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Vinylidene chloride linked to cancer

1977, Chemical & Engineering News

The Chemical World This Week SCIENCE AND POLITICS: FRUSTRATED RELATION "I find that one of the great challenges of the future will be to differentiate what science and technology can do from what they cannot do. Their promise is great. They can and will continue to make dramatic breakthroughs in field after field. They can continue to significantly improve the human condition. But I fear that people have too much faith in their miracles—that the cornucopia of their benefits can seriously excuse, postpone, and delay some public policy considerations that we must institute." Speaking "only as a public policy maker who worries a lot," Colorado governor Richard D. Lamm last week in Denver nevertheless underscored the theme of the 143rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Science and Change—Hopes and Dilemmas. The address was but an opening statement in a week that saw AAAS exploring changes, hopes, and dilemmas through symposia on such topics as "scientific freedom and responsibility" and "science: the key to our political future." To Lamm, "We must disenthrall ourselves from the conceitful notion that science is the key to our political future. It is only one key and likely not the major one. The social innovations are equally or more important than the scientific ones." Neither political nor scientific solutions are keeping up with the pace of problems, Lamm believes. "We live in a hinge of history," he says, and "we will see dramatic change in the years ahead. Some of this change will be helpful—some harmful—but on balance I believe that the crises we are faced with are moving us into the most hazardous time of human history . . . and neither the politicians nor the scientific community is prepared for the nature and extent of change." The public today, Lamm says, looks to both scientists and politicians to help them out of the "Niagara of problems" that are coming at them. But the scientific and political communities are frustrated in their relationship. "Truth is, we have very little leadership in politics anymore—we have umpires Science is a process that seeks truth—politics is a process that seeks survival. 6 C&ENFeb. 28, 1977 Lamm: more wisdom needed "We can lament this fact, criticize it roundly, pray for 'profiles in courage.' But inevitably we are surely to live our future as we have observed in our history—with 'survivability' as an overriding consideration in virtually every political judgment." It is against this difference in cultures that Lamm, as a policy maker, evaluates the contributions and failures of the science and technology community. He finds in that community a frequent tendency to formulate problems narrowly—to have a specialized tunnel vision that does not see or fully appreciate all the public policy factors of a decision. In addition to finding too often single-dimensional solutions to multifaceted problems, Lamm says, scientists often tend to ignore resource limitations and the agony of politically implementing many of the proposed solutions. "We speak to each other across our 'two cultures' but we seldom communicate." This, Lamm maintains, is not only the fault of public officials. What is needed, more than bright minds, he says, is wisdom. "Science at best is not wisdom. It is knowledge, while wisdom is knowledge tempered with judgment. This judgment is too often missing in the accelerating pace of scientific advance." • Vinylidene chloride linke I to cancer Vinylidene chloride, a plastics monomer widely used in food wraps, has been linked to formation of kidney cancers in mice. Dr. Cesare Maltoni of the University of Bologna, Italy, told a scientific workshop in New York City last week of inhalation studies in his laboratory where 20 to 25% of 120 male Swiss mice exposed to 25 ppm vinylidene chloride in air developed kidney carcinomas. These represent the first clear data linking exposure to the chemical with cancer, says Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond, vice president for epidemiological research at the American Cancer Society. On chemical grounds, vinylidene chloride, or 1,1-dichloroethylene, appears to be an excellent candidate to be a carcinogen, Hammond explains, because of its structural similarity to vinyl chloride and trichloroethylene, both known carcinogens. For this reason, Maltoni has been conducting two-year inhalation studies of the compound in rats, mice, and hamsters. The Manufacturing Chemists Association also has been sponsoring inhalation and ingestion studies of the compound in rats and hamsters. The MCA studies, conducted since 1974 at Dow Chemical in Midland, Mich., have not shown any incidence of carcinogenicity, according to Dow, nor have any of Maltoni's studies on any animal other than the Swiss mouse. However, the Food & Drug Administration is required under the Delaney clause to ban from food contact uses a substance that is a carcinogen in any animal. Vinylidene chloride is used in copolymers to impart fire retardance and impermeability to gases. The most important copolymers are with vinyl chloride and with acrylonitrile, both called saran. There are two U.S. producers of the monomer, Dow and PPG Industries. Dow estimates that saran production is about 150 million lb per year, the majority of which is used in food wraps, including Dow's consumer product Saran Wrap. There is no evidence that there is any residual monomer in food wraps containing vinylidene chloride, or that if there were it would leach into food, Hammond emphasizes. He calls on FDA and other regulatory agencies to evaluate the possible risk of vinyl idene chloride exposure in light of Maltoni's findings. Both Dow and PPG have studied the health of their workers exposed to vinylidene chloride, PPG going back for seven years, and Dow for more than 20 years. Although the studies are limited in size, neither shows any adverse health effects attributable to exposure to the chemical. • ERDA R&D funds cut in revised federal budget When the Carter Administration disclosed its revised fiscal year 