Document 3Jdz17G8xwp8Dxo1LZ9QxOO8E

ftsg* EJpht NEW 2EALAND BUILDING WORKER September. (970 wWe now know that if a person inhales significant amounts of asbestos dust, he carries a burden that will provide a latent potential for the development of cancer for the rest of his life." Dr. Irving J. SelikofF, M.D., Chairman, Mount Sinah School of Medicine, The City University of New York. ASBESTOS a survey ofits effects A STUDY of the members of the ** New York Local 12 and Newark Local 32 of the International As* sociation of Heat and Frost In sulators and Asbestos Workers in America has provided an authori tative report on, the dangers as sociated with exposure to asbestos. The study has been continuing since 1962 and is being carried out by Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, a special ist oh tuberculosis, who partici pated in the basic research on isoniazid, the antibiotic that has provided a cure for tuberculosis. Dr. Jacob Churg, Chief Patho logist at Bamert Memorial Hospi tal, Paterson, U.S.A., and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond, Vice-President for Epidemiology and Statistics of the .American Cancer Society. As previous studies suggested that asbestos induced lung cancer (takes twenty years to develop, the first study undertaken was that of Union members who were on the Union rolls twenty years prior. 3 Thus 632 men who were members on December 31, 1942, were the subject'of the study. Taking the men's ages into consideration, a comparison of the causes of death was made with those of the general male population . in the United States. The comparisons are set out hereunder:-- Keat and Frost Inabtors Standard and Asbestos Mortality Watters Total Deaths ____ Jss. Rats 203(1) lung Cancer Deaths 45 6 or 7 (1) * Asbestosis Deaths . 12 No comparison jrven Mesothelioma Deaths 4 No comparison given Gastrointestinal Cancer Deaths 29 9 or 10 The "total deaths" figure does . Number Evidence of not include seven men who died before incurring 20 years of ex posure. The health of the ` surviving ^370 *! men Asbestosis Exposure of less than 10 yum ---------------------- 346 10% Exposed 10 to 19 years ... 379 less than 50% Etposed more than. .20 men has been closely watched ana ;ye> ----------. 392 339 men has continued to produce alarming comparisons. The following com parison of mortality' experience is given for the period January, 1963, to March, 1968:-- In the group with more than 20 years' exposure, 11 men had de veloped cancer and more than half of the asbestosis sufferers had the disease moderately or extensively. Hut and Frost Total Deaths lasdatan and Asbestos Workers 113 Standard Mortality Rate . 50 . . EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS Prevalence of: the disease asbes tosis' increases with the duration long Cancer Deaths "7S 2 or-3 of exposure when the concentra Asbestosis Deaths Mesothelioma Deaths 15 13 No comparison given' tion is constant and can therefore No comparison given be controlled by limiting either the IGastrointestinal concentration in the air inhaled or Cancer Deaths * 2 the period of exposure. The sharp rise in the number of This, however, does not appear deaths due to the malignant.meso to be the case with the malignant thelioma tumors, four in 255, com and fatal mesothelioma tumour as pared with 13 in 113 deaths, sug cases of indirect, short-term and gests that the latent period for intermittent exposure are as com mesothelioma is longer than that mon amongst the victim of this for asbestosis or lung cancer. disease as the. cases of direct .* The second part of the study occupational exposure. The work-]/ was the examination of 1117 union man must therefore protect not! members.' Evidence of' asbestosis only himself from this disease but] was .found in fully half of these also those members of his family) men, the extent of the disease with whom he has close contact varying directly with duration of Details of the life histories of exposure. This was despite the mesothelioma cases gathered in fact that the men "had compara two separate studies are set out tively light and intermittent ex in the table hereunder. The first posure as . asbestos workers go, is a study of Dr. Muriel L. New- because they often worked out of house and Dr. Hilda Thompson, of doors on construction projects and the Department of Occupational because most of the materials they Health, London School of Hygiene used had an asbestos content of and Tropical Medicine. The second less than fifteen per cent." is the study of Dr. Jan Lieben and The details revealed by the Dr. Hany Pistawaka read before examinations regarding asbestosis the International Cancer Congress and exposure are as follows:-- in Toklo in October. 1966:-- Sopfomber, 1970 NEW ZEALAND BUILDING WORKER F*gc Nine Newhouse i and Thompson Worked with asbestos...... ..... 31 Relatives of asbestos workers 9 lived or worked within the Ueben and Pistawaka 10 3 ; these women had washed their husbands' work clothes regularly. One woman had brushed her hus band down every evening for three or four years when he. came home vicinity of as asbestos factory -------------------- Moor Ei^osure ....... ..... 