Document BR4q5qd9XzjmOwbkvZG2jN4e4
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2EPAEEEKT OP LASCl?
tfASHXRBTCS, B.C.
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PtAJNTlFPS EXHIBIT
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If NG72
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In the Matter cf:
STARDAED FOS EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS OUST, : PU5LXC
PROPOSED* HUES KAKIHG
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Conference Boom B
Interdepartmental Audifco: 12th & Constitution Ave.; Washington, D*C. Thursday, March 16. 1972
The above-entitled natter esass on for further hseri
pursuant to recess, at 9:00 o'clock, c,su, Thursday, March
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SETOSE;
AKTEUE M. GOIXSEHS, Searing Eradiner AP7EAHKCES-:
{ As heretofore noted.}
fe
>ory on uestos
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AffggKOON SESSION '*
. (2:00 p.a.)
ZXAMIEES. G0LD2FSG: On the'record.
Hr. Fey mnd Mr. Seetonic -- <0x0056 ms, is
`e trick in the room?
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--. All right, Mr. Fay and Mr. Swetonic.*
MEL. FAY: Ky name is*ALuert E. Fay. X am Vice
President ox the Gold Bond Building Products Division of th
Motional Gypsum Company in Buffalo. Met; York. X am appear!:
here today in my capacity as president *of the Asbestos .
Information Association of north America, located in Kew Yo:
City. The Asoestos Information Association Is comprised of
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twelve of the nation's largest miners, manufacturers and importers of asuestos and asoestos-containing products. The menucr companies' of the association are listed on a fact sheet, which 1 will suuxit with sy testimony.
*' As an introduction to industry testimony that will
follow, I would like to urlefly' sketch for-you a general
picture of the sine and scops of the asuestos industry in the
' * : United States, the types of products produced, the nuaoer of
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- * people employed, and other factors that will help-position tl
r`' i asuestos manufacturing industry in the economic and social s*
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structure cf this country;
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. X should me. ntioned uefore proceeding that the
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majority of the data that X present refers only to the
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:! manufacturing side of the industry, and does not include
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detailed information on industry using finished asuestos
products, such as the construction industry or the insulat;
*. i application and removal trades. Asbestos is the generic name given to a group of
inorganic hydrated silicate minerals that 'have one canon
attribute, namely, Che ability to be separated into relativ
soft, sillcy fibers. The three most commonly used varieties
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of asbestos are chrysotile, crocidblite, or blue fiber and
amosite.
It is important to note that chrysotile accounts i .
more than 9S% of the total annual United.States consumption
of asbestos. In the past, crocidollte and amosite were used
far more extensively in the United.States than they are tods;
The leading producers of chrysotile fleer are Canada and the
Soviet Union, with smaller deposits being found in South
Africa,. Shodcsia, China, the United States and Italy.
Crocidollte and amosite are mined almost exclusivel
*. - in South Africa.
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. The total annual world production of asbestos is
- arojrid 4 nillion tons, with Canadian production accounting fo:
r`. about 30% of the total, and the United States ebout 3%.
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The properties of asbestos that give it commercial
.v. j; value are its fibrous structure, the great tensile strength -
l! . !| of the fibers and its resistance to high temperatures and to
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certain types of chemical action* **
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- * As a fireproofing material, asbestos has over the
years saved untold lives and many billions of dollars in
property damage* It is used in products ranging from
asbcstos-ccmcnt shingles, panels and siding' to. fireproof
clothing, insulations, floor tile and-friction materials*
It has been estimated that-some 3 thousand different proauc
in`daily use around the world contain asbestos. Host of the
products, even though the percentage of .asbestos in them ma\
be small, cannot adequately perform their function without
one or more of the unique properties that asbestos imparts*
For most of these products, no adequate substitute for
asbestos is available today.
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It would take me an hour to enumerate for you the
major uses of asbestos fiber. Instead, I am submitting with
my testimony a listing from The Asbestos Fact Book, a publi cation of Asbestos llagarino, of some of the primary uses of
asbestos in our modem society. I think. it w_ill become quite clear after reading this list why asbestos has often been
ceiled the indispensable mineral.
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a la tlx* United States, the consumption of raw
asbestos fiber over the past decade has remained fairly
stable at an average of approximately 775,000 tons per year,
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with an estimated value of 090 million. Of this annual total,
approximately 125,000 tons valued at $10.5 million is'produced
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. * dosastically, the rest being i=poreed, priaarily t~=. Cenac I* Based on Bureau of the Census^manufacturing
statistics and other data, the estimated value of asbestos-
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containing products manufactured in the 'United States last
year mas roughly SI billion. Only around $35 million worth of fiber and products were exported, the rest being consume
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domestically.
