in both 1972 and 1974 view science and technology as causing some of the nation's problems, 37% view science and technology as causing few or none of the problems, and fewer than 8% believe that science and technology
C&EN staff photo
Good signs from Pittsburgh Conference Traditionally a harbinger of technological change in analytical instrumentation, the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry & Applied Spectroscopy also reflects to a large extent the economic health of manufacturers and users of the instrumentation. Judging from last week's conference, held again in Cleveland this year, instrumental analysis has by any measure recovered to a period of robust health. At midweek, registration seemed headed toward a predicted record 8000, up from last year's slightly depressed 6800. The number of booths occupied at the conference's exhibition was up, to 642 from about 580 last year. Exhibitors occupying them increased from about 300 to some 325. Exhibitors were almost unanimous in citing large increases over last year in buyer interest and contacts. And at the conference's employment bureau, the 195 openings were only slightly below the 233 job candidates registered.
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cause most of the problems. NSB also finds that the public expects science and technology to solve, eventually, many of the nation's major problems. But the fraction of the public believing that dropped from 30% in 1972 to 23% in 1974. As for the pace of change produced by science and technology, NSB finds that about 50% of the public in both years view the pace as "about right," about 20% view the pace as "too fast," and about 18% view the pace as "too slow." Areas where the public would most like to have their tax dollars spent, NSB finds, include, in order, improving health care, reducing and controlling pollution, and reducing crime. Areas where the public would least like having their tax dollars spent include, in order, space exploration, developing or improving weapons for national defense, and finding better birth control methods. D
Chloroform tagged as carcinogen in mice Another widely used chlorinated hydrocarbon—chloroform—has been found carcinogenic in National Cancer Institute tests on rodents. Final results of NCI studies released last week show that mice fed high doses of chloroform in corn oil have a 98% incidence of hepatocellular carcinomas (liver cancer) for males and 95% incidence for females. Mice given half these doses show 36% incidence for males and 80% for females. Rats fed chloroform develop kidney epithelial tumors—24% of males and 4% of females for high doses, and 8% and 0%, respectively, for half-doses. Both rats and mice were fed by gavage (through tubes directly to their stomachs). Once employed mainly as an anesthetic and in pharmaceutical preparations, chloroform now is used primarily for making fluorocarbons. The chemical also is used for extracting and purifying antibiotics, as an industrial solvent, for preparation of dyes, drugs, and pesticides, in liniments and photographic processing, and for industrial drycleaning. Producers include Dow Chemical, Stauffer Chemical, Vulcan, Allied Chemical, and Diamond Shamrock. Current U.S. output is about 260 million lb a year. The first applications to come under fire as a result of the NCI findings are chloroform's use in cough medicines, dentifrices, and mouthwashes. Indeed, already last 6
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tamination constitutes "some human health risk." Because of inadequate data, EPA has not yet prescribed limits for chloroform and other organic compounds in drinking water. D
New badge monitors vinyl chloride
Chemical is fed by needle directly to rat's stomach in carcinogenicity test
December—based on NCI data acquired from several scientist sources—the Ralph Nader-affiliated Health Research Group (HRG) petitioned the Food & Drug Administration to ban immediately use of chloroform in such products and to recall everything on the shelves. Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe of HRG cites a partial list of 14 cough medicines, all of which list chloroform as an ingredient on the package. One day's dose of a typical one, he notes, contains 160 mg of chloroform. Annual retail sales of chloroform-containing cough medicines may total $40 million, he adds. Chloroform is used as an expectorant in these medicines. However, Wolfe stresses, "there is no evidence that chloroform works as an expectorant." Its inclusion in cough preparations, a few toothpastes, and other oral products seems to be mainly for its pungent flavor, he notes, and there is thus no justification for continued use. Indeed, the NCI results make such use an "imminent danger," and its banning "an open and shut case," Wolfe says. If FDA does not act on HRG's petition "within a few days," the group will seek court action. An FDA panel meeting at press time was due to consider chloroform in cough medicines. "There's no way it will be allowed to be in them now," an agency source states. FDA also will examine chloroform use in drugs, cosmetics, and in preparation of vaccines. A second area that the NCI findings may agitate is U.S. drinking water supplies. A survey of 80 cities by the Environmental Protection Agency found chloroform in every water system, in concentrations of up to 311 ppb. Chlorination to purify the water is the major source. Long before NCI's data were available, EPA's Science Advisory Board already concluded that such con-
A badgelike monitor for vinyl chloride has been developed by chemists at Louisiana State University. Now being tested in several industrial plants, the monitor could be used with little modification to check other gaseous materials, according to Dr. Philip W. West of LSU. The badge, worn as a clip-on device, is about \ inch thick and weighs less than 1 oz. Currently used monitoring devices require industrial workers concerned with vinyl chloride to wear, in varying combinations, bulky plastic bags, noisy air pumps, and batteries that must be recharged frequently. The LSU-developed monitor has a silicone membrane through which air passes. Any vinyl chloride in the air is trapped on an activated charcoal adsorber. In a typical analysis, the air sample materials retained by the monitor are flashed off in a heated chamber and passed through a gas chromatograph for measurement. Another analytical method involves dissolving any captured vinyl chloride in a carbon disulfide solution, which is then injected into a gas chromatograph. These chromatographic analyses are standard methods, West explains. Any plant which makes or uses vinyl chloride undoubtedly has the necessary equipment and skilled analytical chemists to handle the work. Badge monitors in practice could be turned in at the end of a working day. Analysis of the monitor's content would tell the amount of exposure to vinyl chloride in a specified time period. Comparison of the data with standards then could tell if exposure was excessive. Before a number of the handbuilt monitors went out to be tested by several companies, work on the monitor had been going on for a year financed by a National Science Foundation grant. Working with West are Dr. Kenneth D. Reiszner, a visiting instructor of chemistry at LSU, and Leonard H. Nelms, now with Kem-Tech Inc., and who will receive his Ph.D. from LSU at the June graduation. •