4 Exposure ool known------- 11 -- 25 S JO from work "white with asbestos." Both of the men had, when they 11 were boys of eight or nine, had sisters who worked in asbestos JOINERY, PART III AND IV Total number of patients .... 76 42 OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE .Drs. Lieben and Pistawaka, in giving details of the ten patients ] who had occupational exposure to textile factories. In one of the fpHESE two new books join the cases the sister was an asbestos spinner from 1925 to 1936 and growing list of textbooks pre pared by toe N.Z. Technical Cor used to return home with dust on her clothes. She died of asbestosis respondence Institute. They com plete the present series cn joinery in 1947. Her brother mesothelioma in 1956. . died of manufacture. Because the books in this series I asbestos, have noted that one was are informative and up to date, | a boilermaker iri'a railroad yard who for 25 years worked oh the Insulation of steam engines, one built bakery ovens in which as bestos insulation is used while an other was a certified accountant who worked in the office of an asbestos textile plant. 1 Other examples of only light occupational exposure to asbestos . are the case of a 56-year-old * boilermaker who died of mesothe lioma although he handled asbestos lagging only intermittently during : his. working life (South African, i Medical Journal, July 15, 1967), i add . the report of }a 47-year-old i insurance agent ana liquor salesinun whose contact with asbestos rw|S confined to 18 months' work i as.a stock boy in an asbestos plant 1 24. years before (JAMA, August 21, ' 1967). He also died due to meso- ** "oma. NEIGHBOURHOOD EXPOSURE Of the eight cases of neighbour hood exposure detailed by Drs. Lieben and Pistawaka, one patient was a clergyman who had never had any occupational exposure to asbestos. Prior to his* becoming a minister in 1935 he had lived for 19 years within one half of a mile of an insulation plant which used asbestos. He died in 1961 a victim of a mesothelioma tumour. . Dr. T. F. B. Collins-reports the case of a 56-year-old African male who died from mesothelioma in February, 1967, in a Durban Hos pital. Asbestos fibres were evident in the patient's spittle although his only contact with asbestos was once living* in the vicinity of the Havelock asbestos mine in Swazi land, South Africa. they will have a strong appeal to employers and tradesmen as well $s`; to apprentices, for whom they \yere ^originally prepared- k .The** clear headings and plentiful illustrations make. these books easy for' the practical man to fol low. Parts HI and IV meet the high standard set by the com panion volumes. . Part I deals with methods , of constructing doors that are framed and ledged, panelled, flush or {{lazed. Part n deals with door frames, .transoms ' and sidelights; with* sliding, folding and special doors; and with hardware, finish ings and gates. . In Part III, the first section deals with the design and construc tion of window frames and sashes, and covers the full scope of sash systems in current use and also special items such as dormer win EXPOSURE OF FAMILY CONTACTS ie dangers of asbestos induced ___othelioma have not been con=sfed to occupational exposure and ^ jre are several reported cases jere a member of the workman's MINOR EXPOSURE The incidence of mesothelioma in patients with only minor expos ure to asbestos (Drs. Lieben and Pistawaka reported ten cases) is significant with regard to workmen such as our members who do dows, louvres and shutters. The second section deals with the de sign and construction of built-in fitments such as wardrobes, sink benches and other kitchen fittings. Part IV deals with the use of the various woodworking machines commonly found in joinery fac lily has been a victim of the insulation work periodically and tories, and one section deals with indicates the need for vigilance in portable tools. Emphasis is laid Lieben and Pistawaka re- exposure protection at all times. on safety. on the case of a three-year-old Id, the daughter of a ceramic jineer who worked in an in- bating plant that utilised 400 One of the cases reported by Managers, journeymen, appren tices and building students will Drs. Lieben and Pistawaka refersfind this series a reedy source of to a 14-year-old boy. with mesoreference and an invaluable aid to "tons of Canadian chrysotile and thelioma whose only contact withstudy. 'IKK) tons of South African amosite saBiually, who contracted mesothe- ie nine reported cases of p. ly exposure by Drs. Newhouse asbestos was the assistance which he gave his .father in replacing plaster board in the extensive re modelling of the family home. The These books are available from Government book shops in Auck land, Hamilton, Christchurch, Dun edin and Wellington. The selling prices of these books are: Joinery, 5d .Thompson consisted of seven plaster board contained a high Part III, $2.20 per copy; Joinery, ragmen and two men. Most of percentage of asbestos. Part IV, $1.80 per copy.