Opinion ID: 4227268
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Studies of Health Effects

Text: Between 1934 and 1972, Monsanto sponsored 300 studies on the health effects of PCB exposure through inhalation and skin contact. These included skin patch and inhalation tests, as well as studies of the long-term reproductive and toxicological effects of PCBs in lab animals. In 1938, one study showed that PCBs were linked to liver toxicity. However, a series of studies in the 1950s, sponsored by Monsanto, and conducted by Dr. Treon, demonstrated that at ordinary temperatures, the hazard of inhaling PCBs from Aroclors may well be slight or entirely - 5 - absent. These studies concluded that the Aroclors tested only volatilized at levels sufficient to cause adverse health effects in animals when they were heated to 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit). Although Monsanto was not legally required to test the volatilization of PCBs from consumer end products that it did not manufacture -- such as paints and resins -- it sometimes did so. These studies only showed elevated levels of volatilization at room temperature from latex paints and resins. Specifically, Monsanto's U.S.-based research division and U.K.-based medical department conducted at least three studies on the volatilization of PCBs from latex paints between 1952 and 1955. Around that time, one of Monsanto's clients, Dow Chemicals, had expressed interest in using Aroclors in its latex paints. Monsanto's paint studies revealed that air samples collected from rooms covered in latex paint containing Aroclors, with temperatures between 70 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit, contained elevated PCB concentrations (above 0.15 mg per cubic meter) that persisted for one month (the duration of the study). Based on these findings, in 1953, Monsanto U.S. recommended against incorporating Aroclors into latex paints for indoor use. Monsanto U.K. later followed suit by recommending that the company continue to manufacture paints based on chlorinated rubber and - 6 - to sell Aroclors for production of paints intended for exterior application, but to discontinue sale of Aroclors for use in the manufacture of all other paints. However, neither Monsanto nor any other research entity studied the rate of PCB volatilization from caulk. According to Westport's own experts, even though Monsanto had conducted weightloss tests to ascertain the amount of Aroclor vaporization from caulk, the first study on the rate of PCB volatilization did not take place until the early 2000s -- more than three decades after WMS was constructed in 1969. And there are still no studies to date that establish PCBs volatilize from caulk at levels harmful to human health.