Document 4vqewMe70Dp7rK1GV1Xn2LEER

FILE NAME: Asbestos Cement Pipe and Sheet (ACPS) DATE: 1986 Jan DOC#: ACPS114 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Newspaper Articles RE Proposed Asbestos Ban with Handwritten Notes Jm-ttim J H i/^ > lf . I M U l& S f * * * r /'' > ^ A*< /*** <*y '** ^ ' f U sa ts^ S /U v e f o < * * y *"te $ f< TM I CJU i b /* < r t / i u U > "lC o * ^ e .S , . fy 2 6 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL THURSDAY, JANUARY 23. 1986 EPA Will Propose Barton Asbestos Use In Some Products By Robert E, Tayior S ia ff Hope rter e j Thk Wall Stukct J ournal WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency today plans to propose phasing out the use of asbestos In several products, almost a year after the agency reversed Itself and shelved a similar move. The proposal calk tor an immediate ten., on |iae cancer-causing substance In clothing, rooting felt, fioormg felt, felt* backed vinyl sheet flooring, vinyl asbestos floor tile, cement Pine and fittings, accord* tag to one agency olticial, Another official said die proposal calls for considering refictions on ...other uses in ..five to 10. years. In another controversial policy rever sal, the agency scrapped a proposal to ban the fruit ripener daminozide. Instead, It called for modest restrictions on Its use and further studies oo exposure and toxic ity. The agency acceded to its Science Ad visory Board's conclusion that slushes link ing the chemical to cancer are scientifi cally unreliable. Daminozide, marketed under the trade name Alar, is used on 38% of all apples produced In file U.S. as well as on other foods such as grapes, tomatoes and pea nuts. Its sole producer is Unlroyal Inc.'s Unlroyal Chemical Co. subsidiary. A Unlroyal Chemical spokesman said the company was "pleased" with the EPA's decision, adding, "We continue to believe firmly to the safety of our prod uct." Top agency officials said they hope the long-awaited move against asbestos, one of the most potent and clearly proven causes of cancer, will help the agency regain some public confidence. Bui its critics complain that the delay already has been Intolerably long and that they may seek a plan that Is stronger or would phase out the substance's use more quickly. 9H *JU C y > * r p e S * f P. The EPA in 1973 began considering the phasing out of asbestos use. In midTSSi. EPA officials decided to propose banning certain produets-inciuding most of those ^ / C*n m sfe j/e r x ^ being reproposed ioday-and phasing out asbestos mining and Imports. But Reagan administration budget office officials, who review regulatory proposals, opposed the rule and urged the ERA to let other agen cies consider action on asbestos. Last Feb, I. the EFA's deputy adminis trator. James Barnes, announced that fed eral taw requires the EPA to refer ques tions about asbestos regulation to two at l f jt- p * * /* /> c- ` ; id A r h 't ' t f s * ' / / / '* * ^ s* 4 * -` C itrx* ~A other federal agencies with related author ity, But alter this sparked an angry pro les!, the agency quickly reversed that legal opinion and began reviewing a plan to phase out the substance. A /L h a t pa On daminozide, the EPA obtained Uni- royal's consent to put a label on the prod uct restricting its application rate to most instances to three pounds per acre fromn the current four, and lowering the allow TM < 4 / c e rr x iiJ fp u is t. U s ^ n r u j/T ~ able residue on iood products to 28 parts per Bullion irom the current 38, a erne / < w The company also agreed to caution against daminozide's use on apples for ap plesauce. And baby-food manufacturers have agreed to limit the use o products treated with the chemical. EPA.officials < Y said these changes and a correction of previous overestimates of exposure will re duce estimated human exposure by 85%. The Natural Resources Defense Coun cil, an environmental group, charged the EPA with "shirking Its responsibility to provide a safe food supply," Lawrie Mott, a scientist with the group, advocated a ban of the chemical, which Is absorbed by plants and can't be removed by washing or peeling. She called the caulion a p ln s t processors'use o treated trait ''unenforce ^A X H 4* p f _ <y%t~ k ^* n rt# * * * * f~ _ u s i* . >/ m * A able." and said the application curbs won't reduce its use much. EPA officials promised to consider the need tor further curbs on daminozide as soon as Unlroyjj completes studies of can cer risks from tt ar.d a byproduct known UMDH, Unlroyal also will study the chemi cal's residues In raw and processed food. r - > A /^bcH IB T T *Z\ ' U o n lb p d L . Date^/// W W W ^PO BO O Jl COM 13387 HAR 00017217 ~ j ^ r . . s * t . . . . s i * . - i . v A i r t . ^ ----------------- itm i||, ,i r t , . 