Chromium Risks May Have Been Withheld

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> Chromium Risks May Have Been Withheld

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> Feb 23, 9:08 AM (ET)

>

> By HOPE YEN

>

> WASHINGTON (AP) - Worried about stricter regulations, the chromium industry

> withheld key data from the government involving the health risks of workers

> exposed to the carcinogenic metal, according to a study released Thursday.

>

> The paper by Washington University and Public Citizen, published in

> Environmental Health, found the industry submitted incomplete data last year

> on the links between hexavalent chromium and lung cancer.

>

> Hexavalent chromium, the chemical featured in the 2000 movie

> Brockovich, is used in chrome plating, stainless steel welding and the

> production of chromate pigments and dyes. Approximately 380,000 welders,

> steelworkers and jewelers are exposed to it on the job.

>

> The new findings come one week before the U.S. Occupational Safety and

> Health Administration was set, by court order, to issue a new standard on

> acceptable workplace levels of chromium. A federal appeals court set the

> Feb. 28 deadline after Public Citizen sued over delays in issuing a rule.

>

> " The circumstances regarding this study raise troubling questions about the

> ability of the government to effectively issue rules protecting public

> health when studies are conducted, controlled and selectively published, "

> said Lurie, deputy director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.

>

> OSHA said Wednesday it was working hard " to produce a final rule that

> complies with the court's order. " A spokeswoman, Sharon Worthy, declined

> additional comment. A spokeswoman for the Specialty Steel Industry of North

> America did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

>

> According to the paper, industry groups commissioned a study in 1997 at four

> sites - two in the U.S., two in Germany - on chromium's risks in

> anticipation of a move by OSHA to further restrict workplace levels of the

> metal.

>

> But once the study was completed in 2002, industry groups submitted to OSHA

> selected data suggesting that only the highest - and not intermediate -

> exposure of chromium led to a significantly higher risk of lung cancer

> death.

>

> " Public health rulemakings should not be based on partial records or limited

> by scientists' career concerns, particularly when lives hang in the

> balance, " the paper states.

>

> Public Citizen and Washington University's School of Public Health

> and Health Services said they stumbled upon evidence that key data was

> withheld in documents disclosed last year following the bankruptcy of

> Industrial Health Foundation, a chromium industry-funded group.

>

> Public Citizen says it has submitted the complete four-site data to OSHA.

> But it's unclear whether OSHA is considering the information because it came

> after the agency stopped accepting material for its rule-making process, the

> watchdog group said.

>

> Currently, OSHA regulations cap chromium levels at work to 52 micrograms per

> cubic meter. It supports restricting levels to 1 microgram per cubic meter,

> which is slightly lower than " intermediate " exposure levels of 1.5 to 16.0,

> according to the paper.

>

> Public Citizen is urging OSHA to restrict the level to 0.25 microgram per

> cubic meter.

>

> ---

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> On the Net:

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> OSHA: http://www.osha.gov/

>