Document 2NoQEaBGBmd5bv8vbz6a3ZMab

its corporate need my decithout a iob in sla lions direc tion as it was fly to Buffalo, esldentofthe ntcb I agreed : they were a :h aspects of implications, "he Manville bock on the tion. .ion was the f the Sierra y wasdam- the entire v. the envild be a long : case for iur English ning reas; scientifiere a total The whole . The real -mg'; thar !Stitution nt along, -ociation the pro- suite in a. From Death of the Asbestos Indus there we stood ready to issue press releases: develop Industry testimony: pre pare summaries for the media of the day's proceedings: arrange for media inter views with industry witnesses; and. in general, establish ourselves as a scientific resource center for disseminating material from the medical and technical liter ature supporting the industry's position. It all worked reasonably well and the tactics we developed as a matter of logical necessity have since become standard for handling hearings of a controversial health-.related nature. The real fireworks, however, occurred in the hearing room itself, where repre sentatives of J-M and the asbestos industry shot it out toe-to-toe with the Mount Sinai crowd and their top guns in organized labor. What those bearings taught me was that, from a media relations standpoint, nothing the PR professional can do to position such a proceeding as a logical discussion of the Issues will ever com pete against the sheer drama of two proponents of opposing positions ripping each other's guts out in a public forum. Unfortunately. J. Corbett McDonald. M.D.. the doctor from McGill University who had been chief investigator in the'huge industry-sponsored study of the Quebec asbestos mining industry, was ill-prepared for the personal abuse he was to take from Dr SelikofTs associates. They questioned not only his data, but his veracity, and indeed implied that he was nothing less than a paid lackey of the asbestos industry. His only problem was that he had produced evidence that the asbestos miners in Ouebec were nnt. dying at the same rate as Dr. SelikofTs insulation workers, and that their exposure had to be exceedingly heavy for any disease to show up at all. Without directly saying so. he was casting doubt on Dr. SelikofTs fundamental proposition that the mortality experience of the insulation workers was reflective of conditions throughout the asbestos industry. If the asbestos miners were an exception to the Seiikoff rule, then perhaps other segments of the mdujin were exempt as well. Dr. U right who had the audacity to call for stricter standards on crocidolite and amosite -- the types of asbestos most closely linked with mesothelioma -- than on chrysotile, received the same type of abuse. Dr. Wright, however, conducted himself u ith greater composure and gave as well as he took. A fundamental principle of crisis public relations rooted itself in my brain: I would never again, if 1 bad anything to say about it. allow a client or a represen tative o' a client to enter into such a situation without extensive confrontational communications training. It would be unfair to the client and would, indeed, be destru:::\r of his or her position. 1 have never waivered in that conviction and nave, r :a;:. refused to work with clients who declined such training. 309