Document 6Bqx1OgddEKy5yVO7YR0MOkL3

FILE NAME Kaiser Gypsum KG DATE 1984 Sept DOC KG057 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Report - Health Knowledge in the Gypsum Industry with Cover Memo Manville Joo) _ s D. H. Markusson 2-20 =) > Helen Internal Correspondence Date September 28 1984 Fem J. A. Siderius 2-19 Jax Cocies L. Polk 2-17 K. Page 2-17 R. Brady 2-19 Chrono Subject Gypsum Health Attached please find a report on the above subject including bibliography titled Health Knowledge in the Gypsum Industry Your attention is directed in particular to Section VI which discusses certain documents that appear to show offorts to conceal health information by National Gypsum and W. R. Grace The supporting documents can be found in the file labeled Gypsum Health September 26 1984 HEALTH KNOWLEDGE IN THE GYPSUM INDUSTRY Use of Asbestos in Spray Product The use of asbestos in spray form apparently began in 1932 in Great Britain This was the Limpet process at first used primarily in railroad coaches to control condensation and noise and also as a thermal insulation 69 Sprayed asbestos was used extensively in the British Navy from the end of the war until 1963. This use consisted almost entireloyf blue fiber Spray insulation containing inorganic fiber was introduced in the U.S. in 1935. The use was at first mainly decorative This decorative product may have contained little or no asbestos 69 In 1950 National Gypsum obtained Underwriters Laboratories approval for its brand of spray insulation to be used for fireproofing In 1951 the Asbestospray Company followed suit 69 Widespread use apparently began in 1958 with the use of sprayed mineral fiber as fireproofing in the construction of the story Chase Manhattan Bank building in New York 74 -1- The precise point in time when asbestos fiber was introduced into the spray product in the U.S. is not known While it is likely that asbestos was introduced simultaneously with the first use of spray for fireproofing 1950 other sources place the date in the late 50's It is clear however that asbestos was used in the gypsum manufacturing process as far back as the fiber was added to stucco mix to improve 1920's working Asbestos qualities 29 It was also used as a retarder in plaster of paris 29 Both are gypsum products In 1935 Atlantic Gypsum Products Co. agreed with its insurance carrier a supplemental occupational disease loading factor based on the mixing of both asbestos and gypsum rock 7 Also it is noteworthy that for National Gypsum reading Dr. George Wright began working rays in 1953. He states that he recalls seeing cases of asbestosis among National employees at that time He does not know if the cases came from workers involved in spray making New York City banned spray applications of asbestos containing material in 1972. The EPA banned spray application of any insulating or fireproofing material with more than % asbestos in 1973 79 -20 Working Conditions in the Industry There are several early descriptions of dusty working conditions in the gypsum industry In the 1918 U.S. Department of Labor publication Mortality from Respiratory Diseases in Dusty Trades the following quote appears W. Gilman Thompson writes of the occupation of masons and plasterers at some length including concrete mixers who of course are exposed to fundamentally different conditions He points out that men in this group of employments inhale much dust of tile brick plaster of paris gypsum and cement and that they are subject fom these combined conditions to catarchs of the respiratory passages and such diseases as asthma bronchitis rhinitis and atelectasis are frequently met with among them There would seem to be much similarity in the dust exposure of these occupations to that observed in the case of lime and cement workers as in Thompson suggests therefore that in somecases the the tearing down of old plaster in confined spaces in tunnels ecc where sprinkling can not be resorted to respirators said may be used to advantage . . It may be in conclusion that such investigations as have been made of existing conditions at plaster works prove that there is abundant room for material improvement and that in most of the plants only the crudest and most unsatistactory appliances are employed for the prevention of oust and its inhalation by the men employed 2 emphasis added Another description of working conditons in gypsum plants was given in a 1929 insurance industry publication designed to assist underwriters in classifying industrial hazards In one of the smaller plants there was no adequate provision for the removal of dust It was everywhere On the roofs and platforms and even on the ground for some distance it had settled in layers sometimes inches thick It is present to a marked degree in the dry mill process in all plants and at times it is possible to 3 distinguish objects across the room and no more The dust moves about in this department much like is so fine that it has the steam and appearance of moisture Workers in certain departments habitually look as if their clothes had been sprinkled with flour The collector in one modern plant plant removes eight aust daily 4 eight tons of auausst t III Early Knowledge of Gypsum Health Hazards Gypsum mining entails some hazard from free silica the fact that gypsum rock is sometimes found near due to - bearing deposite 5 80 Knowledge of silica health risks was established in the early part of the century since it was thought to be a contributing factor in tuberculosis Gypsum rock dust and dust created by the plaster of paris product were noted and compared to health effects of silica dust as early as 1917 3 2 There is reference in a 1928 insurance rating publication to a specific lung disease among gypsum workers This reference gives some insight into the limited state of medical information at the time Nevertheless the term stycosis was used in the mineral base report - describing use of gypsum a as paint Gypsum is calcium sulphate Although in the mining and purification of this mineral so gross is the exposure at times that gypsum workers may develop a dusty lung disease stycosis its occurrence in paint manufacture is unknown -4- It may not be maintained that the substances which we have many mineral the foregoing list exculpated as health hazards in action are entirely free from harmful Practically any dust organic or inorganic of disease In the had in mind the present