Document 8n6zwBpe9NqpdRnYyq78jeY5

FILE NAME: Ferro Engineering (FER) DATE: 1966 Oct 17 DOC#: FER009 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Newspaper Article - Even Asbestos Has Its Dangers I Even Asbestos Has Its Dangers 5= Asbestos, a substance used in a great variety of Industrial products, can be very dangerous to people who come In contact with it. Asbestos Is a mixture of magnesium, calcium, and iron. If the fine fibers that make up the substance are inhaled, the cells of the body cannot get rid of them, and a dif fuse inflammatory .reactlon occurs in the lungs. Ultimately, normal lung tissue is replaced by fi brous tissue--and cancer Is possible. The Incidence of asbesfosls, as the condition Is called, is rising. This coincides'with increased use of the material. In 1920, world production was 300,000 tons; today it Is 3,500,000 tons r ft year. About 40 per cent of the world's output Is cohsumed in this country. It too. The tumor was found In 12 of 300 workers In the Industry who were exam ined after their deaths. Usually the case is diagnosed by X rays of the lungs. It can be discovered also by finding "asbestos bodies" i,n the sputum, yellow rod-llke structures shaped like drum sticks and consisting of an as bestos core surrounded by thick, albu minous material. No one has discovered a method of treatm ent for the condition, which is con sidered invariably fatal. The only preven tion suggested Is special precautions for , people constantly exposed to asbestos, such as masks, air filtration, and Improve ment of environmental conditions. It Is also suggested that people not ordinarily exposed to asbestos avoid any contact with the material when it Is in use, as wherl insulation is installed in a hew home. - -- JOHN H enderson, M.D.. The disease progresses slowly, so that we may now be seeing the results of ex posure as long as 30 years ago. Experts conjecture that the rate will be much ' higher 30 years from now. ' There are about 30,000 workers in the asbestos Industry in this country, and an other 3,000,000 In the construction indus ' try, who are exposed to the material. Many others, though, can have casual but just as dangerous exposure, simply by living near an Industrial or construction site. . . - , - j' * , Shortness of breath Is the dominant symptom of the condition with a severity . out of proportion to the apparent change 1in the lung tissue. Sufferers also are -.prone to tuberculosis infection. More lmIportantiy, cancer of the lungs occurs, in ' about 13 per cent of such victims, and the i death rate from cancer of the stomach, i colon, and rectum is unusually high even `.though no one knows why these organs 5ar affected. ' ' Doctors also are mystified by the ap pearance of a rare tissue tumor, mes- ;othelloma, which Is found increasingly i In asbestosls victims. They do not know ' If It Is the result of prolonged exposure, vor whether a casual exposure can produce r- -V t -f~ p-0