Document KV2K61gpqR9zx6drqXRv2zor
FILE NAME Manville JMA
DATE 1969 - 1977 DOC JMA402
DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Memos & Report - Mesothelioma Meeting with Dr. George Wright
CONFIDENTIAL
3026
February 19 1969
TO
F. J. Solon Jr
W. P. Raines qQ
Carl Thompson -- Hill
<
& Knowlton
RE
TRANSCRIPT OF MEETING WITH DR GEORGE WRIGHT ON THE SUBJECT OF MESOTHELIOMA
Attached is a copy of the transcript
tape recording of our recent meeting the subject of mesothelioma
that with
we had made from the
Dr. George Wright on
Because of the rambling often ungrammatical nature of human
conversation and because of the transcriber's unfamiliarity with the subject of asbestos and health you will find many confusing sentence constructions and many misspellings of familiar terms and names in this transcription
Nevertheless I felt
us to have a copy of
that it would be of advantage for each the transcript to look over before our
of next
meeting with Dr. Wright Hopefully it will refresh our minds as
to the events of our previous meeting some additional probing questions for
and Dr.
may very well spark Wright next time we
gather At the very least it should help us avoid following
paths already covered
Once our meetings with Dr. Wright on the subjecotf mesothelioma
are completed this transcription along with any others that may be prepared will be edited for the purpose of putting together
a mesothelioma work
with the subject in
book that can serve as a handy guide in the future It should also be of great
dealing
assistance to Hill & Knowlton in the preparation of a mesothelioma
background paper
I need not remind you of the confidential nature of this
transcription We would not want to in any way embarrass Dr. Wright who was very candid with us in his conversation especially in regard to the capabilities and motives of certain of his colleagues in the asbestos field
Malt
Matthew M. Swetonic
JOHNS MANVILLE DR GEORGE WRIGHT ON MESO
F.J.S.
HOTED
1
I suggest we get rolling
unclear
and
I further suggest that we get to the meat of the mesothelioma
subject and I'm sure that's not going to be exhausted in 45
minutes but I think we had better stick to that one
George as I expressed to you last time the thing that we're fundamentally after is this unclear in various
places magazines and so forth seeing more and more of the
use of the word mesothelioma and a lot of things being said
about it and I think that we've simply got to get your think-
ing so that we can put this into position papers and have it
available for various uses that we - where we may find it nec-
essary to put it to good use and we're not up to date on what's
going on in meso and you've got all the information You've
got the recent experiences on your trip and so on and we'd just like to have you expound in any direction you want to take
DR GEORGE WRIGHT Okay
VOICE
Is that a fair statement of what we're after
VOICE We hope to ultimately put it into some piece
of paper and use it -
VOICE
But the Time Pesearcher would say
phonetic what about this mesothelioma I hear about
Mr. Rains
We'd
like to eventually have someone say Honey - we'll send it
over to you
Here it is here's what we're aiming for event-
ually
VOICE
We wouldn't do that until you had seen it
2
VOICE
No no of course not
DR WRIGHT Well first of all I don't have to
go back so far as to the very beginning People have some
information Let's explore first the question that's constantly recurring and that is one is there such a thing as a
mesothelioma And second is there full agreement on what meso-
theliomas are when you meet them face to face In other words how uniform and how acceptable on the broad base - by that I mean throughout a country or throughout the word is the diagnosis of any single or any group of cases And I can say at the outset that there is no agreement whatsoever about this
There are still those pathologists who say that a
true mesothelioma namely something arising from the mesotheliom
may not exist I would say if I had to give a weight to this I would say that such people are in an extraordinary minority
but would remind you that Columbus was one of a small group also
and that the facts are that this has not been settled to every
one's satisfaction Quite apart from that is the question of criteria that will permit a uniform acceptance of a single case as being a mesothelioma
This has been the subject of a considerable amount
of discussion and still is
In fact it is still one of the
things to which the newly created Mesothelioma Group at the
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is going
to address itself
I don't know whether you know about that
committee
3
VOICE
I know vaguely about it
DR GEORGE WRIGHT
I can tell you -
VOICE Olsen phonetic heads it up doesn't he
DR GEORGE WRIGHT
Yes
VOICE And he's got the registry center down there DR GEORGE WRIGHT It's going to be there and I have seen the Committee that he has appointed to more or less hand guide this and I don't know who all the pathologists will be but I have the other Committee and I don't think I'm at liberty to tell you who's on it because he may be forced by various pressures to change it a little bit before he's through or to add people to it
VOICE
Is that what came out of the Claire
phonetic Conference called
that ~
DR G. WRIGHT
Yes
Have you seen the minutes of
VOICE No Sir I haven't
DR G. WRIGHT
Would you like to have them
VOICE Could somebody run them off While we adjourn
DR G. WRIGHT Sure it'll only be a few minutes
VOICE If it's on this subject I think it would
be very useful to have it right away
DR G. WRIGHT Well if I give them to you you
will have to know that these are confidential to some degree
I'm sure they're not marked confidential
leave them in the hands of other people
and I'm sure you'll
4
VOICE
But this you can get someone to photostat
DR GEORGE WRIGHT
I haven't read it myself
VOICE Yes I think it would be very useful
DR GEORGE WRIGHT
But there will be constituted
under Paul Colten's phonetic direction a group of pathologists and a group of others such as epidemiologists physicians etc.
