Document DD6j7m97ndmvL6dBkLD00ZN7M
FILE NAME: Tile Council of America (TCA) DATE: 1966 DOC#: TCA010 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Newspaper Article with Comments
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?74s5esos Dusf Called a Hazard /! To at Le^st One-Fourth of U.S.
ny JANE K. BRODY
I Asbestos *.ust, which has al structIon workers and their
ready been connected with families.
the development of fatal can- According to the findings of
:er in ono-half of asbestos three recent limited studies, the
workers, may be a potential dangers might extend to the
health hazard for one-quarter general population.'The studies,,
of the population or more, it which involved autopsies on
was reported yesterday,.
1,100 persons in three cities, ^
This preliminary finding w a s!showed that 25 per cent of thej
described by Dr. Irving J. Sell- people had asbestos lodged Ini*
koff In announedng the cstab-| their lungs.
P
lishment of ' an environmental) Dr. Sellkoff explained that 5
health laboratory at Mount ttehcehnsitquudeie"s thhaadt udsisccdlosaed`'cnon,dlyc
Sin.ai Hospital. The laboratory those asbestos fibers that had
will further investigate the become coated by an iron-rich
dangers to man of asbestos and material while lodged in the
I other environmental conUmI lungs, A more refined technique
l! mints.
now shows that ma. } persons
Dr. Sellkoff said the link harbor noncoated asbestos fi
hbaedtweleend hciamncetro asnudspeacstbetshtoast bers as well, he said.
other mineral dusts that con
Now Study Started
taminate both urban and rural air might create medical haz ards ior the public.
The new laboratory will be headed by Dr. Sellkoff who. with Dr. J >b Churg, found that asbest workers eventu al) showed to seven times Ih normal death rate from lung cancci* and three times the nor
mal death rate from cancer of the stomach, color} and rectum
>r. Sellkoff and his col leagues at the new laboratory have started a three-year study in which they will:
<Examine, with the de ceased's family's approval, the lung tissue of the from 3,000 to 4.000 persons expected to die In the next two years at Mount Sinai, Elmhurst Hospital and Ip Veterans Hospital In the Bronx.r The doctors will look for un
Other Workers Affected coated as well as coated asbes Dr. Sellkoff noted that the tos fibers In the tissues. dangers of exposure to asbestos CLook for correlations be dust were n .mited to ti sc tween the causes of death and who work directly with this the presence of asbestos fibers ubiquitous Insulator and filler in lung tissue. material. The dangers, he said, ^Determine the occupational extend to workers In "contigu history of the deceased and their ous trad e s,su ch as other con- relatives and other pertinent
background Information. Asbestos is a fibrous mineral
highly valued for its noncor* roslve and long-wearing prop- p erties. In addition to Its common t
use as a fireproof material, Dr. t Sellkoff 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
tors, gas masks and paper. Until i
last year, some, schools used tl
asbestos dust instead o t sand st
for children to play In.
vri
V
Study Links j - Asbestos \ To Cancer
j
By Earl Ubell
Science Editor
Scientists have known for a long time that asbestos
! was bad for your lungs. Now a study oi New York City workers, both roofers and
I. Insulation blowers, reveals ' >, th a t exposure to the mineral
[ %* sends lung-cancer death
: 1. rates skyrocketing.
::.* The figures--gathered by doctors at Mount Sinai Hos-
I pita!--show that such work
ers have eight times the lung* cancer death rate as would
be expected in a non-exposed
population.
:
More suprlslngly, the stud
ies reveal that such workers
i j run four times the risk of
| \ * getting cancer In other parts
j f of tho body, with cancer of
l the colon particularly singled
out. For all other diseases,
.! the insulation workers have
t the same death rate as the
rest of the population.
These findings wero em phasized yesterday by Dr.
Irving J. Sellkoff, head `of Mt. Sinai's Division of Envi ronmental Medicine,' on tho
occasion of the cstablLsh-
-ment of an environmental
. health laboratory in the hos-
1 pital. The laboratory has
received grants totaling $324., 000 from the United States
Public Health Service and . . | the New York City Health
Research Council.
Dr. Sellkoff 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-
mokera, he found one lungcancer . death among 310 smokers, 21 such deaths.
7 i r r *a a a o a a
M E M O R A N D U M L>
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TO: M e s s r s . T . D o u g h e r t y R . A. M i l l e r R . W. S t o b a e u s B. K. B a r t o n T. R. van F le e t N. J . S e t t e r R. T. L ark in
DATE: 'V.lareh 2 2 ^ 9 6 6 A. A. V
CC:
L. S. O 'Rourke
SUBJECT: A s b e s t o s - T o x i c o l o g y
T. J . H all
H. F . R e ic h a r d /R . G. W oolery
J . A. R id d le .
J . Derbecker
P. R. C heston
T. F, Frangos
Gentlemen:
E a r l y i n M arch t h e "New Y ork T im e s" and t h e " H e r a l d T r i b u n e " , r e p o r t i n g th e e s ta b l is h m e n t o f a new e n v iro n m e n ta l h e a l t h l a b o r a t o r y a t M t. S i n a i H o s p i t a l (New Y ork C i t y ) , r e v i v e d some p u b l i c i t y (c o p y a t t a c h e d ) i n r e g a r d t o A s b e s t o s d u s t a s a h e a l t h h a z a r d . We u n d e r s t a n d t h a t a few newspapers in o th e r c itie s picked i t up.
th is w ill make
"Out of co n tex t" re p o rtin g leads to erroneous c o n c lu sio n s, and i s no e x c e p t i o n . N e v e r t h e l e s s , we s h o u l d r e c k o n t h a t s u c h a com mentary r e c u r , a n d a l l o f u s s h o u l d u s e t h e t o o l we now h a v e a t o u r d i s p o s a l to c e rta in our customers are acquainted w ith the fa c ts:
1. You have c o p i e s of D r. D e m e h l ' s " A s b e s to s T o x ic o lo g y R e p o r t ." A d d itio n a l c o p ie s a r e e n c lo se d . Use t h e s e , and c a l l p a r t i c u l a r a tte n tio n to Dr. D em eh l's statem ents in regard to "Threshold Limit Value" f J r asb esto s. Control of asbestos dust exposure is n ecessary , as is co n tro l of exposure to any of a v a rie ty of dusty o perations.
2. Union C arbide p e l le t s o ffe r a c le a r- c u t means of handling a s b e s to s under e x c e p tio n a lly low d u st c o n d itio n s .
3 . No w o rk y e t c o n d u c t e d o r p u b l i s h e d p r e s e n t s , n o r p r o fesses to p resen t, in co n tro v ertib le proof of a re la tio n sh ip b e t w e e n c a n c e r an d a s b e s t o s . Some p u b l i c a t i o n s h ave r e fe rre d to the a s so c ia tio n of d e le te rio u s organic compounds, among them j u t e o i l s from j u t e s a c k in g m a t e r i a l , and 3 ,4 b e n z o ( a ) p y r e n e . We do n o t u s e J u t e b a g s . F u r t h e r , we a r e
r\*> A n A
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analyzing tandom samples of our product, and expect sh o rtly to prove the absence of any polycyclic arom atics. Your p e lle te d asb esto s a ffo rd s customers the b e st means of avoiding d u s t h a z a r d s . Make t h i s c l e a r .
Very tru ly yours, A.E.Pufahl/dh Enclosures
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