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These products were made in well over 500 dlffcrei
manufacturing facilities, both large and small, throughout the United States, with a work force of at least 50,000 employees, and a payroll .approaching $2g billion.
It should be remembered that these employment and
sales figures refer only to companies and industries in whir; <
asbestos fiber is converted into finished products. In most
cases, these products are not sold directly to ultimate con
sumer, but are used in the manufacture of other products,
! such as automobiles, electrical appliances and fireproof
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clothing. In other instances, the finished asbestos-contain ing products pass through a dealer or distributor to an
applicator or seme other craftsman who installs them. This
is obviously the case in the construction industry. v <#
! Thus, products containing asbestos fiber may pass
through three or four levels of trade or manufacture before
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they arc purchased .by the ultimate consumer.
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For this reason, it is quite difficult to accurately
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judge the total economic value of the asbestos industry tc the cation. Vq finely believe, however, .that the Arthur r tattle Company 'economic study cas under way, will show it be substantial. For example, it has been estiaated that t insulation trades alone involve AO,000 men who spend at `le a quarter of their time working with asbestos-containing products. Other employees whose livelihood depends at lea: to* some extent on the- use of asbestos-containing products include other types of construction workers; siding, roofir and tile installers, pipe layers, salesmen, distributors ar dealers in asbestos products. It is inpossible to calculat the total incone derived by these workers from the use or sale of asbestos-containing products, but it is certainly i the hundreds of millions of dollars. w
' If one adds in the value of services, machinery, raw materials and other commodities purchased by the asoestc manufacturing industry each year for use in the production c shipment of finished asbestos products, the total economic contribution of the industry to the nation's economy would reach, perhaps. $3 billion, and would involve, to come degree the livelihood of at least half a million wage earners and their families, lie believe the economic and social eontribu ticn of the asbestos industry to the nation is substantial. .
In addition to the many and varied lifesaving uses of asbestos, they play an important role in our modem.,
technological society. For these reasons the establishes
of reasonable and feasible occupational -itealth standards f;
asbestos is a matter of great importance , not only to the c whose health we are 'crying 'to protect, but also to tfas indi
and to the country as a whole.
Our industry Is cooperating fully with the Arthur * *
Little Company in the economic study they have been retainc
to make by-GSEA. He are all working hard to . develop precis
figures as to the potential economic effect of the proposed
regulations on our industry* To`date, we* have been able to
sake only rough estimates. Zn general, they show a cost to
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the industry of approximately $200 million in new equipment
to comply with the proposed standard of two fibers .per cubic
centimeter in those sections* of the industry where we be liev
a two-fiber standard is technologically feasible. The proposed regulations would also produce a Iocs in sales of. at least $400 million because of the labeling requirements
and the shut down of operations where two fibers is techno
logically unfeasible. A number of companies have already
indicated chat they do not believe a two-fiber standard is
feasible in cany operations, and that if such a standard is
promulgated, they will close down those operations immediate!
rather than spend millions of dollars in a vain attenst to
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achieve the unachievable. The loss of jobs will be sub-
staatiai.
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Yesterday, there mas a statement cede here that
ose plant can ceet the. standards, then all can. This is n
true* There are vast differences in the various canufoctu
industries and the dissimilarity makes it impossible for o
to duplicate the ^otfcer. '.
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One other point. Yesterday, it mas stated that
tBcoicigg substantially increases, the risk of disease. Since
me. arc all ccccemed about the health of those associated
mith this business, me mould like to recommend that the
proposed standard should prohibit cooking during working he
on the job and that the naming signs required to be post
should prominently display "no smoking." Precedents for th
exist in regulations at the Department of Interior,* for
example, in eraniiai mines.
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In closing, it is our hope that CSHA mill take a.i:
of these considerations into mind in developing the standarc
If this is not dose, it could mell spell the demise of at
least half of the asbestos industry in the' United States anc
in tire. perhaps, all of it.
Thank you, Hr. Goldberg.
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I meat to submit tmo exhibits. This exhibit is a *
list of the members of the Asbestos Association of Worth
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America.
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GOLDBERG: The list of members of the
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Asbestos Association mill be Exhibit 3L.
,, (XUfi document above referred Kas carke'd as Inhibit Ko. 3
for identification.)
EXfiHDES GQLBE2ES: All right. ' HE.. FAT: And tbs second cae is the Asbestos Fat
Sheet concerning the uses of asbestos end asbestos product
GOURHIG: That ttill be Exhibit 39. (The document above referred ;
ties marked as Exhibit :\. o* 39 for identification.)
. pzf&BRSL G3LS3ERG: Thank you. Exhibits 3b and 39 are received. ' . (The docuaents previously ieent fled as Exhibits lbs. 3b and 3
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tcre received in evidence.)
2SHin32. GOLDIESG: Introduce yoirrseif.
: 221. Sv3ET03IC: Hy nans is Matcher Id. Sue tonic, and
Z am Executive Secretary of the Asbestos Information Associa
tion of north Africa and also uanager of special projects
in the-Public Affairs Section for the Jshns-Kanville Corpora
* cion.'
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Hr. Fay has already described the association, and Identified the companies uhich it represents. l;s are basical!
an information disseminating organisation and the facts or
opinions contained in cy presentation ere supported in the
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may IS6S
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U-S DEPAFSMENT OF LABOR Tofhtftptsn
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RECORDS AUTHENTICATION CERTIFICATE
I HEREBY ATTEST, That the annexed copy* or each of the specified number of copies, of eaeh de listed belov is a true copy of a document in the official custody of the Department of Labor.
1 copy eacli of;
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Transcripts from March 14*15,16, and 17
Coassents and hearing exhibits of:
V.J. Nicholson, American Petroleum Institute, D.A. Holaday, Brand Insul
Ice., L.J. Bibri, B.J. Fhillips(Certain-teed), M.W. Borov, J.D. Horan (F
kote), F.L. PundsackCJ-H), J.W. Rawlings, W.M. Hancock(Dov), V.K. Hesse
E.M. Fenner(J-M), E.J. KillianfMat. Cyp&va), Cemurt Asbestos Products C
H.M. Key, C.E. Best(MCA)
Techni
OFFICIAL TITLE
[OIVISION ANO BUREAU
date
Docket Office/Technical Data
Karsiek^^>
Center/Occup. Sfty 6 Rlth Ada/
Information Specialist tl.S. Dept, of Labor
7 Sep.78
1 HEREBY CERTIFY, That Daniel J.jiarsick
aigned
the foregoing attestation, is oov and was at Hie time of signing (title)
Technical Information Specialist
,egal cuttoiy
of the official records of the United States Department of Labor therein attested and that full faith and credit should be given to his set as such.
IN FITNESS THEREOF, I
J*-J. Lafranchlse________________
jjuly designsted by the Secretary of Labor aa Authentic
atioo Officer of the Department of Labor, have here*
unto anhacribed my name aad caused the aeal of the
Department of Labor to be affixed this
September. 10 7Bn ~Q (/. ^
day of
//Authetiatioo Officer Department of Labor
/
.1 Ou-1- *r> MAY 196S
lU DEPAfl MINT OF LABOR WothinfMii
RECORDS AUTHEKTICATION CERTIFICATE
<i
I HEREBY ATTEST, Thai the annexed copy, or eaeh of the specified number of copies, of each documen listed below is a true copy of a document in the official custody of the Department of Labor.
1 copy each of: Transcripts from March 14,15,16, and 17
-i Comments and heating exhibits of:
W.J. Nicholson, American Petroleum Institute, D.A. Holaday, Brand Insulation
Inc., L.J. Bibri, B.J. Phillips(Certain-teed)> M.W. Borow, J.D. Moran(Flintkote), F.L. PundsackCJ-M), J.W. Rawlings, W.M. Hancock! Bow), Vf.K. Hesse(J-M) E.M. Fenner(J-M), E.J. KillianCNat. Cypsvm), Cetiert Asbestos Products Co.*
M.M. Key, G.E. Best(MCA) '
SIGNATURE ANDt OFFICIAL TITLE
OiVISION AND BUREAU
DATE
Docket Office/Technical Data
Daniel byMarsick
Center/Occup. Sfty & Hlth Adm/
Technical Information Specialist U.S. Dept, of Labor
7 Sep 78
" I HEREBY CERTIFY, That _Daniel J. Harsick
who.;,D ed
the foregoing attestation, is now and was at the time of aigniog (title) Technical InforBatlanJgecUliBt ,nd b,, legll CB,lodr
of the official records of the United States Department of Labor therein att .ated and that full faith and credit should be gisentohis act na aueb.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I
J. v. Lafrancfcise__________________
^uly deaignated by the Secretary of Labor aa Antbenti-
mtioo Officer of the Department of Labor, base here*
unto aubscribed my name and caused the teal of the
Department of Labor to be affixed this
Sectenber 15-715-)
C7-;
day of
. Authentication Officer p y Department of Labor
wX'*.
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