who are - cancer experts and so on who are going to look at
this full problem and one of the things involved here is the matter of having some acceptable criteria that will categorize what a mesothelioma is This can be pointed up by indicating to you that in South Africa they have such a panel and they
are looking through all of the material that has been alleged
to be a mesophelioma in the past in whatever registries are available in South Africa and they are also looking at new material and out of the original group that were called mesothelioma by Herr Wagner phonetic roughly 25 have been considered to not be mesotheliomas by this new panel
The information they gave me was that with the exception of one man whose name I could give you but I don't think
it's important - there's one man on the panel who feels that mesotheliomas either don't occur - this is a pathologist or are extraordinarily rare and doesn't believe that those things that are being looked at in South Africa are mesotheliomas
VOICE May I ask you a technical question Is
this somewhat like the difference between epithelial and adinocarcinoma phonetic In the lung The question of where it
originates
DR GEORGE WRIGHT Yes to a large degree it's this because quite to my surprise Thompson phonetic agreed and surely he's a strong mesothelioma man
VOICE Yes
DR GEORGE WRIGHT Agree when I asked him whether
or not it would be possible that what they now call a mesothelioma actually originates within the lung itself in the
most distal part of the lung perhaps from an unclear membrane
and simply grows to the outside and then appears as a mesothel-
ioma
VOICE
mesothelial -
Then
when
you
take
|
the
slides
you
get the
DR GEORGE WRIGHT No you just get a tumor which is in the position of the mesothelium -
VOICE Oh I see
DR GEORGE WRIGHT And directly attached and located
there and could look like a unclear kind of tumor which a
mesothelium tumor can look like It is a category of tumors
let's say that has some describible characteristics The real
question is does it arise from the mesothelium or does it
arise from the most distal parts of the lung but still within
the lung Now this is -
VOICE It pushes it way through
DR GEORGE WRIGHT
Now this is not a minor question
because you have to ask yourself why as asbestos portal of entry
6
is the air tubes why is it that the tumor would originate
in the mesophelium In the pleura and not in the lung itself
It's much more readily understood if you say - ch well this tumor that now is being called a mesothelioma in fact a
lung tumor that arises from within the lung and then you don't
have the problem of getting the asbestos fiber to it-
And in fact Corvin McDonald's group phonetic has said let's don't talk about mesothelioma Let's just
talk about primary pleural tumors which simply means that the
tumor is located at the level of the pleura
VOICE Does this apply to the peritoneal mesothel-
iomas too
DR GEOPGE WRIGHT
Sure you can say the same thing
about the peritoneum as far as that's concerned
TIED TO
VOICE
But not the type to the lung but to the -
DR GEORGE WRIGHT
To the gut
VOICE To the gut yes In other words this is a
stomach cancer
-
DR GEORGE WRIGHT Now in the gut it's not quite
as easy to see how this could come about because the distance
from the lining cells of the gut to the peritoneum is well quite
a bit greater and you have to go across some pretty strong struct-
ures such as muscle and so on
VOICE
Those are by far the minority cases aren't
they - the DR GEORGE WRIGHT Well I don't know if you can
say by far the minority They are in the minority
7
VOICE Yes yes DR WRIGHT Well all of this is to say that there
is some disagreement in terms of categorizing a tumor that
seems to occur with a greater than expected frequency in the
periphery of the lung or on the surface of the lung and also invading the chest wall
VOICE
The reason that I brought up the adinal
phonetic versus the epithelial - thing for the lung cancer is that this has been an important question in talking about the gross lung cancer -
DR WRIGHT Sure that's right
VOICE Whether the adinal phonetic carcinoma
or the epidermoid carcinoma is always necessarily epidermoid -
that may have come out of the gland and -
DR WRIGHT
Sure
VOICE And broken through there
DR WRIGHT
