Industry physicians blamed workers’ alcohol use for symptoms caused by carcinogen exposure

Evidence

By 1973, the MCA’s own epidemiological and animal studies confirmed that exposure to vinyl chloride could cause liver cancer (Markowitz & Rosner, 2002). Nonetheless, in 1975 a physician at Pittsburgh Plate Glass wrote, “It is my feeling that the vast majority of abnormal liver function tests are caused by regular and rather heavy drinking of alcohol and I expect that the people who have abnormal liver tests as a result of this may be inclined to resume their previous habits as soon as they think they are okay” (Lovejoy, 1975). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1783

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: ‘Blame the victim’s lifestyle’ as a corporate deflection playbook — a history of blaming alcohol, smoking, and genetics for occupational disease. Could trace the pattern from vinyl chloride through asbestos and beyond.