Chemical Engineering December 2011 - 6

Chemical Engineering e UC
86x123 12/2011
Letters
Ultra-Clean
The new cGMP-drum
offers process reliability by
validated cleaning procedures
Details of the Ultra-Clean line:
- Sanitary welded edging
- Geometry of beads and bottom
optimized for clean discharge
of product and for drum cleaning
- Body, base and lid in stainless
steel AISI 316
- FDA-approved silicone elastomer
seal ring, USP Class VI
- Choose from a range
of 20 different sizes
- Compliant with FDA and cGMP
guidelines
Müller GmbH - 79618 Rheinfelden (Germany)
Industrieweg 5 - Phone: +49(0)7623/969-0 - Fax: +49(0)7623/969-69
A company of the Müller group
info@mueller-gmbh.com - www.mueller-gmbh.com
Circle 20 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.che.com/35072-20
Better styrene science needed
The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services' (HHS) flawed
and unwarranted ruling that styrene poses a health hazard
continues to stir opposition from respected scientists, manufacturing
leaders, the hundreds of thousands of American
workers whose jobs depend on a viable styrene industry,
and a broad-based bipartisan coalition on Capitol Hill. Fifty
members of the U.S. House of Representatives last week
- including a dozen Democrats - sent a strongly worded
letter to the Obama White House urging the Administration
to commission a National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
review of HHS's action. Only an independent and rigorous
NAS review can resolve the confusion caused by HHS's 12th
Report on Carcinogens (RoC). Moreover, only an NAS review
- the gold standard of scientific assessments - can help the
federal government make informed regulatory decisions and
provide responsible guidance about hazard identification.
As noted epidemiologist Dr. Julie Goodman of Gradient
Technologies and other veterans of NAS reviews have
pointed out, HHS' RoC was based on cherry-picked science
and an unsound process. HHS chose to ignore the weight
of scientific evidence, which clearly shows no causal link
between styrene and human cancer. Among the studies
HHS failed to adequately consider are:
* Its own Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
* International Agency for Research on Cancer's 2002 review
* Comprehensive studies recently conducted by the European
Union, Canada and Japan
* A 2009 review conducted by a blue-ribbon panel of internationally
recognized epidemiologists
HHS' staffers must have known that the latest science did
not support their conclusions about styrene's health effects.
Yet the agency insisted on issuing a ruling with the
potential to frighten workers, plant neighbors and consumers
- with no public health benefit whatsoever.
Left unchallenged, the listing of styrene as a carcinogen
could have the longterm effect of moving manufacturing
jobs to countries that have not taken such an ill-informed
position. Indeed, the only [other] place a manufacturer
has to worry about styrene liability is Sweden.
Styrene-dependent composite manufacturers, many of
them second- or even third-generation family companies,
are already suffering the consequences of HHS's peremptory
action. Workers' compensation liability costs have
skyrocketed, certain companies are delaying investments
and worker expansion due to marketplace uncertainty and
many worry that the HHS ruling will ultimately force them
to move their facilities out of the U.S. This domino effect
may well effectively kill the industry. U.S. composite companies
help produce everything from better roads and bridges
to recreation boats and pollution controls to the ballistic
shields that protect our military.
Styrene has been used safely for more than 60 years.
We cannot let a misguided federal ruling jeopardize such
a critical industry - and some 750,000 sorely needed
American manufacturing jobs. For more information,
please consult www.youknowstyrene.org ■
Tom Dobbins, chief staff executive
Circle 13 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.che.com/35072-13
6 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM DECEMBER 2011
American Composites Manufacturers Assn.
http://www.mueller-gmbh.com http://adlinks.che.com/35072-20 http://www.youknowstyrene.org http://adlinks.che.com/35072-13 http://WWW.CHE.COM
Chemical Engineering December 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering December 2011
