Document 7edYGbj3gyNML124gJXrnMqB

57th ALL-OHIO SAFETY AND HEALTH CONGRESS & EXHIBIT CLEVELAND CONVENTION CENTER APRIL 7,8,9,1987 January 23, 1987 Richard F. Celeste Governor The Industrial Commission ol Ohio Leonard T. Lancaster Chairman Emory Huguelet Vice Chairman Robert L McAllister Member John V. McCarthy Member Raymond A. Connor Member Legal Section Industrial Commission o-f Ohio 246 North High Street Re* OD # 26252-22 Columbus, Ohio 43213 Michael Seali U.S. Steel Corporation Attn. Judy Spencer Lorain-Cuyahoga Works 1807 E. 28 t!, Street Dear Ms. Spencer: Lorain, Ohio 44055 No site visit was made in the investigation o-f this claim. The union and management are currently engaged in a strike / lockout action. This action made a plant visit impossible. In order to complete this investigation in a timely manner, an Interview with a company o-f-ficial was conducted in a telephone conversation. The claimant alleges that his medically diagnosed condition of "bronchogenic carcinoma" is the result of workplace exposures to asbestos. The claimant's work history with the company is listed in the facsimile file and assumed to be correct as received. Division of Safety and Hygiene 246 N. High St Columbus, Ohio 432IS John A. Pompei Superintendent Lou Grg*iy Assistant Superintendent Lawrence J. Whalen Congress Manager . ASBESTOS TOXICOLOGY Asbestos fibers find entry into the body by inhalation and ingestion. The fibers are retained in the body tissues throughout the lifetime of the host, even long after cessation of exposure. Fibers may migrate to other organs following retention in the lung. Asbestosis and certain malignancies are related to exposure to fibers of the asbestos material. Asbestosis is a progressive restrictive pulmonary fibrosis associated with the inhalation of asbestos fibers. Malignancies related to the inhalation and possible ingestion of asbestos fibers, according to epidemiological studies include carcinoma of the lung, mesotheliomas of the pleura and peritoneum, and neoplasms of other sites. Asbestos has a synergistic effect with cigarette smoking in producing carcinoma of the lung. Asbestos y if OD # 26252-22 Michael Seal i , U.S. Steel, Lorain Page 2 workers who are smokers have a greater risk of contracting lung cancer than non-smoking asbestos workers. A study of asbestos insulators by Hammond and Selikoff showed that nearly all asbestos related cancers occurred in cigarette smokers. (!) A mortality study of the members of the union of plumbers and pipe-fitters in the United States noted their potential exposures to asbestos and found significant excesses in proportional mortality ratios for malignant neoplasms of the esophagus, respiratory system, lung, bronchus, and trachea, and "other sites". <2> Most inhaled asbestos is removed from the respiratory passages by the mucocilliary escalator and leaves the body via the gastrointestinal tract. Consequently cancers of the esophagus, the stomach and the intestines were to be expected in substantial industrial exposures. Carcinoma of the larynx has been found in excess in several groups of asbestos-exposed workers. However, the causal link with inhalation of asbestos is as yet far from clear. A much stronger link between carcinoma of the larynx and cigarette smoking, and even consumption of alcohol, has been demonstrated, and both of these habits also appear to be high among the carcinoma of the esophagus. <3> The company representative stated in the telephone conversation that of all the jobs the c'aimant has held, he (the representative) sees no jobs listed to which the claimant could have received asbestos exposures, routinely or otherwise. The claimant has a long time cigarette / cigar smoking history as documented in the facsimile file. "Cigarette smoking is by far the most important cause of bronchia) carcinoma in the Western world. However, long before cigarettes become it was recognized that men in certain occupations had a tendency to die of lung disease that in retrospect seems likely to have been ca'cinoma." <4> Doll and Peto, in monograph have pointed out that there is no current epidemic of cancer, with the exception of lung cancer. While the latter can almost entirely be attributed to cigarette smoking, a proportion of cases may fairly be blamed on asbestos (perhaps) 5 percent and the other known occupational causes (coal combustion products, chromium, nickel, halo ethers, etc.) adding up to perhaps another 10 percent of those tumors occurring in men. While these estimates may be appear a bit high to the chest physician, they are based on a careful assessment of the epidemiological evidence. In this regard, .it should be noted that such estimates consider the excess risk of OD H 26252-22 Michael Scall, U.S. Steel, Lorain Pag# 3 cancer. Thus, they do not necessarily imply that in 15 percent of the people with lung cancer is caused by workplace carcinogens, but that 15 percent more people will acquire the disease than would have been the case had there been no workplace exposures. In many, possibly most o-f these cases the individual causes have been multiple, the separate causes adding up (or as with asbestos and cigarettes, probably multiplying) to produce the disease in some who would not have otherwise contracted it if exposed to only one.......... The largest group of men occupationally exposed is probably those involved in coal combustion... <4> CLOSING In conclusion, it is impossible to ascertain just what the claimant may have experienced in the way of exposures without having an opportunity to inspect the steel mill. Also conditions more than likely have changed since the time that the claimant began working for the company. Therefore the fact of whether or not the claimant's condition is the result of workplace exposures to asbestos, his cigarette smoking habit, or a combination of both is a judgment best left to the competent medical authorities and one's conjecture. UJB Referencest 1. Documentation of the Threshold Limit Values. Fifth Edition, f^nerican Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, 1986.) 2. Occupation Exposure to Asbestost PopvUt>on at Risk and ProJected Mortalitvi 198Q-2030. Nicholson, Perkel , Irving, Selikoff; American Journal of Industrial Medicine 3t259-311 (1982). 3. Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety. International Labour Office Geneva, 1983. 4. Occupational Luno Diseases. Morgan and Seaton, pp. 437-441 RECORDS CERTIFICATION I, the undersigned, an employee of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, do hereby certify that the microfilm images on this reel of microfilm or microfiche are complete and accurate reproductions of the original records of the S -j-hf_________________ as accumulated during the regular course of business, and that it is the established procedure of this department to microfilm its records for permanent file and to dispose of the original records after microfilm reproductions have been made. ' SUPERVISOR, Microfilming JJhit Date Name (Ribera Operator^/ 5"-/3- S 7 Date