1978 budget last week, there were few surprises. The President was on record that he would cut military spending. He did. He had promised to step up federal spending for social programs and economic stimulus. He did these things, too. Former nuclear engineer Carter also had promised to give nuclear energy less emphasis— which he did. Federal support of R&D was little changed, except for a new emphasis on energy. No one really expected a change anyhow since the amount of money the government spends on R&D is somewhat hard to find in a total budget of $459.4 billion, the President's new estimate for fiscal 1978. This is $19.4 billion more than proposed by President Ford Most affected under the new budget proposal is the Energy Research & Development Administration. Although the agency's total budget has changed little at $7.8 billion (down $87 million from the Ford plan), ERDA's R&D programs have been cut a hefty $102 million, largely at the expense of the fast breeder reactor. At the same time, funds for energy conservation activities have been more than doubled, to $318 million. Breeder reactor biggest loser in revamped ERDA R&D budget $ Millions Conservation Fossil energy Solar heating/cooling Solar electric Geothermal Fusion power Fast breeder reactor Nuclear fuel cycle and safeguards Other fission Special foreign currency funds TOTAL Previous Amended Change $158 598 45 260 88 513 855 636 148 2 $3303 $318 $1160 640 42 90 45 215 -45 88 -0 433 -80 656 - 1 9 9 611 148 -25 -0 2 -0 $3201 $ - 1 0 2 Hardest hit in ERDA's R&D authority is the liquid-metal fast breeder reactor, for which funds would be cut $199 million, or 23%, from the $855 million proposed by the Ford Administration. Also slashed by Carter would be R&D funds for fusion power development, down $80 million to $433 million, and solar electric R&D, down $45 million from Ford's earlier proposed budget to $215 million. Total spending for solar energy R&D remains flat at $305 million, but this figure reflects a cut of $55 million from the central-receiver electric power plant project. About $45 million of the savings would be used to pay for 1300 new demonstration solar collector units for homes and buildings. The balance would be spread around for fuels from biomass, photovoltaics, and a solar receiver project development. Meanwhile, environmentalists were cheered somewhat by President Carter's proposal to add 600 jobs at the Environmental Protection Agency. In a prepared statement, EPA administrator designate Douglas M. Costle said the 600 new employees would go primarily into positions in the toxic substances and solid wastes areas. • Carbon tet spill causes stir along Ohio River At press time last week, the remains of an estimated 70 tons of carbon tetrachloride mixed with large volumes of river water was moving down the Ohio River in the vicinity of Evansville, Ind. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency was trying to find out how the poisonous compound got in the river in the first place. EPA has been surveying the Ohio River for organic contaminants for several years. Low levels of carbon tetrachloride contamination, on the order of a few parts per billion, have been a chronic problem. Concentrations were unusually high during January and February, with peaks as high as 100 ppb at Cincinnati's raw water intake. Then on Feb. 11, EPA survey teams discovered that a really massive "slug" of carbon tet had been dumped into the river somewhere. The results of analyses weren't available until Feb. 18. Levels as high as 340 ppb—cause for alarm, according to EPA—were detected. Residents of Portsmouth and Ironton, Ohio, were advised to boil their drinking water during the day or so that the plume of the compound was passing their water intakes. Then rain and thaws caused the river to speed up, and the carbon tet "passed Cincinnati before we knew what was happening," according to an EPA spokesman. Carbon tet concentration in the water was still high as the plume passed Louisville, but that city was able to reduce the concentration to a presumably safe level by treating the water with powdered carbon. Carbon tet is detected by purging from the water with an inert gas onto an adsorptive column, then desorbing from the column into a gas chromatograph. Measurement is made with a coulorimetric detector. From the stream flow and the compound's concentrations, EPA calculates that about 70 tons had been dumped into the river. Suspicion centered on four chemical plants—FMC's and Diamond Shamrock's on the Kanawha River, near Charleston, W.Va., and PPG's and Allied's on the Ohio River above its confluence with the Kanawha. PPG says it hasn't made carbon tet since 1971. Allied says it makes it, but finds no evidence to indicate abnormal discharges. Diamond Shamrock makes only a few tons per day at its Belle, W.Va., plant, although it makes other chlorinated methanes at that location. FMC, by far the largest producer in the area, says it can't confirm the spill at this time, but can't deny it either. However, F M C says that the loss of 70 tons certainly would show up in its monitoring processes—in fact, it would upset production drastically—and it can find nothing to suggest such a loss. It is still investigating. • Cold hurt industry less than expected Assessments beginning to emerge on the effects of the record cold weather this winter show that most industries, including the chemical industry, have lost less production than most people thought would be lost. The chemical industry in particular had minimal disruptions and unemployment, according to results of a telephone survey conducted by members of the Department of Commerce's Office of Business Research & Analysis. The survey included 25 companies that account for more than 50% of chemical industry shipments, excluding ammonia. Only 1% of the chemical work force was affected, the Commerce survey found. Lost time was brief, ranging between two and 10 days. Most lost time occurred at plants where alternative fuels had to be obtained in place of natural gas. Widespread substitution of other Source: Energy Research & Development Administration Feb. 28, 1977C&EN 7