Document 4QR23p678gNp3by60vM20BXre

FILE NAME Talc TALC DATE 1972 May 15 DOC TALC068 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Letter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest to Barry Castleman 202 833-3721 CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST 1346 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Room 812 Washington D.C. 20036 May 15 1972 Barry Castleman Technical Services Section Division of Air Pollution & Industrial Hygiene Bureau of Environmental Services Baltimore Co Dept. of Health Towson MD 21204 Dear Barry Thanks for writing and showing your interest in the talc and asbestos question since our There is no reason why type of public interest we can't cooperate on a project in work is so entirely different from the full what you anticipate doing We hope to have a program started in the fall on checking consumer items containing asbestos and talc and finding which ones are most dangerous We have a partial list of the 3000 or more items and I am hoping that Consumer's Union which is funding us on other chemicals will be willing to give us 10,000 for the coming year I would like to get together with you people and plot a cooperative program where we deliver items which are highly dangerous and you would test them to see how friable they really are We could then carry on the work we are doing now of alerting the FDA EPA etc through letters petitions and lawsuits if necessary we would eventually write a map of consumer items made from asbestos and talc and give this to Consumer's Union and other consumer groups to generate citizen pressure for regulations We asked the NIH to endorse our proposal They simply couldn't believe that scientists would work at sustenance wages and said the project was good but the funding about all the CU can afford was unrealistic If you folks would show an interest in a cooperative venture and be willing to do analysis it would fortify our project If you are so moved please send a note to the following Mr. David Swankin Consumers Union National Press Bldg Wash DC 20004 You are right in suspecting that the talcs are bad Art Langer who works with Sellikoff's group at Mt. Sinai is very concerned about their many uses I think the FDA will have to be shaken from their complacency and made to start some systematic action on these commodities Let's get together and talk about these problems talc and asbestos My schedule is very tight for the next 5 or 6 weeks three talks and the Environ- mental I have Forum a few in Europe free days plus next seeing some public interest week and will be back after centers in June 22 Europe Sincerely yours Albert J. Fritsch