Document DDy2wy7Yna4nOMRqLvo1Ronzd

THE NEW YORK TIMES. TUESDAY. TUNE 13. 1972 ASBESTOS RULINGS! HELD INADEQUATE! Cancer Authority Says Many Workers Face Death By FELIX BELAIR Jr. Spctial t T^t N York Time* WASHINGTON. June 12--An authority on asbestos-causedi cancer said today that tens of i thousands of workers exposed] to asbestos would die because of inadequate regulations issued! by the Government's Occupa-] tional Safety and Health Ad-j ministration. The prediction was made by j Dr. Irving Selikoff of Mount' Sinai Hospital in New York, in i a report to a meeting of the! industrial union department of; the American Federation of) Labor and Congress of Indus-1 trial Organizations at the or-i ganization's headquarters here.} Dr. Selikoff said that, if the; Federal agency showed the | same disregard for essential safeguards and precautions ini setting standards for other] toxic substances as it demon-} strated in the asbestos regula tions, "we face an unparalleled! disaster to the working people} in our country." j The regulations speak bland-' ly of five fibers per milliliter [as] 'standard' but neglect to add that a working man in hales from four to eight million milliliters in an eight-hour day" he said. A milliliter, or cubic centimeter, holds about a thimbleful of air. In a direct reference to As sistant Secretary of Labor l George C. Guenther, who heads j the safety agency, Dr. Selikoff said, "Mr, Guenther orders that workers exposed to as bestos in any trade are re quired to work under con ditions which permit them to inhale 20 million or even 30 million fibers in a working day." Mr. Guenther made this statement after hearing of the doctor's charges: "Dr, Selikoff has chosen to overdramatize the matter. There is no question that exposure to asbestos is most hazardous." "We believe." he said, "that the new standards will provide substantial and real protection for exposed workers and that they provide for reductions in levels of asbestos exposure that are reasonable and. in our judgment, based on tests from many quarters." j Precautions Seen Ignored ] Dr, Selikoff, who has long! been engaged in research on! the cancer-producing effects of. asbestos and the incidence of, cancer of the lungs, abdomen i and colon, said, "Almost every j essential precaution thatcotfld! have been taken has been I ignored or discarded, in many| instances against the recom-1. mendalions given to the De-i partment of Labor by the Pub-j lie Health Service's National In-; stitute for Occupational Safety; and Health [a branch of the! Department of Health, Educa-l tion and Welfare] or by its own advisory committee on i asbestos dust." The asbestos standard issued} by the Labor Decrement j agency last week provided fon an exposure limit of 2 fibers | per cubic centimeter of air but! said the present emergency standard of 5 fibfers would con tinue until July, 1976. It also provided a maximum exposure limit of 10 fibers per cubic centimeter for an eight-hour day. The institute had recom mended a maximum daily ex posure of 5 fibers. 72 Deaths From Cancer Dr. Selikoff cited a study of 6S9 asbestos production and textile workers from January 1. 1959, to December 31. 1971. He said that it showed 72 deaths from all types of can cer compared with an "ex pected rate" of 27.8 for the population as a whole. From cancer of the lungs, pleura, trachea and bronchus, there were 35 deaths, compared with an expected rate of 8.4 for the population generally. In addition to the 72 cancer deaths, there were 24 fatali ties traceable to scarring of the lung. This malady is found only among asbestos workers, 'thedoctor said.There are about 500.000 Americans currently or previously employed on asbes tos work. "If our exeriences of the past several years are a guide. 100.000 wiil die of lung cancer, 35.000 of abdominal or chest cancer known as mesothelioma and 35,000 of asbestosis [scar ring of the lung] as well as many thousands more of other cancers, such as those of the colon, rectum and stomach. Dr. Selikoff said.