Document KGp72qJjxyG6V368VyNZ5ZXNx

FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1973 June 16 DOC NMA074 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Newspaper Article - Asbestos Found in Duluth Water ASBESTOS FOUND IN DULUTH WATER E.P.A. Links Fibers in Lake to Industrial Discharge By JANE E. BRODY The The Environmental Protection Agency disclosed yesterday that high concentrations of potentially dangerous asbestos fibers had been found in the drinking water of Duluth and surround- June f jing Minnesota communities that use Lake Superior for their water supply The source of the fibers the agency said is believed to be the discharge of waste from the Reserve Mining Company a taconite processing plant that has been embroiled in an anti- pollution suit for several years The company whose plant in Silver Bay Minn miles northeast of Duluth has been dumping 67,000 tons of taconite tailings into the lake daily for 16 years called the charges un- founded and said there was no indication that the tailings presented any hazard to the drink- Ing water While there is no health ef- fect known to be associated with the ingestion of asbestos fibers the Federal agency rec- ommended that communities us- ing Lake Superior water find alternative sources of drinking water for very young children In studies over the last two decades Dr. Irving J. Selikoff an expert on environmental Hospi- medicine at Mount Sinai tal here showed that the in- halation of asbestos fibers can cause a chronic lung disease called asbestosis and cancer of the lungs stomach and colon In an interview yesterday Dr. Selikoff said his laboratory had identified the asbestos fibers in the Duluth water as being the same type amosite that has been implicated in half the deaths among workers in a Paterson N.J. asbestos plant These workers experienced three times the expected death rate from cancer of the gastrointestinal tract It can be assumed that anyone who inhales asbestos fibers also ingests them but there have been no pure studies of the effects of ingestion in humans Dr. Selikoff said Dr. Lawrence Plumlee a physician on the staff of E.P.A. said that limited studies in ani- mals have indicated that when asbestos is placed in the stomach it rapidly enters the blood stream and is widely distributed to tissues throughout the body The agency said it had the Dr. Selikoff to determined withhe in 60 days mulation of average the asbestos accu fiber industry the tissues of residents oftheLake Superior whose wa- Duluth Duluth area Using tissuesert long been regarded tained at an autopsy Dr. from koff and his colleagues She most pristine of the Mount Sinai will compare Lakes Besides bestos accumulation in communities in Minnesota dents with that of asbestosin workers and of persons belleengan to have minimal exposure the persistent mineral fiberstremely Dr. Selikoff and Dr. E. 16 16 , 1973 Cancer Society have already gun outlining studies residentharwould termine whether the residentharwould the Duluth area might halteraof ready shown evidence of asheslumlee related health definitaverage potential health effect cant about readily defined the finding water asbestos particles in the tetive supply is expected to strengungen against the Government's case we don't don't know how with Reproduced permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission