Document 91Bbpm03DQjnKXJZ03xgVqYae

PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT c r ASBESTOS-CEMENT WATER PIPE AND c HEAUH V A/C PI PE PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION Suite 1113* 1875 Connecticut Ave. N.W. c Washington, D.C. 20009 CAPCO JEN 0004165 "Asbestos-Cement Water Pipe and Health", developed by the Johns-Manville Corporation, Denver, Colorado, is distributed as a public service by the A/C Pipe Producers Association CAPCO JEN 0004166 ASBBIOS-CEMB'IT WAFER RPE ANDHEAUH Asbestos-cement (A/C) pipe for water supply and waste disposal systems was developed in Europe in 1913 and introduced to the United States in 1929. Asbestos fiber, added tlTPortland cement and silica, provides the structural strength required for durable, light weight, rustproof, economical piping. Despite extensive research and experimentation, no satisfactory substitute for asbestos has ever been found as a replacement in asbestos-cement products. These advantages have led to the use of great quantities of asbestoscement pipe over the past half century, for water supply and sewer systems, irrigation projects, drainage systems, industrial processes, heating and cooling installations, and as conduit for electrical and telephone wires. For water supply systems, A/C pipe meets the specifications of the American Water Works Association and of the U.S. Government. Un der Federal Specification SS-P-351C A/C water pipe is sold to the U.S. Public Health Service. Because of the recognized occupational health hazards connected with the excessive and prolonged inhalation of asbestos dust, the ques tion has been raised as to whether there might be a possible health hazard associated with drinking water that has passed through asbes tos-cement pipe. In late 1967, the U.S. Public Health Service was asked to look into this question, especially as it might be related to the risk of gastro intestinal (GI) cancer. Public Health Service officials discussed the matter with two prominent medical authorities in the field of asbestos and health. They were Dr. George W. Wright, Chairman of the Scien tific Advisory Committee of the Institute for Occupational and Envi ronmental Health, and head of the Medical Research Department, St. Luke's Hospital, Cleveland; and Dr. Irving J. Selikoff, Professor and Chairman, Division of Environmental Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City. They confirmed the Public Health Service's position "that there is a low probability of any health hazard associ ated with the use of asbestos-cement pipe." Dr. Wright's position is summed up as: "To my knowledge, there have been no reports in medical litera ture of a relationship between gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and the drinking of water supplied through an asbestos-cement pipe water system. There is no evidence that the ingestion of one, or a hundred, or a thousand asbestos fibers on one or more instances, is related to gastrointestinal cancer." Dr. Selikoffs view is: There is "no evidence at all at this time that the presumably very low level exposure by ingestion which might occur by intake of water supplied through asbestos-cement pipe has resulted in a recognized health hazard." asbestos cement defined a question of health experts view the question CAPCO JEN 0004167 The Advisory Committee on Asbestos Cancers in their report to the Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, pre pared October 6,Jg72, considers the question: "Is there evidence of an increased risk of cancer resulting from asbestos fibers present in water, beverages, food or in the fluids used for the administration of drugs?" Their answer: "Such evidence as there is does not indicate any risk." research resulls FOUR TYPES OF EVIDENCE SUPPORT PG6(T10N Four types of evidence support the position that A/C pipe poses no hazard: y' 1. Exposure of laboratory test animals to heavy concentrations of air-borne asbestos dust, much of which was swallowed, has resulted in no observed cases of gastrointestinal cancer. 2. Experiments in which laboratory animals were deliberately fed a heavy dose of asbestos dust mixed with the regular food, produced no tumors in animals. 