Document 5ko4dwQpQnEBbQYE9dQGgOdvR

VOL. I, NO. 7 DECEMBER 22, 1975 OSHA Extends Deadline on Asbestos Standard The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has agreed to extend until February 9, 1976, the comment period on the proposed standard for occupational exposure to asbestos. The previous comment deadline was December 8, 1975. A number of interested parties responded that the proposed revisions were exceed ingly complex and thus, additional time would be required to "compile relevant data and information". In supporting the 60-day extension, OSHA pointed out that the action M... will not unduly delay the standards setting process ..." because an inflationary impact statement must be prepared. The Asbestos Information Association (AIA) is coordinating the preparation of an industry response to the proposed 0.5 fiber/cc (TWA) standard. Guy A. Gabrielson, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Nicolet Industries, Inc., will chair the industry task force. The consulting firm of Roy F. Weston, Inc., of West Chester, Pennsylvania, has been retained to conduct an economic and technological feasibility study for all segments of the asbestos industry. Dr. Hans Weill, AIA's medical advisor, will review, analyze and update the vast body of knowledge regarding asbestos and health. A summary report will be prepared by each industry segment and AIA will present the collective response to the Department of Labor. The Extension appeared in the Federal Register; Vol. 40, No. 243; Wednesday; December 17, 1975. CAPCO JEN OOI0802 ; A Look at the Cancer, Figures , rvxji. wm . X4 . ,.;.M1nxa41i * By Harry Schwartz ' Cancer is a terrible disease that claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year in this country. It is not surprising therefore that fear of cancer has become a political rocket fuel powering much of the Increased environmental agitation in this country in recent years as well as inspiring more than a little of the rapidly increasing gov ernment intrusion into private business ac tivity of every sort. The armies that march against atomic power stations under the banner "No Nukes" fear the malign influence of Invisi ble radiation that may cause leukemia as well as solid cancers. Saccharin is de nounced by the FDA which sees it as a source of bladder cancer. Unions whose members work with asbestos "as well as with a long list of common ah3 iibtontflon chemicals are on the alert to protect their members from cancer originating in their jobs. Even Scotch and beer have come un der suspicion lately as reports tell of their containing citrosamines which seme scien tists believe are carcinogenic. Continued Indifferences !r. sharp contrast to these and other current expressions of cancerphobia is, of ccune, the continued Indifferences of tens of millions bf smokers to the long demon strated link between cigaret smoking and lung cancer. But many of the nicoune ad dicts ciain their cigarets give them plea sure and relief of tension which make risk ing cancer worthwhile. Given the often impassioned current de bate about cancer and its possible environ mental. occupational and nutritional sources, the National Center for Health Statistics (a unit of what was until recently the Department of HEW) has performed a service by publishing some very pertinent data aaoat the causes of death in this coun try. including cancer. These statistics sug gest a perspective about cancer that justi fies intelligent and uJormed concern rather than the emotional panic that seems to animate the more extreme crusaders against environmental and other carcino gens. In iJ7S roughly haif of the 1.921.000 Americans who died were victims of car diovascular disease, with heart diseases claiming 728.190 lives and cerebrovascular diseases, 172.520. Only about 20% of last year's deatbs-396,060- resulted from can cer.' And among the cancers, the two most deadly were tumors of the digestive sys tem which killed about 105,000 people and These statistics suggest a perspective about cancer that justifies intelligent and informed concern rather than the emotionalpanic that seems to animate the more extreme crusaders against environmental and other car cinogens. i lung and other respiratory system cancers which claimed almost 99,000 victims. The only other cause of death in this same or der of magnitude was accidents which caused almost 108,000 deaths last year, half of these in motor vehicle accidents. Much of the cancerphobia now rampant is caused by the fact that deaths caused by malignancies are increasing. From 351,000 in 1973. they rose to 396.000 In 1978. Those who would justify greatly in creased concern about cancer from this rise must argue in effect that we are just beginning to see the baleful consequences of past heedless and mindless exposure of the population to radiation and carcino genic materials and chemicals. Doubters are remir.ued that it rr.ay take 20 years or lenger after a person has been exposed to cancer-causing agents before a malignant rumor shows up. It is in the I9S0s and we are told, that the frightful toll of past mistakes will become evident. That proposition cannot be proved or disproved, af course, though we may note that radiation (from medical X-rays and radioactive substances) has been around for a long time, as have been many of the industrial materials suspected of being carcinogens. And tens of millions of Ameri cans, of course, have been smoking ciga rets since the 1920s and 1930s. Such argu ments would suggest that the burden'.HJ proof is on those who tout the most pesitj' mistic scenarios. '' Moreover the official data suggest that] cancer death rates have risen much more] slowly and for different reasons than the! current public debate would suggest The] - most important reason for the observed in-] J crease in cancer deaths and death rates] this past decade, the Center for Health Sta|. 1 tistics data show, is simply the aging of the! ,! American population. The American peoj pie have been getting older on the average] for many years now, both because the] i ! number surviving beyond 65 or 70 is iri-t | creasing rapidly and because the birth rate!. . has trended downward for years. ,. j What the center statisticians have done! j is to age-adjust the mortality data. They! | have taken the,death rates,for each decade] | of human life in different years and apJ j plied them to a fixed population, that oil 1940 with the age distribution of that yearii Doing this makes It possible to compare] the death rates of different years without] the complicating and misleading influence* . of changing age structure. When that is! ' done, the cancer death rate is shown to' j have increased only about 2.5% between] ,- 1968 and 1978. Before age adjustment, the] . 1968-78 cancer death rate seems to have] j jumped over 12%, or much more thar.i when age is taken into account. j` j (Similar age-adjusted figures published] by the American Cancer Society are shown] in the accompanying graph.) i i ; Hard to Justify Hysteria '] i Cancer is a terrible disease, but i: it is' increasing only 2.5% or so a decade- .vh?:i. age is taken'into account-it becomes hard] to justify hysteria. j But there is another factor that needs to] be taken into account. Over the past dec-; ade the age-adjusted death rates for heart; ` and cardiovascular diseases have dropped] sharpiy, more than 20% in the caae of] heart disease and almost 40% in the case] of cardiovascular disease. These data indicate that an American is ' / ! now significantly less likely than he was a. decade ago to die of a heart attack, stroke] or related ailments. But in the end we ai( die, regardless of cause. Once that fact is? considered, it may even be argued that the 2.5% increase in age-adjusted cancer death'- rates between i9nS and 1978 is remarkably modest. 4?.'i-72C V.'6TSEET jCUBHAL. E/iSTElit Eijikiiiff '.-'-'a.iiuO NOV ; 5 1970 0-- CAP CO JEN 0010803 To some the kind of political arithmetic! used here to reckon the chances of an indi-l vidual dying of heart disease or cancer* may seem an unpleasant subject for dis-i cussion. But it is in terms of such data that; any rational argument about the concert danger must be conducted. And the truth; of that fact is underlined by the KEW sta-i tistics which show that the only major type! of cancer whose age-adjusted rate hast gone up very sharply since 19B8 is lung; cancer and related respiratory maiignan-; cies. That points again to the one certainty, . j j in this discussion: The must effective anti-; cancer action Americans can take is to; stop smoking. Unfortunately, that is not; about to happen. i ! Mr. Schwarts is a researcher nffitiateq v:ith the Department of Surgery : the CV hanbia University College of Physician5| and Surgeons. i CAPCO JEN OOI080a