1 f ||| in n ^ ............... < J . vfn^J cT f~ ' ,lNaTfVrtl' . RECEIVEDJAN2 8` 133r 8`^ f' ' n , /9 < P Asbestos ban sought in U.S Gazctto News Services . / WASHINGTON - The U.S. ni vironm ental P rotection Agency j {BPA} will propose a tote! ban on the j 'import of Canadian asbestos today, i agency olfidals said yesterday, f..jU uiiiaiuiL pasi^^ `fproposed.measures .aimed at banishh nfuT e mining and u se.Q lasbcsiai |'=:rWicirha$ been linked to lung can- and respiratory illnesses -- in Shel?JS_iCCC-3-lO-ycar. petuxL. i EPA bead Lee M. Thomas will disktoso detailed proposals at a- schcdpled id a.m, news conference today. | ;fi All asbestos imported to the U.S, u ^ worth $55 million US, in 1985 -- i*bwcomes from Quebec, the U.S. of ficials acknowledged, though they did not entertain questions on the ec onomic impact on the province. New* of the proposed ban sur prised Itonald P oupart an aide to Premier Robert Bourassa, Bourassa, en route to Montreal last night, was not available for comment. Canadian Em bassy officials in Washington also seemed surprised by the move. Paul Lafieur, trade counsellor lor metals and minerals, said the U.S. "has been inching that way," hot added he had not known the action was imminent. Lafleur would not or could not give even the roughest estimate of how many of Quebec's 3,000 to 3,500 asbestos jobs will be lost if Washing ton implements the ban. The p ro p o sals w ill have to go through a public review that could take up to two years to complete. News ol the EPA's proposed ban came as no surprise to P ierre Cou lombs, an adviser to federal Mines Minister Bob Layton. If the U.S. imposes a total ban on asbestos products, "it could have a bad influence" on other countries which might follow suit, Coulombs said. This, Coulombs said, would de stroy Canada's efforts to convince the world that asbestos can be used safely as long as there is no m ore than one asbestos fibre per cubic centimetre of sir, .Canada Is the world's largest as bestos exporter. It sold 95 per cent of its total asbestos fibre production, worth $398 million'fU,S.) in 1984, to countries other than the U.S. Canada agrees with a ban on the use of asbestos in textiles, Coulombe said,, but not in brakes, cement pipes or insulation boards, Soecial. G aieiie. CP J 13388 HAR 00017218 if giii I'll ^^-'-< ^~-- -^iflTii i n THE GLOBE AND MAIL, FRIDAY, BAMUARY2 <, 1988 A 5 Proposed U.S. asbestos ban i i raises ire of Quebec, Ottawa BY ftRARANS FRASER Wo ore abvnluicty convinced entire Ontario mining Industry," inn fnehii d Mali______ that oshejius cun be used safety," The report concluded that avbei,- OUEUEC " Mr, Layton told repartees. "Tnis is tes fibres are not hazardous Jn food, cjawbcc wii! mount a vigorous what gives me the conviction list if drinking water and ether beverag we get m opportunity to present our es, #na recommended that ih har, lobbying campaign <mbehalf of the asbeMos iodustry, Raymond Savof, ummits we can win the case for on asbestos fjftcm In the production ef beer, wine sod oor bo lifted. S Quebec's minuter reoponslblis for estta." Mr, Savo>a said that since Quebec However, ih report made clear ' roltwa, said yasttrtay. Reacting to 'a recommendation has introduced new health any softs distinction between creadotiis, or umn`.i!c ,nahestdit, which It s.iij * ) yesterday by the U.S. Environmcn. - ty regiiiatio'. the dangers Involved In working with asbestos have been should he "prohihited itidatlmieSy," 3 to! Preitwion Agency chat the eliminated. and chrysouivusiiestos. Importing of Conndlnn asbestos be b.mwi ns part of o Ifl-yenr plan tu He pointed to three studies, In- An aide to Mr. Savoie aunt mat eluding the report of Omnrto's only chrysolite asbestos is mined m eihniit.ite t!so mining Jimf imc of ii.bwins, Mr. Savoie said; *`Wn Hoy! Commission on Asbestos, Quebec. ufilfehed w ISM, to show that a.v The report snid th.il expovuro to ; ; g i have tecunlradict (lie decision. silted up and tell ihe ERA estttt cun he used safely 1 a,am . chrysolite asbestoa In mining, mill, tng ami monufaclarlna uppraiitins .they're