Workplace watchdogs and industry
advocates agree: too much hexavalent chromium -- the same
chemical at the heart of the movie "Erin Brockovich" -- puts
people at risk for lung cancer. But how much is too much?
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is
set to rule on that on Tuesday. But in the run-up to the
decision, the journal Environmental Health reported that
industry-commissioned scientists withheld data suggesting even
small amounts of the known carcinogen, which is used in the
steel, aerospace, electroplating and industries, can be deadly.
"We think we have an example in which all of the standard
elements of scientific distortion are present: hiding behind
the lawyers, statistical manipulation, failure to publish ...
all that kind of stuff which comes right out of the tobacco
industry playbook," said Dr. Peter Lurie, one of the report's
authors.
Kate McMahon-Lohrer, an attorney at the firm Collier
Shannon Scott and counsel for the industry group Chromium
Coalition, vehemently disagreed with the Environmental Health
report.
"That charge is absolutely and completely false and it's
outrageous and libelous," she said.
In a telephone interview, McMahon-Lohrer acknowledged that
hexavalent chromium raises workers' cancer risk at high doses,
but said there was debate about the risk from low doses. She
denied any industry-sponsored research was withheld from OSHA.
David Michaels, who heads the project on scientific
knowledge and public policy at George Washington University and
was a senior author of the report, said studies commissioned by
a chromium industry group showed even low doses elevate cancer
risk.
"Industry had commissioned a study which looked at newer
facilities where exposures were much better-controlled and that
study showed that workers with relatively low exposure to
hexavalent chromium had greatly increased risk of lung cancer,"
Michaels said by telephone.
HIDDEN DATA
"Industry criticized OSHA for not having data about the
effects of low-level exposure, when industry in fact had that
data and was hiding it," Michaels said.
The film "Erin Brockovich" focused on the dangers of
contact with hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium VI,
through polluted water. The current matter deals with airborne
chromium VI that some 380,000 U.S. workers might inhale on the
job.
At present, there is no OSHA standard for how much chromium
is acceptable in American factories; the only standard that
exists dates from 1943, when the maximum on-the-job dose was
set to prevent "nasal perforation" and skin irritations.
That 63-year-old standard is 52 micrograms per cubic meter
of air. In 2004, OSHA proposed a standard of 1 microgram per
cubic meter, and has been collecting data on it since then,
from industry and other groups. The watchdog group Public
Citizen asked for a 0.25 microgram per cubic meter level.
OSHA estimated that a 1 microgram level would cause two to
nine excess deaths for every 1,000 workers exposed during their
lifetimes, above the agency's target of one excess death per
1,000 workers.
If the level is raised to 5 micrograms, OSHA estimated it
would cause five to 45 excess deaths for every 1,000 workers.
An OSHA spokesperson declined to comment about what the
decision might be, except to say the agency expected to meet
the Tuesday deadline, as ordered by a federal court.
Michaels said the issue is broader than the chromium VI
case.
"I'm hoping that the entire system rethinks the role of
industry in providing scientific data," he said. "I'd like to
see rules that say ... if industry participates in regulatory
proceedings, they have an obligation to provide all relevant
data, not just the data that supports their position."
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited
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