Document G5ZMQyKyYbD9gk9d9NrYj78rn

1978 Asbestos and Disease By Irving J. Selikoff Director, Environmental Sciences Laboratory Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York New York, New York Douglas H. K. Lee Consultant, Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York New York, New York formerly Associate Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences . Research Triangle Park North Carolina with the active collaboration of i i Henry A. Anderson E. Cuyler Hammond Coleman B. Rabin Philip Chahinian Duncan A. Holaday Arthur N. Rohl Jacob Churg Milton Kannerstein Robert J. Schnitzer Susan Daunt Arthur M. Langer Herbert Seidman Theodore Ehrenreich Ruth Lilis Yasunosuke Suzuki Alf Fischbein William J. Nicholson Alvin S. Teirstein Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York New York, New York Academic Press New York San Francisco London 1978 A Subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers 5. Environmental Distribution n servicing of automobile brakes air which produces a heavy cloud 1 from brake drum. A large bundle tiered throughout the field; x2,800 h was taken during compressed air fication. ission but very high counts mittent so that the TWA for the possible significance of ;d. When counts were made all fibers were shorter than one counted, if light micros* s high fraction of submicroind III. copulation at risk from this cattered through 11 Unions Asbestos In Air 115 TABLE 5-10 Asbestos Fiber Contamination in Automobile Servicing (623) Ranges of fiber counts (Ifj/ml) Activity Blowing dust out of automobile brake drums Grinding used brake linings of trucks Bevelling new brake Background 0.1-0.8 ' 0.2-1.7 0.3-0.6 Persona] 0.4-29.4 1.7- 7.0 26.3-72.0 1 (526,641), and many do not belong to unions. Informed labor and industry experts estimate somewhat over 1,000,000 workers at present. Building Construction As pointed out in Chapter 3, spackling and other compounds used in finishing dry wall construction frequently contain asbestos which may be released during mixing and again when the application is sanded. The concentrations of fibers given in Table 5-11 were found during a study by the Mount Sinai group of these operations in New York City (622). Here, evidently, is an operation where distance does not lend enchantment, at least for short ranges, and where innocent bystanders run the risk of high, if transient, exposures. It has also been reported that sanding the floor tiles containing asbestos can generate fibers and perhaps be held responsible for pleural calcification and mesothelioma in the finishers (533). . Neighborhood Situations Studies conducted in the vicinity of a plant crushing taconite ore with which amphibole asbestos of the cummingtonite-grunerite series was associated showed mass concentrations of asbestos in air ranging downward from 5 ftg/nv\ and fiber counts from 11 ef/ml. The mea surements were made by the EM methods described in the preceding chapter. About 5-10% of the fibers exceeded 5 fim in length. Concen trations were highest downwind and close to the operations. A limited number of air samples collected in Duluth indicated no significant pollution with asbestos from the usage of water for such purposes as street cleaning, lawn sprinkling, ornamental fountains, and laundry Peak fiber concentration (fibers per milliliter) Operations of samples Mean Range Pole-sanding (1-1.5 m) Background (2.5 m), same room Background (7.5 m), adjacent room Hand-sanding (1-1.5 m) Background (2.5 m), same room Background (4.5 m), adjacent room Dry mixing (1-1.5 m) Background (5-6 m), same room Background (5-10 m), adjacent room Sweeping floor (3-15 m) 15 min after sweeping 35 min after sweeping 10 3 2 11 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 -10.0 8.6 4.8 5.3 2.3 4.3 47.2 5.8 2.6 .41.4 26.4 1.2-19.3 $.5-19.8 0.7- 8.8 1.3-16.9 2.1- 2.5 1.5- 7.1 35.4-59.0 0.5-13.1 2.1- 3.1 With the kind permission of the publishers of Science; copyright 1976 by the Ameri can Association for the Advancement of Science. . operations. In another study, samples taken at distances up to one mile from asbestos spraying operations gave mass concentrations of asbestos in air downward from 375 jigIm3 (Table 5-12). A study conducted by the Cali/omia State Department of Health near an asbestos processing plant, with asbestos ore and spent ore stored in unprotected heaps on the ground (376), showed 100 ef/ml 440 ft TABLE 5-12 Chrysolite Air Levels Near Spray Fireproofing Sites (551)' Sampling location Number of samples Asbestos air level (ngfan9) Range Average 54-54 mile 54-54 mile 54-1 mile 11 9-375 60 ` 6 8- 54 25 5 3.5- 36 18 With the kind permission of the international Agency for Research on Cancer. d. IT d. 5c W b m m & Vi n di sc di ai w ar to bi a: