Document ExRypb9D949aQ0DB4GE2k2Vo4

Page 2 functions at a 0.1 f/cc level --the standard level recom mended by NIOSH to OSHA -- by phase contrast microscopy at 400 - 45Ox magnification. Asbestos is a generic j term used for several fibrous minerals found in many areas of the earth's crust. Chrysotile, a serpentine mineral fiber, is the most common form of as bestos. Because of extraordinary fire and heat resistance, strength and stability and other unusual physical properties along with availability at relatively low cost, asbestos is used in a wide variety of domestic products and industrial applications, in many cases without practicable substitute. In most products wherein asbestos is a vital ingredient, the fibers are bonded \or locked in as with asbestos cement, plastics, millboard and hundreds of other products. The risk of exposure to respirable particles of asbestos from normal use of these products is negligible. Spraying of asbestos for insulating purposes, once a fairly common practice, is prohibited by federal regulation. The absence of proper dust control procedures particularly in the World War II period and before when little was known as to the effect of excessive exposures of asbestos dust on worker's health led to the incidence of asbestos-related disease following now known latency periods. With the knowledge of risks to health from asbestos dust that the medical community began to recognize in the 1930s and 1940s, the asbestos industy -- mining, milling and product manufacture -- has spent millions SPNY 003417