Carbide Chief Defends Action on Toxic Leak

Union Carbide Chairman Warren M. Anderson, defending his company’s conduct in the wake of last weekend’s toxic gas leak in Institute, W.Va., said Friday that he will tell employees to “pull the cord first” and declare emergencies during future chemical spills.

“I have good people with good judgment, but I’m taking that judgment away. I’m saying, ‘You pull the cord,’ ” Anderson said at a news conference. “We’d rather be accused of crying wolf.”

In his first appearance since the gas leak forced the hospitalization Sunday of 135 persons, Anderson stressed that the leak “was not a life-threatening situation” and accused the news media of ignoring the fact that “a lot of things worked well” during the emergency.

‘A Very Dangerous Game’

But he waved off a fusillade of questions about the precise contents of the tank that spewed white clouds over Institute, saying any comments must await the results of an internal inquiry next week.

“Instantaneous evaluation is not possible in this industry,” he said. “Once you get in front of what you know, you’re playing a very dangerous game.”

The Times, quoting the Environmental Protection Agency, reported Thursday that the leak was not primarily the chemical aldicarb oxime, as Union Carbide officials had suggested, but was actually two-thirds methylene chloride, a suspected animal carcinogen and nerve toxin.

The report also quoted Allied Corp., which makes aldicarb oxime, as saying that chemical’s properties are such that it could not have been at fault in the mishap.

All week, Union Carbide had repeatedly pointed to aldicarb oxime, which the company says is a “severe eye irritant,” as the culprit in the accident.

Anderson acknowledged Friday that methylene chloride was in the tank that ruptured but refused to say why precise information on the tank’s contents had not been made public previously.

Responding to questions, Jackson Browning, Union Carbide vice president for environmental affairs, said methylene chloride had shown “biological effects” on mice and rats but was not linked to cancer in humans.

In tests, the chemical has triggered unusual numbers of malignant glandular, lung and liver tumors in mice and rats, and the EPA has placed it under expedited scientific review. Terri Damstra, a scientist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said officials’ “basic concern is exposure in the workplace or contamination of drinking water” over long periods, not one-time exposures like the Institute leak.

West Virginia health officials said Friday that they knew methylene chloride was involved in the leak “from the very beginning” and said they would conduct follow-up health studies to make certain the gas has no lasting effects.

Health Official Quoted

David K. Heydinger, state health commissioner, said that “quite a bit” of the chemical was in the tank that leaked. He said he found no toxic effects “of any import” that could be blamed on methylene chloride but would not say what minor symptoms might be attributed to it.

Meanwhile, Carl Beard, state air pollution control director, said his staff sampled the Institute air for methylene chloride at 1 p.m. Sunday, about 3 1/2 hours after the leak occurred, and found no trace of the substance. The gas evaporates quickly, and the negative finding suggests only that it did not remain in high concentrations for long, he said.

Anderson, while refusing to talk about methylene chloride, said several times that the gas leak was “a problem associated with aldicarb oxime,” which he said is about as toxic as kerosene smoke.

“People have recovered, and all but two have been released from hospitals,” he said. “Our people are back at work and back in the middle of it.”

Others, however, were more critical of the company’s handling of the incident.

“The very disturbing thing is (that) five days after the leak occurred, Carbide doesn’t know what they exposed people to,” said Perry Bryant, head of West Virginia Citizens Action Group. “What struck me was how little he (Anderson) had to say. There wasn’t any substance to what he said.”

Anderson and other chemical industry executives later met with Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., who expressed dismay that Union Carbide had waited 19 minutes to alert authorities after the leak was detected.

“A 20-minute gap contributes to the question of credibility,” Moore said. “In the public perception, and in my perception, Carbide certainly fumbled the ball.”