misinformed. We have to. trolled enviisnmeiit. The Ontario royal commission, lull.', " well wiltim ihe hounds of 4 react; we have to react strongly, vie have to say no," beaded by Stefan Duprd, was estab- eociaity occepfuMe indusiti.il risk." Out textile manutsetunnp with la Ottawa, Mines Minister Robert fished In W80 after the discovery that wot gets at the Joims-Manvilie chrysolite asbestos "cannot be Layton promised that his depart ment wilt devote nil its resources to Canada Inc. plum in Scarbotwch were dying of asbestesls. condoned" and "f.hnutd bo bnnned" until it could he guaranteed West the lobbying tgumst the Import ban. Ha plans to meet industry, union and With a death toil of 68 workers, risk wan no greater than m general chrysolite manufacturing. municipnt officials today to eo-orti- that stogie plant, in the worts of the report, "occasioned more deaths Quebec eatructs WWi tons of naic Canada's respons, - from industrial disease than the asbestos, annually, nnd ekpem between IS and 20 per cent of its ) pwroordtuhc--tioinn --theoUrnuitieiuduSt li$dSetbsm, SiloHmeoe a.OhO people are empioyed fit th# industry. Mr. Savoie raid the problem l* not merely he las of 15 per cent o f ' Quebec's market, "That' not the problem. Rather. It in that shia Is einnher dccisiiw unftvonible to ''l.flOMO." ` He sufrt he,will be wiiriemy. ciusoiy with Mr. Layton tn co-wiHn.-ite a lubbying strategy, and Quebec will attend the. inienudionnl Lobar Organization inference on rebeltoy In Geneva In June, if that ennfcrer.ee takes h notwitvi deaslun un the trss uf asbesHK, "we're In trou ble." The Quebec direclor of the United . Steelworkers tif America so Id yestetd.iy that S.WiOworkers In Quebec wilt luxe lIh..if Juba if the ti.S. Cov1ernmratt accepts the El'A recons* mrndutloo and excludes Cantidtun asbestos, " If they hart usbestus, tt w.u.id be terrible for the workers in Quebec," Clement Godixtut suitl, "There are 3,000 jobs nt sinks m the asbestos Industry, arid they're all In Que bec," , Sever! thousand asbenos werkurn m the region have already Inst their jobs over the post decade, . especially since the mincrnl was (inked to lung canter. In ton, Canadian Embassy official Pan! Lnfltur ended the EPa decl. don disappointing, and repeated the Govcrnrocnt's view that asbestos i* not Ahealth h * r t If tt is property * used. Ho said Hw Industry, hocked by . the Covornmwit. will vc the imnt year--cat Imntod by flw KPA withe time before the prepusin lakes ef. feet *--to make presentations in ths United States opposing the ban. 13^ 3^ 8 9 HAR 00017219 i Asbestos ban draws local skepticism I - 0y BARBARA SERRANO ^ The Stockton Record* r A move by the Environmental ; Protection Agency to phase out ; nearly all asbestos products in the next 10 years is noble but cannot be easily accomplished C in Stockton, local business lead; ers and public officials said Thursday. Stockton has one of the last remaining plants that produces ' asbestos cement pipes and Fitt ings, and school officials are - still in the process ol removing the substance from classrooms I and administration buildings. I The JM Manufacturing plant ' in Slockton expressed concern for employees but was not alarmed by the threat of discon tinuing asbestos in pipe produc- - lion. "TheyVe been talking about banning it for a long time," said JM spokesman Rex Sides t h e production of.asbestoslined pipes already has become secondary to that ot plastic pipes at the plant. Asbestosiined pipes are primarily sold to contractors and municipalities for water mains. Sides said owners bought the plant in January 1983 when the Johns-Mansville Corp. filed for bankruptcy because ol suits from former employees who said exposure to asbestos had caused lung cancer. Jerry Brown, owner of Jerry Brown Co., a contracting firm that specializes in the removal of asbestos, said it "would take at least 20 contractors and 100 years to remove it all" from Stockton. Brown said he believes the latest EPA crackdown on asbes tos will eventually force govern ment officials to remove the substance from all public build ings. "City and county buildings have some real problems with asbestos." he said. William Russell, chief of main tenance and operations for Stockton Unified School Pis-, trict, hailed the EPA proposal, saying "theyshould have done it back in 1936" when asbestos was first introduced. SUSD-expects to have all haz ardous forms of fibrous asbes tos