3. Recent research indicates that only infinitesimal amounts of asbes tos are released into drinking water that goes through asbestos-cement pipe. 4. In the face of the ever-increasing use of asbestos-cement pipe and of asbestos fiber, the death rate from gastrointestinal cancer in the United States has shown a steady decline over the last 20 years. This national trend also applies, in general, to those cities where A/C pipe has been used in water systems for long periods of time. Similarly, in European countries where A/C pipe has been used extensively (in many countries for more than half a century) the death rate from this type of cancer has also declined. laboratory tests FURTHK DETAILS ON TYPE OF EVIDENCE 1. Animal Experiments With Air-Borne Asbestos Have Not Produced GI Cancer. Laboratory test animals are used extensively in cancer research to study their reactions to various substances that are suspected of having some relationship to cancer in humans. Tests of this nature, using asbestos dust in heavy concentrations in inhalation chambers, have been conducted on mice for as long as two years and on dogs for four or more years. The amount of fiber not only inhaled, but also swal lowed, by these experimental animals is far in excess of any compar able human exposures. Dr. Wright points out that in inhalation experiments, "the food, especially of the small animals, is covered by the settled-out asbestos fibers in the experimental chambers." Inhalation experiments of this type have been conducted for many years in many laboratories without a single report of GI cancer. Dr. Arthur Vorwald and associates at the Saranac Laboratory of the Tru deau Foundation have issued two reports covering more than twenty CAPCO JEN 0004-168 years of investigation. Dr. J.C. Wagner conducted similar animal inha lation experiments in South Africa and in Britain. Neither Vorwald nor Wagner ever noted GI cancer in any animal. In addition, experiments conducted by Dr. Selikoff on hamsters generally support the dog-and-mice findings. "Yet," Dr. Selikoff commented, "the exposure to ingested asbestos in this experimental work was very much larger indeed than might be anticipated in water obtained from asbestos-cement pipes." SUMMARY: Animal inhalation experiments show no relationship be tween GI cancer and heavy concentrations of asbestos dust in the air, or the fallout of the dust on food. 2. Direct Feeding Of Asbestos Dust To Experimental Animals-Has Failed To Produce GI Cancer. In 1968 the British doctors, Bonser and Clayson, reported an experi ment in which 40 rats were maintained on a diet which included approximately 2 grams of asbestos per week. No tumors of any kind resulted, they said, adding "nor were there any lesions in the intestinal wall which might have suggested a previous absorption of asbestos fibers." SUMMARY: Asbestos fibers, fed to animals in measured large quanti ties have not produced GI cancer. 3. Municipal Water And Asbestos A study was recently conducted of the drinking water in nine cities that have used asbestos-cement pipe for periods ranging from 8 to 17 years. Not one of the water samples, either before or after passing through A/C pipe, contained fibers which were visible under a light microscope. Only through use of the electron microscope was it possi ble to detect minute fibers of asbestos in any of the water samples. It is worthy of note that all samples contained some asbestos fiber be fore passing through A/C pipe, and in many cases the infinitesimal amount of fiber was essentially the same before and after exposure to the pipe. nine city survey One possible explanation for this is that natural waters, flowing through rock formations underground or through streams, appear to pick up trace amounts of asbestos, along with other minerals and naturally occurring chemicals. Thus people for generations probably have been swallowing tiny amounts of asbestos in the water they drink. The highest asbestos content per gallon of water tested was 6 micrograms, about one five-millionths of an ounce. In terms of human consumption this means that if a man were to drink eight glasses of water per day, he might swallow a total of twenty-seven ten-thou sandths of an ounce (.0027) of asbestos in a lifetime of 70 years. SUMMARY: Present evidence does not support the contention that asbestos-cement water pipe releases asbestos into water in amounts that can constitute a health hazard to the general public. CAPCO JEN 0004169 4. Decrease In Frequency Of Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer In The United States. Figures from both the National Office of Vital Statistics of the United States Public Health Service and from the American Cancer Society show a steady tfSCline in the frequency of GI cancer in the United States from 1947 to 1966. The death rate per 100,000 of population from GI cancer dropped from 55.2 in 1947 to 48.4 in 1966. Available United States figures also show GI cancer declining since 1960 as a percentage of total deaths. government statistics Year 1960 1962 1964 1966 1970 TABLE I DEATHS FROM SELECTED CAUSES FOR THE UNITED STATES Total Deaths All Causes Deaths From GI Cancer As % GI Cancer Of AH Deaths 1,711,982 1,756,720 1,798,061 1,863,149 1,921,000 ' 91,035 92,047 93,158 95,079 94,640 5.3 5.2 5.1 5.1 4.9 Similar trends can be found in cities all across the country.