writing we have continuously limited exposure that should take in paint manufacture 3 While calcium sulphate is believed to be physically harmless in small chemically and exposure may take place quantities that the so great an be gorged with this dust respiratory tract may Obviously under such chiarrmcluemsssta4 nces no dust may be regarded as entirely - This observation was made by a Dr. Carey P. McCord of the Industrial Health Conservancy Laboratories in Cincinnati Ohio By 1934 health being conducted studies on the effects of 5 25 The first study gypsum dust were found in the literature in 1934 does not produce any that no demonstrable concludes that " exposure to gypsum permanent or serious lung pathology and disability results from years of xposure 5 This study however notes that silica was a common impurity in gypsum rock and that commercial operations involved the production of great quantities of dust much of which is very fine workers at these operations are therefore liable to a steady inhalation of large amounts IV Simpson Papers The Vandiver Brown and related documents reveal a number of aspects of gypsum industry involvement and knowledge regarding the Saranac studies In a memorandum describing the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research Symposium on Dust Problems held in Pittsburgh PA on January 15 1935 Brown notes comment by Dr. Lanza maintained *, .Mr Lanza pointed out that no one had ever maintained that gypsum qust was harmful and yet nevertheless the gypsum inuustry had suits pending against it covering claims in excess of four million dollars 6 In a 1935 letter Dr. Cardner informed Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that basic studies on both asbestos and gypsum dusts had been completed 8 The Gypsum Association witnesses including Dr. an industry trade group Gardner on its behalf at produced a 1936 workmen's compensation ratings hearing The Gypsum Association forth its views on the dust conditions in its industry a fifty page brief and supplemented its printed statement by the oral testimony of experienced men in the industry and such silicosis experts as Doctors L. U. Gardner and Homer M. Sampson of the Saranac Laboratory The Association succeeded in convincing the Committee that the amount of free silica dust present in the mining and processing of gypsum was negligible and that the specific O. D. rate for this industry should be eliminated except for the making of sanded wall plaster 10 -6- Perhaps most important U.S. Gypsum to the 1936 agreement that provided Company was a signatory industry funding for Dr. Gardner's experiments on the effects of asbestos aust 12 3 16 There was correspondence at this time between Brown and J. S. Offutt Assistant to the President of U.S. Gypsum 14 15 Dr. Gardner published a short forth the theory first hinted article in 1938 again setting at by Riddell in 1934 that gypsum dust inhibited the harmful effects of silica 17 This article called for further research into gypsum dust There was additional correspondence between Brown and officials of 20 21 23 U.S. Gypsum in These letters 1944 '48 '49 and '51 18 all concerned Dr. Gardner's asbestos dust experiments 19 It is noteworthy that the dates of the above studies almost certainly precede the widespread use of asbestos in the spray product In 1955 Dr. Schepers then Director of the Saranac Laboratory published two with a human ray study papers on gypsum dust one dealing and one with animal experiments 24 25 -7- 1960's Documents A number of National Gypsum documents produced to - by Travelers shed light on National's knowledge of asbestos hazards J documents from this time frame reveal considerable exchanges of information between M National Gypsum W. R. Grace and trade associations which often included both M and gypsum manufacturers A 1961 letter from cliff Sheckler to an industrial relations manageart W. R. Grace answers the latter's request for information on Thermobestos Sheckler cites the ACGIH standard for airborne asbestos dust and states Assuming that the airborne dust would approximate the material ratios of the product this would indicate that dust levels approaching 50 million particles per cubic foot would not contain an excessive amount of asbestos fiber 27 There is a similar 1965 letter from Sheckler to an official of U.S. Gypsum 31 Minutes of a 1965 meeting of the Air Hygiene and Manufacturing committee of the Asbestos Textile Institute show that a copy of ATI's pamphlet Nethod for Determining Asbestos Dust Concentration was mailed to the Zonolite Division of W. R. Grace in Libby Montana 30 In this regard documents indicate that National Gypsum was an associate member of ATI in the late 50's and early 60's resigning in 1962 28 Also National according to its documents became a member of the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association QAMA in 1958 when it opened a mine at Thetford Mines 32 65 Thus it is apparent that National Gypsum also engaged in sales of fiber to Armstrong Cork and British Metals Corporation 32 33 In connection with National's fiber sales to British Metals there isa 1967 discussion of using proof packaging for fiber shipments in order to comply with British health regulations 33 VI Concealment Documents There exists a series of National Gypsum documents beginning in 1968 which could be construed to show an effort on the part of National to restrict the dissemination of health information about asbestos These same documents show N as the party initiating such dissemination An undated 1968 memo found in National's documents produced by Travelers reads *. A meeting was held on April 3 with representatives of Certainteed Ruberoid and Manville present at which time M expressed a desire for the immediate industry cooperation in publishing a booklet called Recommended Health Safety Practices This booklet is designed to point out safe ways to handle apply warehouse and process products for the construction industry This proposed booklet would be published by the Asbestos Building Products manufacturers -9- We would like to communicate to Mr. Burnett as follows . . .Manufacturers with competitive products would T RESOLUTION certainly use it to our disadvantage - examples - aluminum siding hardboard cast iron pipe corrugated metal etc. . ... . Recommend booklet have limited distribution within it C Aso b m mfp y anies issu ise sud ed @PJL ENTER LANGUAGE