Document 0KK970jme1ZqKQ0qJD62GDwd

A C` f *** * r hM.v York. N. Y. IOj'o ? :2-6?.y*3378 bciciion N, ;r AIA-37 February I, I?7 3 The Editor The New York Tires Magazine 229 West 43 Street New York, New York 1C036 Dear Sir: Robert Sherrill's onesided end sensationalized ett'ola. "Asbestos, the saver of lives, has a deadly side" (Jer.ua: contained many errors of fact and interpretation. The following should help clarify a few of his more blatant omissions and distortions. 1. Decause of the long latent period ot a set; sens relatoe disease, the disease being found today is not an an'cient ion " end condition.; bus u , i bj .... r Ci IC.Ow tious misting cr?ioofcar cos ago, at a time whan re it her the red! cal profession, government non. the industry kr.:M very much about the health effects cf asbestos and even less about the proper naans for their control. 2. The isolated incidents cited as proof of industry indifference and irresponsibility ire not indicative of the overall industry response to this problem. In the past decade alone, the asbestos manufacturing industry has spent approximately $1.10 million on dust control, ar.d expects to spend an additional $35 million ever the next few years to achieve complete compliance with the final Labor Department standards. 3. No mention was made whatever cf the highly respected and extensive medical research which has been sponsored, co-sponsored or cooper-tad in by the industry through the years, ar.d which has contributed significantly to cur knov.-ieego of the -biological effects cf asbestos. In fee-, the Institute of Occupational and Environment..'.'. Health, sponsored by the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association, is "ne'er the world's largest nor.governmental sources of funds for asbestos-henliu research. ^^Os3as The Editor The Maw York Tir.es Fage Two Februarv 1, 1973 Magazine AIA-37 4- While Dr. Seiikoff has certainly race a valuable contribution, to our knowledge of asbestos-related disease, it is unfortunate that Mr. Sherrill did not discuss the situation v:ith any of the other top authorities in the field since many of them do not believe that many of Dr. SeZikcff' recent frightening predictions are justified by the printed medical data. 5 The Labor Department decision to delay adoption of the two fiber standard for an additional two years beyond the uwo year' implementation period recommended by KIOSK and the Advisory Cc:tcirc_u was approved by Dr. Marcus M. Key, Director of NIOSH, prior to the publication cf the standards. Furthermore, Dr. Key is in total disagreement with Dr. Seiikoff's prediction that half of all those entering the asbestos industry within the next-four years will die because of the delay in going to two fibers. We believe that the above facts demonstrate quite clearly the incomplete and distorted manner in which Mr. Sherrill presented the asbestos-health situation' in his article. Very truly yours, Matthew M, Swetonic Executive Secretary g i--