* Take for example the comparison between Nashville, Tennessee, where no A/C pipe has been used and Knoxville, Tennessee, where A/C pipe has been used since 1938, over 30 years. Here's how United States government figures apply to those two cities. TABLE II NASHVILLE-KNOXVILLE COMPARISONS NashviUe KnoxviUe (No A/C Pipe) (A/C Pipe Since 1938) Deaths from AH Causes Deaths from GI Cancer GI Cancer Deaths as Percent of Total I960 3,675 129 3.5% 1966 3,901 185 1960 3,038 131 4.7% 4.3% 1966 3,360 153 4.5% Similarly, in Europe, where asbestos-cement pipe has been in use for fifty years or more, the death rate from GI cancer is generally down ward. For example, in Switzerland, where the use of A/C pipe is the highest per capita of any Western European country, the death rate for GI cancer has dropped from 81.9 per 100,000 of population in 1951 to 63.9 in 1962, according to the latest figures available from In considering these figures, it is importsnt to remember (*) that cities tend to have higher rates of cancer than rural areas, so some city figures will run higher than the U.S. average, and (b) that minor fluctuations from year to year in the percentage figures, whether up or down, are of Uttle or no significance, especially If the numbers are small. CAPCO JEN 0004170 the World Health Organization. Thus the actual frequency of gastrointestinal cancer does not sup port any suggestion that the use of asbestos-cement water pipe is causing an increase in this type of disease. In-fact, during the very years that the use of A/C pipe has increased in the United States, the rate of GI cancer has declined. It is clear that no causal connection has been demonstrated between the use of A/C water pipe and GI cancer in human beings. SUMMARY: "Substantial and increasing amounts of asbestos fiber have been used in various ways from 1930 on in the United States, and one would anticipate that if this fiber was playing a role in the causation of gastrointestinal tumors, it might be expected to have led to an increase in tumors, rather than the observed decrease." (Dr. George W. Wright) Four types of evidence have been examined: (1) results of experi ments with test animals exposed to large quantities of inhaled and swallowed asbestos particles; (2) results of experiments in which ani mals were fed measured large quantities of asbestos; (3) results of tests to determine the amount of asbestos in municipal water supplies; and (4) the frequency of GI cancer in the United States and Europe, including those areas using asbestos-cement water pipe. All of this evidence goes against suggestions that the use of A/C water pipe has any influence on the development of GI cancer. Finally, it is important to view this situation in its proper perspec tive. Asbestos is by no means unique in being investigated as a possible health hazard. Literally hundreds of substances--as common and everyday as fuel oil, charcoal broiled steaks, iron rust, and egg yolksare known to be, or suspected of being, cancer-causing agents to test animals under certain experimental conditions. Nearly everything we use and create in our increasingly complex society has been suspected, by someone, of being a potential hazard. To forego the many benefits of these products of modem techno logy, simply on the basis of suspicions that are unsupported by medi cal proof, would be unwarranted. an ever view A/C Pipe Producers Association is a worldwide trade associa tion serving as a central information center on all areas of A/C Pipe. Additional copies of this bulletin may be obtained without charge by writing: A/C Pipe Producers Association Suite 1113 1875 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009 CAPCO JEN 0004171 A/C PIPE PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION Suite 1113,1875 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009 ATLAS ASBESTOS CO. ' Montreal, Canada ASBESTOS DE MEXICO, S.A. Mexico City, Mexico CANADIAN JOHNS-MANVILLE CO., LTD. Ontario, Canada CEMENT ASBESTOS PRODUCTS CO. Birmingham, Alabama CERTAIN-TEED PRODUCTS CORP. Valley Forge, Pennsylvania THE FLINTKOTE COMPANY Akron, Ohio JOHNS-MANVILLE SALES CORP. Denver, Colorado MEXALIT DEL NORTE, S.A. Mexico City, Mexico ASSOCIATION DE L'INDUSTRIE L'ASBESTE-CIMENT Nyon, Switzerland AMIANTUS CENTRE EXPORT Hamburg, Germany JAMES HARDIE & CO. PTY., LTD. Sydney, Australia HELLENIC INDUSTRY FOR BUILDING MATERIALS "HELLENIT" S.A. Athens, Greece PARAISTEN KALKKI OY Pargas, Finland CAPCO JEN 0004172