Document 6R5R62NRNabJQgXo13qrjDBY1
--3-- standard to 500,000 Fibers per cubic meter oC air. In 1976, VilOSH recommended!
lowering the standard to 100,000 fibers.
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NI0SH and OSHA. established an Asbestos Work. Group In the fall of 1979. Its charge was to review all health effects data since the 1976 NIOSH
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recqmmended standard was transmitted to OSHA and to determine whether any
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changes to that recommendation were warranted. Was there health
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occurring at the level of the current standard? The Work Group Qjansiste^riif;
four experts from NIOSH and three from OSHA.
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The' Work Group has completed its report and NIOSHf haJ^Jfo/> vi
recommended that OSHA adopt the Work Group's fnd(ing|pk A capjsjof the report
Is in your press kit.
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The Group reconfirmed that there Is naSjprafte eeDxcnpBujSfsururre level for asbestos.
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Although data suggest that lower exposuuitr^S?> res^iil^t\ih !lower risks of developing W
cancer,'th^re' is no known level belojAwhlchvj|sbestos-related diseases do not c b-
occur.
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The Group reconfirmed , that all/commercial and several non-commercial .
forms of asbestos cay^p^lseatffeA There has at times been debate over which
types of asbestos^ (fUs^rs cat^s^ disease. The Group found strong evidence that ail forms arfvs1Wa^Sg^c''rvonu"`s,^^' 4' nc^u^:n2 chrysotile; crocidollte; and fibrous
cmnmlngtonite-grmteJj.ce Including amosite, fibrous tremollte, fibrous
actlnalite, and\^ibrous anthophyllite. The Work Group found no basis for
'Os regulating(one type o'f fiber and not another.
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.jrjfc^-iAhese two premises in mind, let me enumerate some of the specific
findings of the Work Group:
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o Optical microscopy continues to be the most reliable and
economically feasible method for determining airborne levels of -more-
EAB 008570