Document 2jzdmjBx1YMV1xD5yOJ5e5EOR
FILE NAME: Talc (TALC)
DATE: 1971 Aug 25
DOC#: TALC422
DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Newspaper Article - Asbestos in Talcum? FDA to Test with Cover Letter to Desert Minerals from Charles Chrystal Co.
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3 P A R K PLACE, N E W YORK, N.V, 10007
. T*tePHO** BAucuay 7-nw -a ia .
C A B tC AOD flicSa N A M TA H A tA ,J*W V O
August 25,, 1971
Desert Minerals,Inc.
1891 South Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, California
ATTi MR, EARt SMITH
Dear Earl:
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Enclosed please find copy of article which appeared m a
New York paperrecently regarding asbestos in talc, which
is actually all we know on the subject at the present
moment.
. .
.
: We are still awaiting letter from you advising that
none of your talcs ( or at least none of the talcs
which we purchase from you) contain asbestos and trust
you can send us such an affidavit,
' ' " '
'' '
CRMC-HT-TALC-000125
Yours very truly, CHARLES B. CHRYSTAL CO.,INC.
? r/ir 8?M CAC jIH
Ehc,
C.A.CHRYSTAL PRESIDENT
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By STEVB LA\VI5NCK,
Federal Food and nraff Administration 'Of f i ci al pushed by the city Environ*,
mental Protection Admlnls-
trntion, have begun Urn first
stops toward an inquiry to determine whether common
talcum powders contain ufi-
healthy quantities of asbos*
tos fibers,
Despite- this, the head of ' the FDA'S Foods Bureau, Dr.
' Virgil Wodlicka, said: we already have Information on most major talcum brands
that Indicates they pose po
' health problems." ;
EPA Administrator Jerome
' Krofehmer, in a June 28
letter to Health Education
' and Welfare Secretary Rich-
r ardson urged tho federal
. government to make a thot
s , rough analysisof asbestos
j- In talcum powder.
;
l. Brand Haines 4frctchmcr'a letter wn s
, prompted; by prellminai-y
studies done for his agency a t Mt. Sinai;School of Modi-,
cine on two brand name
powders. , ; '
;
"We were informed that
' ibesc two .talcum powder
`
.i(|es both c o n t a i n
amounts of fibrous mine* rais" identified as asbestos,
the EPA Chief wrote.
'
"if these findings apply \o
talcum'*' powder generally,
' most of our infant popula
tion Is exposed to n major
, rlsU of : asbestos inhalation
' throughout a t least the first
two year of Ufo" Kretfh*
mot's letter ad<cd,,
Mt. Sinai's asbestos expert,
D, Irving SeUkoH. has linked breathing asbestos fibers to
high rates of cancer among workers exposed to the mine ral fiber dust over long
periods of time.
Tho-FDA, in response to
Krctchmer's letter, met Aug. 2 (n Washington with of
ficials from the city, federal government, cosmetic companics, Sclikoff and two of his co-workers to discuss lab oratory methods for. detect-
ing asbestos in talcum pow
der. Even if asbestos particles
are found in some pmvder brands, federal officials .would have to devise some in dex of how much is too much.
And this In turn will depend on an assessment of how much of tho product is actually inhaled during nor
mal usage-
'
During the Washington
meeting, spokesman for
Johnsonr' and Johnson," a
m a jo r producer of body
powder, reportedly said that
babies got no more than a
total of six full days' ex-
posuro to the material under
normal conditions. EPA Assistant Commbs-
sioner Harold Itomer (.old the
meeting th at this estimate
was "grossly erroneous. Uo-
incr sniil "the child Is exposed to inhalation of the.particu
late for many hours.- a day
over a ported of two years.'' The high cancer rates in
asbestos miners wore detect ed in men .who had worked with tho material full time,
in many oases for 10 to 20
years, . ' , ` ; ....
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CRMC-HT-TALC-000126