Document 0LN8XRXXjN0e5jDZD9Jm034rb

FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1973 Nov 25 DOC NMA080 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION NYT - Conferees Study Asbestos Hazard i . CONFEREES Nov. 25 1973 NYT 125 From 13 Countries Find That Lethal Mineral is Present Everywhere BY JANE E. BRODY dals dals The New York TowTE grapple urgent DURHAM More than 125 scientists from 13 countries gathered here in the midst of the tobacco country last week to with an lic health question pub What risk does the general public face from the ingestion of asbestos a mineral of a thousand uses whose potentially lethal fibers pervade the human environ- inent In three days of intense discussion and debate no final ffeewwconclusions worrisompe reliminaryfindf-indings were presentedpreliminary preliminary hun- dreds of yet unanswered were raised Only two facts want unchal: that abestos is every where the air in waterways in drinking water in by The conference called the National Institute of Environ- prompted by prompted largely largely by didsisccoovv drinking largely Dulutthhe prompted earlier of and other that the water Duluth Minn cities on Lake Su- perior was heavily contaminated with asbestos the re- suit of pollution company that has ing 67,000 tons of rockyrocky wastewaste into the lake cach day for 17 years The Goverins mseeekinng tto . end the dumping of these as " should it do about the countless nther sources of asbestos contamination Asbestos represents a clas- sic that our ! society industrial will face over and over again remarked Dr. ~ David Rall director of the Na- tional Institute It's a vitali substance so we can't ban it but there's a growing concern about its possible health of fects And since the health effectsi aftor of asbestos often do not up until 20 to 30 years aftor initial exposure evon if we stop all asbestos exposure to- will continue to into , we evidence of disease well into the next century said Dr. Rob WestBurrell Virginia microbiologist University at cancer thatthat affects affects Recentlayffeacbtdsomtehne Recently Dr. Irving J. Seli- koff who directs a Federally center at Mount Sinai Medical Center reported that asbestost risk of risk develodepvelopiing ng an cancienrcreased gastroidntieasgtinnoasletdragcastrotintestinal States cases of 100,000 new gastrointestinal cancer will be in the United and althoughi your it is the nation's most common of internal cancer its cause remains unknown A big question explored at week's * last meeting how mighwt as inhaled asbestos damage the digestive tract Dr. Sidney Laskin of New York University noted that 25 to 50 per cent toto coughedup likely : . swallowed i Intensive studies of the ef fects of asbestos consumptioni on a variety of experimentali animals are just getting under way preliminary presented presented to the meeting o the fibrousmeeting findings vate that mineral can pass through the wall of the small intestine get Inin the distributed and andbecomebecome widely : throughout the body organs in cluDdri.ng Selikof brain said expectedlySelikoff that of un- number of as- studying had brain tu niors although the significance of this observation was not yet clear A pilot resulted kidney Canade resulted conductedandand chest tumors in three and . rats with fod asbestos mixed alone corn oil although none the animals given corn oil , cancer 1 .. Dr. Gerhard Volkheimer of Berlin reported that particles , the gastrointestinal tract much more rapidly conths e u conmsup mp caffeine nicotine staiidon that particles could be found in breast milk and could cross the placenta to the fetus Dr. John Goldsmiths of the Na- Institute urged tional Cancer that all unnecessary sources , of asbestos be To eliminated ward this end the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Environnuntal Defense Fund have requested a hant on asbestos filters used to process many beverages and drugs and elimination of asbestos from tale used in fonda as well as in cosmetic powder . what