Document JJbL0kv8Zm551GQGmYXbgRZpr

M em o to E d it o r s FR O M : D r. Thom as C. C h alm e rs President, Mount Sinai Medical Center New York, New York Recent m e d ia r e p o r ts concerning r e s e a r c h on talcu m pow der c a r r ie d out by the Mount Sinai M edical Center created c o n s id e r a b le confusion on the p a r t of the public. The M edical Center h as issu e d the following statem en t in order to c o rre c t any m isin terp retatio n or m is im p r e s s io n s the m edia reports m ay have generated. M arch 23, 1976 D r . T h o m as C. C h alm e rs President, Mount Sinai Medical Center N ew Y o rk, N ew Y ork > FROM: Mount Sinai Medical Center New York, New York M arch 23, 1976 N e w Y o r k , N,, Y . R ecently data fro m r e s e a r c h c a r r i e d out in the Mount S i n a i M e d i c a l C en ter f o r the l a s t f o u r y e a r s on the a s b e s t o s content of so m e t a lc u m powders w as cited in the p r e s s before it had been published in a scientific jou rn al. The original p u rp ose of this r e s e a r c h was to develop / effective techniques for m easurin g the p resen c e of asb esto s in talc. The p ro b lem has p r a c tic a l im plications b e c a u se prolonged exposure to certain fo r m s of a s b e s to s can cause cancer. The r e se a rc h work was of the highest te ch n ic al q u a lity and a sig n ific a n t contribution to the field. H ow ever, in the p r o c e s s of developing these new m ethods, the sam ples actually used had been p u r c h a s e d m o r e than two y e a r s ago, a fa c t which w as not mentioned in the m edia r e p o r ts . F u r t h e r m o r e , the d isc o v e r y of a s b e s to s in som e talcum powders by the Mount Sin ai in v e stig a to rs w as rep o rted to the Food and Drug Adm inistration at that tim e, and undoubtedly stim ulated som e m anufacturers to change their s o u r c e s of ta lc , so that recen t a n a ly se s by the FD A have not rev ealed appreciable am ounts of a s b e s t o s in any s a m p le s . The Mount Sinai M edical Center w ishes to c o r r e c t certain confusions w hich tire r e p o r t i n g of t h e s e d a ta m a y h av e g e n e r a te d : 1) Any im p lication in the new s s to r ie s that m o st of the talcum p o w d e r c u r r e n t l y on the m a r k e t c o n t a i n s a s b e s t o s is not b o r n e out by the m o s t recent data fr o m the FD A , although continuing surveillance is indicated. (more) 2) Although the n e w s m e d i a s p e c i f i c a l l y e m p h a s i z e d the d a n g e r s of talcu m powders ad v e rtise d for b a b ie s , the only baby powder tested that w as r e p o r t e d to sh ow a s b e s t o s r e p r e s e n t s l e s s than 1% of the m a r k e t , a n d that s a m p l e w a s f i v e y e a r s old.. The m o s t c o m m o n l y u s e d b a b y talc h a s b e e n c o n s i s t e n t l y free of asbestos. 3) It i s the opinion o f Mount S i n a i ' s D e p a r t m e n t o f P e d i a t r i c s that baby talc is a useful and safe product. Education of the public in r e sp e c t to health m a tte rs is an im portan t responsibility of Academ ic Health Centers. Educational efforts by such centers m u s t be b a s e d on sound sc ie n tific p r in c ip le s and m u s t be c a lc u late d to p ro v id e m a x im u m benefit for the community. D isse m in a tio n of r e s e a r c h data on which health re c o m m e n d a tio n s can be based m ust occur via peer-review ed scientific publications. The inevitable existence of conflicting data requires that information be made available first to other p r o p e r ly tra in ed e x p e r ts who m ay be expected to in t e r p r e t them individually or through official agencies or committees.. The latter is slow but a p p r e c i a b l y m o r e r e l i a b l e than p u b lic d e b a t e s that a r e f r a g m e n t e d in the reporting. This e xp erien ce e m p h a siz e s the need for constant vigilance in e n su rin g that the tran sitio n period between d isc o v e r y of im portant health re la te d ite m s and their revelation to the public is handled with proper attention to die a c c u ra c y of details, as required in scientific publications.