Document 3eGONgEnDRqbM9Rpb8LQ5p6E6

Engineering JUNE 4 1$70 I McGRAW-HILL S CONSTRUCTION WEEKLY / S NewS'Record Asbestos hearing held Danger of lung cancar cited as New York City ponders ban The use of asbestos as a fireproofing and insulating material for buildings in New York Citv eventually mav be out lawed because medical research shows the material can cause lung cancer. The possibility of a ban was sug gested last week at public hearings aimed at making permanent the tem porary rules now governing the method of'spraving asbestos on the exposed steel surfaces of steel frame buildings. Robert Rickies, commissioner of the citv's Department of Air Resources, said that to enforce the regulations on the five building jobs where spraving operations were under wav held the full attention of five of his field staff of 50. Spraving operations at five buildings halted in mid-April because of visible emission of asbestos into the area around the job sues. About two weeks ago. spravine oper ations resumed on the World Trade Center There a nonasbestos material is now being used, according to Austin J. Tobin, executive director of the Port of New York Autnoritv :Enr 5 23 p I7i Although Rickies did not mention the possibility of a complete ban on spraved asbestos he indicated this goal in recent conversations with Tobin. Rickies' emphasis on the manhours needed to enforce the regulations sug gested that he thought such policing a less efficient method of protecting pub lic health than a ban. Dr. Irving J. Selikoff. director of the N Division of Environmental Medicine at | New York Citv's Mount Sinai Hospital, ; and one of those researching the effects of asbestos on workers, said he was not certain that other mineral fibers beside j ^ asbestos--rock wool and fiberglass, for > ] instance--are safe if inhaled. I am not ; | willing to plav Russian roulette with I the people of New York, he said, and 1 i I'm unwilling to wait until further re- , i search determines the safetv of the ! \ nonasbestos materials. / Selikoff said the amount of asbestos that will cause cancer is unknown, but that 20 vears or more of inhalation of asbestos bv workers makes them highly prone to the disease. Representatives of contractors and manufacturers of spraved-asbestos products promised full cooperation in promulgation and enforcement of the regulations. Thev also indicated thev would develop a wider range of nonas- bestos fireproofing materials.