Goodyear Legally Poisoning Its Workers With Toxic Chemicals?
This article is more than 2 years old
Goodyear employees are at a greater risk of bladder cancer due to exposure to a chemical called ortho-toluidine. Apparently, this has been a known fact for over 30 years, as it has been studied by scientists. The chemical is used by the company as part of the tire production process.
Scientists employed by the government have been testing urine from Goodyear employees for exposure to ortho-toluidine for well over three decades. The scientists monitor the air for trace amounts of the cancer-causing chemical. A recent urine sample has provided shocking results.
In a recent urine sample provided by one Goodyear employee before his shift began, results clearly showed the person has enough ortho-toluidine in his body to already be a risk for cancer of the bladder. After his shift was over, another sample of urine was provided for testing. Results from the after-shift sample showed even more shocking results.
After the worker was done with his Goodyear shift, ortho-toluidine levels were five times higher, putting the man at an even greater risk for bladder cancer. These levels, both before and after, are scary news for all employees of the long-time tire company. Since the government and the company know the results of exposing people to this cancer-causing chemical, why do they continue exposing workers to it?
Despite the high levels of ortho-toluidine, the government actually says that the amount that Goodyear employees are exposed to is safe. This government has set a guideline that exposure at a rate of five parts per million in the air is entirely acceptable. This standard, according to the government, does not put anyone at an increased risk of cancer.
This standard regarding ortho-toluidine was set based on research completed in the 1940s and 1950s. Other studies have been done since this outdated study that has proven it to be void. Despite the other studies, the legal limit has remained the same, and Goodyear tire company employees continue to be exposed to dangerous levels of the cancer-causing chemical.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been working at a slow pace to change the legal limit at which Goodyear employees are exposed to ortho-toluidine. Over the course of 25 years, the Administration has changed standards and legal limits for a total of three chemicals. This is not acceptable by any stretch of the imagination.
The process of changing legal limits and exposure standards has proven to be a lengthy process. The three chemicals that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration changed standards for took more than ten years each to complete. There really is no excuse as to why standards for cancer-causing chemicals, like ortho-toluidine, remain the same for so long that they expose millions of people, including Goodyear employees, for decades.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a warning of sorts on its website that warns people that the safety standards set by the United States government are useless. These poor safety standards are unacceptable. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, standards will change for ortho-toluidine, and Goodyear employees can safely work.
