June __, 2004

Sen. Official Name
P.O. Box 0000
1000 Main Street

Anytown, NC 28000

Re: ATSDR Study in North Carolina

Dear Official Name:

We are writing to inform you about a federally backed study that could have a significant impact on members of our industry association in North Carolina who are your constituents. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a federal agency which is part of the Centers for Disease Control, is conducting a study of emissions from some manufacturing plants in North Carolina, including flexible polyurethane foam (FPF) plants, to determine the possible presence of toluene diisocyanates (TDI) in the ambient air. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is assisting the ATSDR as a local contractor. The North Carolina members of the Polyurethane Foam Association (PFA) have cooperated with ATSDR and NCDHHS from the beginning of this process.

The FPF manufacturing business in North Carolina is an important part of the upholstered furniture supply chain. The North Carolina FPF industry employs more than 4,500 persons and contributes about $300 million in factory value dollars. The efforts of the federal and state regulatory agencies to basically validate a preconceived determination of the outcome could have serious economic effects in North Carolina. Unvalidated and unsubstantiated claims could cause North Carolina citizens needlessly to have grave concerns about their health status and could also result in the loss of thousands of jobs in North Carolina.

The FPF manufacturers were assured that the study was not based on preconceived results and would be conducted in a scientific manner. After seven months, the facts are completely otherwise. The study has proceeded using equipment that has well-known and well-publicized deficiencies with respect to the ability to detect and differentiate TDI from other substances in the ambient air and particularly the levels of TDI that might be present. In establishing the parameters of and in conducting the study, the ATSDR has not followed its own protocols for conducting such scientific studies. An assessment of the requirements for such a scientific study and the actions taken or failed to be taken by the ATSDR in this case have been documented in an attached report by an expert in this field, Dr. Steven P. Levine, Ph.D., CIH; emeritus professor, University of Michigan.

The ATSDR and NCDHHS (the agencies) have proceeded without adequately researching the test sites, investigating the resident populations, or following proper procedural requirements to assist in the determination of the source of any possible TDI emissions, like using meteorological wind direction information and production time reports appropriate to the specific site locations. This information is critical to the study. The agencies have failed to use proper equipment to detect the presence and quantity of TDI in the ambient air. The PFA offered to supply the equipment and personnel, but the offer was not accepted.

The state of North Carolina has the most stringent emissions standards in the nation (30 parts per trillion) for permissible levels of TDI emissions into the ambient air. FPF manufacturers have invested significant resources in engineering and technological changes to their facilities to ensure that they meet the strict North Carolina emissions standards. The 30 parts per trillion ambient air level (AAL) for TDI was derived by the Secretary’s Scientific Advisory Board of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR). This AAL has a 10x safety factor lower than the generally accepted AAL to provide protection for the most sensitive subpopulations. There have not been any reports of failure of FPF facilities in complying with the NCDENR standard.

Our Washington counsel, Mr. James T. McIntyre, sent a letter to Ms. Lynn Wilder, project director at the ATSDR, on May 11, 2004, raising questions about the deficiencies in the study approach being taken in North Carolina. His letter asked ATSDR for a response on how they plan to address those concerns and to repeat the monitoring at a Greensboro facility. The PFA offered to supply proper monitoring equipment and personnel. A recent response from Ms. Wilder failed to acknowledge any deficiencies in the study or to suggest that the agency would take any corrective action. We have now asked Dr. Henry Falk, Director of ATSDR, for a meeting to discuss our concerns.

North Carolina PFA member manufacturing companies are strong believers in being good corporate citizens. We work hard to protect the health and safety of employees as well as citizens in the surrounding community. We entered into this study with ATSDR and NCDHHS in good faith and in a spirit of cooperation. We have been very disappointed in the attitude and approach taken by the federal and state agencies in this study. The failure of either the NCDHHS or the ATSDR personnel to communicate with those sites that have been tested thus far also has been very disappointing.

We have attached a packet of information, including several documents that we thought would be of interest to you, summarizing what is happening versus what was supposed to happen based of ATSDR’s master guide to conducting a community health assessment. The following items have been included:

§  Facts on the North Carolina ATSDR health study prepared by an outside consultant, Dr. Steven Levine Ph.D., CIH, University of Michigan.

§  A summary by Steven Levine, Ph.D., CIH, University of Michigan, of similar ATSDR work performed in 1998 at the Trinity American facility formerly located in Glenola, NC and its deficiencies;

§  Letter addressed to ATSDR and NCDHHS from the Polyurethane Foam Association noting discrepancies in the study; and

§  Letter from the American Chemistry Council to ATSDR and NCDHHS noting discrepancies in the study.

We hope that after reviewing this information, you will agree with us that the ATSDR and the NCDHHS have not acted in an appropriate manner in conducting the health studies of TDI in the ambient air in North Carolina. We ask that you contact the Atlanta office of the ATSDR and the NCDHHS (addresses attached) and request an impartial review of the procedures being followed with an opportunity to improve the testing process to correct the serious discrepancies that we believe exist. The work should be done in accordance with the protocols established by the ATSDR in its own manual guiding this type of inquiry.

Sincerely yours,

The constituents listed below

Bobby Bush, Vice-president

Hickory Springs Manufacturing

Hickory, North Carolina

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