Document 8O25a06EQgyNGqVkLQnepGNma

FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1966 Mar 22 DOC NMA006 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Memo RE Toxicology - Referencing Out of Context Reporting with Two Attached Newspaper Articles . MEMORANDUM D. Kemens C.C. ANO TO : Messrs T. Dougherty R. Miller R. W. Stobaeus B. K. Barton T. R. van Fleet N. J. Setter R. T. Larkin ; . . G. Vessely i] DATE March 22 1966 heateTdh FLO JAR [. FLO JAR CC L. S. O'Rourke SUBJECT T. J. Hall H. F. Reichard G. Woolery J. A. Riddl.e. J. Derbecker P. R. Cheston T. F. Frangos Asbestos - Toxicology Gentlemen Early in March the New York Times and the Herald Tribune reporting the establishment of a new environmental health laboratory at Mt. Sinai Hospital New York City revived some publicity copy attached in regard to Asbestos dust as a health hazard We understand that a few newspapers in other cities picked it up this will make Out of context reporting leads to erroneous conclusions and is no exception Nevertheless we should reckon that such a commentary recur and all of us should use the tool we now have at our disposal to certain our customers are acquainted with the facts 1 You have copies of Dr. Dernehl's Asbestos Toxicology Report Additional copies are enclosed Use these and call particular attention to Dr. Dermehl's statements in regard to Threshold Limit Value asbestos Control of asbestos dust exposure is necessary as is control of exposure to any of a variety of dusty operations 2 Union Carbide pellets offer a clear means of handling asbestos under exceptionally low dust conditions 3. No work yet conducted or published presents nor professes to present incontrovertible proof of a relationship between cancer and asbestos Some publications have referred to the association of deleterious organic compounds among them jute oils from jute sacking material and 3,4 benzo pyrene We do not use jute bags Further we are | ~ UCC 020800 /, | -2- analyzing random samples of our product and expect shortly to prove the absence of any polycyclic aromatics Your pelleted asbestos affords customers the best means of avoiding dust hazards Make this clear Very truly yours Pufahl Enclosures ar 020801 ress in palliding wit Lives Peavey Asbestos Dust Called aHazard To at Least Fourth of U.S. By JANE P. BRODY | Asbestos ust which has struction workers and their with ready been connected families the development of fatal can- According to the findings of |. cer in half of asbestos recent limited studies the workers may be a potential dangers might extend to the health hazard for quarter population The studies . or , of the population more which was reported yesterday + it involved autopsies on 1,100 persons in three cities , This preliminary finding showed that 25 per cent of the described by Dr. Irving J. Sell people had asbestos lodged in koff in announcing the estab- lungs os anoucing lishment of an environmental Dr. Sellkoff explained that =o health laboratory at Mount the studies had used a crudel Sinai Hospital The laboratory technique that disclosed only i will further investigate the those asbestos fibers that had had the dangers to man of asbestos become coated by an rich i other environmental contami- material while lodged in the linants lungs more refined technique : Dr. Selikoff said the link between cancer and asbestos had led him to suspect that now shows that ma persons harbor noncoated asbestos fi- Ibers as well he said other mineral dusts that con- Now Study Started taminate both urban and rural Dr. Selikoff and his . col- aN air might create medical haz leagues at the new laboratory he ards for the public have started a three study The new laboratory will be in which they will 1 headed by Dr. Sellkoff who Examine with the de with Dr. Job Job Churg found ceased's family's approval the 1 that asbest workers eventu- lung tissue of the from 3,000 to all showed to seven times 4,000 persons expected to die in th normal death rate from lung the next two years at Mount cancer and three times the nor- Sinal Elmhurst Hospital and Bronx.r mal death rate from cancer of Veterans Hospital in the Bronx.r the stomach colon and rectum The doctors will look for un- Other Workers Affected coated as well as coated asbes- Dr. Sellkoff noted that the dangers of exposure to asbestos dust were n imited to those who work directly with this ubiquitous Insulator and filler material The dangers he said extend to workers in contigu lous trades such as other conee cet aman tos fibers in the tissues GLook for correlations tween the causes of death doo be v | and the presence of asbestos fibersg in lung tissue A occupational Determine the history of the deceased and theirju relatives and other pertinent v background information p Asbestos is a fibrous minerals highly valued for its noncorrosive and wearing prop p perties In addition to its common t use as a fireproof material Dr.t Dr.t Selikoff said asbestos makes up a about 50 per cent of asphalt h tile and is used in dental cement p : brake linings plastics beer fil g ters gas masks and paper Until i last year some schools used t asbestos dust instead of sand stst for children to play in WiWi eee Study Links Asbestos To Cancer By Earl Ubell . Science Editor _ Scientists have known for & long time that asbestos was bad for your lungs Now a study of New York City workers both roofers and .Insulation blowers reveals that exposure to the mineral sends cancer death rates skyrocketing The gathered by doctors at Mount Sina Hosshow that such work- ers have eight times the lung- cancer death rate as would be expected in a exposed _ population More suprisingly the stud- - les reveal that such workers run four times the risk of * |4 getting cancer in other parts of the body with cancer of the colon particularly singled out For all other diseases the insulation workers have . the same death rate as - rest of the population the These findings were em- phasized yesterday Irving J. Sellkoff Mt. Sinal's Division by Dr. | head of of Envi- ronmental Medicine on the occasion of the establish- ment of an environmental health laboratory in the hos- ' pital The laboratory has received grants totaling 324 000 from the United States Public Health Service and the New York City Research Council Health Dr. Selikoff also pointed out that cigarette smoking seems to heighten the effects of the asbestos Among 130 men exposed to asbestos 20 _ years or more who were non- smokers he found one lungcancer death among 310 _ smokers 21 such deaths Scape eee ety