Document 3Nd95r07xBo1yEZR5yJYj0DXD

r. e will not be known until the end of the century; but thohigh mortality rates of today suggest what may . bo expected in the future. If working conditions lV re not significantly altered, asbestos exposure can lead to 17,000 dcatlts from lung cancer, 10,000 deaths from cancer of the pleura and peritoneum, and 20,000 dentlis from asbestosis, according to -"At.I 11 projections by Dr. E. Cuvier Hammond of the American Cancer Society. The first case of asbestosis did not come under medical attention until 1000,32 years after asbes tos was mined on a large-scale basis. The victim. British textile worker, had inhaled the asbestos ( i. *-3`. - r * * VT rl * dust stirred up by the carding machine he had operated for 14 years. Ten other men had been his co-workcis in the carding room. All died before tr m \<VV .. . t their thirtieth birthdays. I Since the recognition of asbestosis 72 years ago, the disease has been widely studied the world over, from the mines of South Africa to the mills of Quebec. Today experts boliere that asbestosis is i - y. . .v 1 . .a..-, v*?.* -4 *- Jj /. .-I ^ ! * V -K..-; '. . * * 1 ** *. 'l v-v-V.v one of the most debilitating of the pneumoconio r. ses---lung diseases caused by dust inhalation. Erupting 20 to SO years after the exposure period, - r : % ` - the disease exhibits no warning symptoms to mark i its early stages. Many studies have uncovered cases : V,\ >i'y'.' of the disease in which the exposure was relatively ji light and did not continue over an extended period t of time. - .. V1. 'T`i- *S . } Although four varieties of asbestos are used commercially, chrysotilo asbestos, mined primarily v *# ' in Quebec, accounts for 93 percent of world pro duction. Under high magnification, chrysotile 1 .. . V * %_ , fibers resemble fine polished wire or strands of silk. . Strong, soft and flexible, they can be woven into I l ; ^ I ... -i'ni i ii,*,1-. i-'iV.-iJ fabric. Chrysotilo, however, is dangerous medically.. When inhaled, the needle-like fibers become . trapped in the lower bronchioles of the lungs. Xpr- e mally, protective cells called phagocytes destroy The etlcil'iM icorlcr mining cement it partially protected by a respirator. The atlctlot fieri In the air, hoircrer. endanger hit fcllote employees, Juit at hit dust-laden dotUct are a menace to hit famity. Xcic OSIJA. standard requires that aslcitos materiatt tc mired in clotcd containers. May-Junc 1972