Document 3en6Yy1aXgoRyYwNMRrQ664Z3

FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1972 Oct 5 DOC NMA070 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION NYT - Wider Link to Cancer Found in Asbestos Workers Wider Link to Cancer Found in Asbestos Workers By BOYCE RENSBERGER New York Times Current file Oct 5 1972 ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times 1851 - 2002 Pg 39 Wee : + Wider Link to Cancer Found in Asbestos Workers BY BOYCE REN^ BERGER A team of cancer researchers reported yesterday that asbes- tos already implicated as a repeatedly to work- cause of cancer ers repeatedly exposed | material might also have caused a thre increase in the incidence of cancer of the stomach colon and rectum in the same workers The finding which the sclen- confirmed long pos ibility tists said a suspicion raises the possibility that the low levels of air- borne asbestos particles known to exist in urban air may in- crease the risk of cancer among the public at large The researchers also said that their findings might lead to a better understanding of gastro- intestinal cancer the causes of which are not known the The report was given in Lyon France before Inter- national Agency for Research on Cancer an arm of the World Health Organization by Dr. Irving J. Selikoff of the Mount Sinai School of Medi- cine and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond and Herbert Seldman of the American Cancer Society's Environmental Cancer Re- search Project The findings are based on the study of 632 members of the New York and New Jersey branches of the insulation workers union who worked with various forms of asbestos terialwidely used fireproofing ma- - From 1943 when the study began until the end of 1971 the researchers monitored the health and causes of death of the workers Several Dr. Selikoff and Dr. years ago Hammond calculated that insulation dying workers were cancer about of lung times lung men exposed frequently similar background not borne asbestos fibera At suggestion time suggestion there was that other types of suggestion might also be more common but not until now the scientists said was there sufficient statistical evidence to confirm the suspicion However now that more elapsed time asbestos asbetos the has the researchers asbestos work- exposure to asbestos found that ars had died ofcancer of the stomach colon or rectum about been expected that would have been under normal circumstances Among the same number of men in a similar age group not unusually only 12,5 exposetdo asbestos should have died of the same cuases studies Earlier have applying of the process applying asbestos insulation the during construction of buildings and ships countless tiny particles of the material become dis- lodged and float into the air In urban areas it has been skown that another significant source of airborne asbestos is the wearing away of asbestos brake linings in automobiles and trucks The act of applying the brakes in such vehicles rubs off a fine asbestos dust that is then kicked into the air by the drafts of moving traffic Examination of the lungs of persons and animals exposed to such air has shown that the particles often lodge in the tis sue and apparently for remain of embedded ap arently periods Last week Dr. Selikoff reported on a study of asbestos exposure among World War I shipbuilders He warned that such persons should be aware of their increased risk of can- cer and should get more frequent check so that the disease can be diagnosed when is more treatable Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission