Document 6baeKpg8QKYex0VnDGnjNO7m9

FILE NAME: Johnson & Johnson (JAJ) DATE: 1972 June 16 DOC#: JAJ 120 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NYT Article - High Levels of Asbestos Found in 3 Paints and 2 Talcums Here ruz-vn-M i ir r o CAniD i i : r-u o 4 i j '1 *H'`( ' r. -.'x v THE N E W Y OR K TIMES, FRIDA Y, J U N E 16,1972 ' High Levels of Asbestos Found In 3 Paints and 2 Talcums Here By GRACE LICHTENSTEIN Three brands of textured ceil were using the paints. The ing paint and two brands of city's new air-pollution code, talcum powder have been which went into effect Feb. 27, named by the city's Environ outlaws material the spraying of any containing asbestos. mental protection Administra Air Resources Commissioner tion as having heavy asbestos- Fred C . Hart said yesterday fiber levels that might contrib that, as a result the manufac ute to lung cancer years after turers had come forward with a person inhaled their dust. asbestos-free paints. The environment agency' s The paints, named at a news concern about asbestos in baby conference at a construction powder surfaced almost a year site On West 147th Street yes ago, when Jerome Kretchmer, terday, are: the Environmental Protection flA-Coustex textured spray Administrator, advised consuni finish, manufactured by Am ers to stop using talcum until sterdam Color Works, the suspicions about its asbestos Bronx, said to contain 50 per content were cleared up. cent mixed asbestos minerals. A t the time, Mr. Kretchmer Texure, manufactured by1said two brands tested showed Purity Paint Products Corpora from 5 to 25 per cent asbestos tion, Brooklyn, said to contain fibers in them but declined to 60 to 80 per cent mixed asbes name them until tests on other tos minerals. brands were made. Imperial QT texture finish, Other Tests Awaited manufactured by the U.S. Gyp After repeated inquiries from sum Company, said to contain newsmen, the agency released 5 to 10 per cent of one kind of a letter dated June 8 from asbestos. James R. Marshall, director of The talcs are Landers baby public information, to a con powder and Johnson & Johnson sumer naming Landers and baby powder. Johnson & Johnson as the According to a spokesman brands. He said the agency was for the Department of Air Re still awaiting results o f tests on sources, the paints are de other brands, since it suspected livered in powder form, mixed that "virtually every talcum into a liquid, then sprayed on powder contains some asbes ceiling interiors to finish. tos." Acting onc information from A spokesman for Johnson & the International Brotherhood Johnson denied yesterday that of Painters and Allied Trades the company's baby powder District Council 9, the depart contained asbestos, saying the ment had several paint samples Food and Drug Administration analyzed by Dr. Irving Selikoff in the last year had accepted of the Mount Sinai Environ test results from three inde mental Sciences Laboratory, pendent laboratories proving who reported the high asbes this. He said the E.P.A. knew tos quantities. of these test results. The Lan The department issued 13 ders Company could not be cease-and-desist orders begin reached for comment. ning in May to builders who The Food and Drug Adminis tration is also investigating the possible health hazards o f tal cum containing asbestos. In an interview, Mr. Marshall suggested that plain corn starch was a cheap and acceptable substitute for baby powder. Dr. Selikoff, considered the' leading health authority on as bestos, has long warned o f the danger of lung cancer. Asbestos spray is used to fireproof the steel beams of new buildings.- JNJ 000086528