Editorial.Editorial Fighting to keep a substance as a suspected carcinogen appears to be a strange thing for an association to be doing, but the Polyurethane Manufacturers Association is doing just that. MOCA MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art MOCA Multimedia over Coax MoCA Museum of Chinese in the Americas MOCA Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance MOCA Montezuma Castle National Monument (US National Park Service) (4,4'-Methylene bis(2-chloroaniline) is back before government regulators and this time the proposal is to change its designation to a confirmed carcinogen from the suspected carcinogen category status MOCA has held for 17 years. As the main curing agent for castable polyurethanes, this switch would be a severe blow because MOCA would no longer be allowed. Currently there is a threshold limit value threshold limit value n. Abbr. TLV The maximum concentration of a chemical allowable for repeated exposure without producing adverse health effects. of 0.02 parts per million parts per million mg/kg or ml/l; see ppm. . The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists ACGIH® advances worker protection by providing timely, objective, scientific information to occupational and environmental health professionals. History The independent National Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (NCGIH) convened on June 27, 1938, in Washington, D. has decided to review the MOCA classification because of a National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. study linking MOCA with bladder cancer in humans. The PMA PMA (papillary-marginal-attached), n a system of epidemiologic scoring of periodontal disease devised by Schour and Massler in which the symbols denote the areas involved in gingival inflammation. PMA Progressive muscular atrophy is ready for the review. The association commissioned a report by an independent panel of experts that mainly addressed the flaws and inaccuracies of the NIOSH NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health, see there NIOSH Recommendations for Safety & Health Standards Agent NIOSH REL*/OSHA PEL† Health effects study. These flaws and inaccurate scientific conclusions should not be used to reclassify MOCA, the report states. The report gives you the impression that MOCA one day may be proven to cause cancer in humans, but there is no direct link now. Innocent until proven guilty is the maxim and the NIOSH study falls way short of proof. The PMA also has the documentation of its own program which it instituted to reduce MOCA levels in polyurethane manufacturing. Realizing that airborne monitoring couldn't truly assess the degree of worker absorption, the PMA set up a voluntary biological monitoring program over 15 years ago. This program has led to reduction of MOCA exposure. The design of closed transfer systems and production of a fused, hardened pellet are results of this desire to lower worker exposure. Most of the time government hearings of this nature bring out the bad side of an industry, but it's not the case here. This case shows the concern the polyurethane industry has for a safe workplace environment and its innovative monitoring program should be a model for other industries. |
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