in classroom and halfway ceilings removed by the end o f . March. The next step, said Rus sell, will involve replacing asbestos-lined boiler pipelines And boilers. "The only problem is that it takes a lot ol money," he said. "But based on what we`re doing, the schools are going to be the safest place to be," Tracy banned the future use of asbestos-lined pipes lor water mains last summer wheff a resident raised concerns about safety. , Tom Dosh. municipal utilities director for Stockton, said no such discussion has been prompted here. "We stiff put in asbestos pipes. IPs a standard through out the city." said Dosh. t i l: * r ! < 13390 r HAR 00017220 u! CM CM h- o o co o Od cr vi x< ? ; Si; f* ? r ; By JENNIFER R03INS0H and MARIAN SCOTT . et Tha Gazette QUEBEC -- The Quebec govern ment wiil fight a proposed US. ban on Canadian asbestos to try to head oft what could be the killing blow to the troubled industry, Mines Minis ter Raymond Savoie said yesterday. The UJS. Environmental Protec tion Agency (EPA) called yesietday for onus! tfr-per-ceot cuts in asbes tos imports tram Canada far 10 years okil they are eliminated. Canada is Utesole foreign suppEef of asbestos lo the U.S. Savoie said he wants to organise a lobby with federal Mines Minister Robert Layton, unions, and asbestos ipante to fighi th EPA pian. He plani to meet svilii ttmons and compsnies cesi week io Thetfard iliaci to discuss th problem. Savoie said th EPA aimonccewiot carne as a surprise "kick in th asti" "It woald eliminate th induslry," said Sodi Prchette, mayar of th town et Asbestos and ctaitman of a coramittee to promota th iotetry. -Ji's a catastrophie decision (or th whole astestas regina.'' "V i'tu goiog to mount s very sfrarg lobby aod Eght lt lite crazy," taid Peier Kyle, preside! of th Quebec Asbestos Mintog ssscia tte. "Tfeelrapproacb lanreatistc sud ancaM-fer* The federal mines minister Js plaraieg to meet ir.dwlry represen tatives so Montreal today io discuss ways to combat the US. proposal. *%e are absolutely convinced that asbestos can be used safely," Layton told reporters fn Ottawa. "This is what gives me the eoavietioa that if we get an oppertunity to present oar arguments, we eao win t o case for asbestos." le e Thomas, bead of theERA, iohf a Washington news conference be is convinced there is no safe level of esposure to asbestos, which hat long been linked to long cancer sad dth respiratory ailments. Savoie said the "ERA was wrong" -- asbestos can be used safely if proper standards are used Re said restricted esposure lo small qianS- ties of airborne asbestos fibres has been found in indepeaditit research la pose little danger. Thomas fold reporters 8 probably wiE take year More the proposal becomes law because there 1* a lengthy review process. The EPA hat prcpsstd the baa a* part of a package of measures to eliminate asbestos-related health risks, including respiralcty disease aef cancer. But while Washispea is trying to safeguard health, Quebec and Otttwa will be fighting to keep the Industryalive andto saveas estimated 2,868 to 3,850 industry related jobs, Most of those jobs are to the Thaiford Mines area, already hard hit by drastic drops in demand for asbestos fibre because of Use health hazards linked to f t , - Savoie said he was afraid the EPA tan, if it comes into effect, will give asbestos a reputation worse than it already has, spreading io other conn- tries- "The EPA decision, If It spreads, , could kill the icdustry" he said. Savoie said Quebec will "be to big trouble" if a United Nations labor or- gaaizstion based in Geneva also <e- cidas in Jeoe In favor of banning asbests io the workplace. Tha International Labor Office, the administrative body of the HS- member-country International Labor Organization {ILOj, aims to promote social justice, aplpyiaeat and improve labor coitdiUuas and living standard! Savoiesaid Quebec will attend the mietiagfo argue agaiMbannicg as- besioi Quebec producer! sell 688.080 loos of raw asbestos fibre a year., About t t per cent of that, worth aboet $5SraJSien, is sold to the V S Quebecproduces abcntiS per cent of Canada's asbestos Mast sales are & dmleghig countries, Pew Quebec industries taanufac-' tore goods bom asbestos fibre. The Parti QuPbfcoU government, which oaUonabaed! parts of the industry, lad plans to create secondary Indus- tty to produce asbestos tiles and diher building materials, - Those plans did not tnatefeita. *