And then you have the different kinds
of tumor cells within the same tumor
VOICE It's within that category of problem is it Can I - I mean can I think of it that way As a similar similar
type problem that we're talking about where it originates
DR WRIGHT The question is where did it originate
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT And if you think that it originated
in the mesothelium it's called a mesothelioma
LOICE
Yes
8
DR WRIGHT
If you think that it originates in
the alvilar cells phonetic it'asn alvila cell carcinoma
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT Now you're in the lung category be-
cause then the next step from an alvila cell carcinoma is a
bronchiolar cell carcinoma These terms are used sometimes
interchangeably Well I would just simply say that the current
state is that there is not - well I'll put it more positively
there is agreement that in some segments of the population there
is a frequency of a tumor which can be called a malignant tumor
in terms of its progressive and invasive character There's a
greater frequency than should be in certain population groups
the most striking of course was the population that lived
the region from Preuska phonetic North through Creedman
phonetic in what's called the Northwest Cape a province of
South Africa VOICE There's no question of this being in the
- I can't say it - mesothelioma group at the time it's found
DR WRIGHT It is in the most distal part of the
lung or in the covering of the lung
VOICE : Yes
DR WRIGHT
One of the two
It's almost impossible
to get
a
tumor
-
by
the
time
that you know
that
it's
there
if it hasn't gotten big enough to involve all of this
VOICE
Now most of our - what we think of as
lung cancer usually manifests itself around the bifurcation
9
of the bronchi or - I said manifests not originates but this is in an opposite area
DR WRIGHT
Further out
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT Far out as you can get
VOICE
There are some who think that the major
bronchus bronchi tumors may have originated farther away from the bronchus than they appear to at first
DR WRIGHT I suppose that's possible
VOICE
Well -
DR WRIGHT That's off our subject
VOICE Yes but it is - what we're talking about
is going in the other direction really
DR WRIGHT
Yes
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT
Because when you come to the gut it's
in a completely different league because here it is on the outer
surface of the intestinal tract but you can still argue about
where it originated
VOICE Yes yes
DR WRIGHT Well there are people are trying
to develop acceptable criteria in South Africa They think that
maybe they've had a fair meeting of the minds and in Great
Britain I'm telling you that there's been a fair meeting of
the minds
In this country there is surely anything but a
meeting of the minds because we've just begun to look at this
10
When you speak to somebody like Thompson about
the fact that in certain rather unusual circumstances meso-
thelioma doesn't appear to occur he says that such people
just don't recognize mesophelioma
VOICE
huh
DR WRIGHT And when you talk to other pathol-
ogists in the world they say that's ridiculous We may argue
whether it's a mesothelioma or not but you can at least know
whether it's a tumor and in this category of people that I'm
going to tell you about tumors have not been found Now as
you know the high rate of occurrence was in a population that
lived in the Northwest Cape in South Africa
That was the be-
ginning and this involved people who lived in the mines -
worked in the mines rather and also people who did not work
in the mines such as some of the women
Nevertheless because it occurred with such great
frequency and because there always is in the mind of any well-
trained man the question of well why did it occur here and not
seemingly elsewhere The obvious thing to look at was well what do these people do what goes on in their community that's different than in other communities So obviously the thought
was well crycidilite phonetic mines are in this area and
this seemingly kind of closed their minds it seems to me because there are other things peculiar to that area which were pointed out to me when I was in South Africa such as the fact
11
the Kalahari Desert lies just to the West and the sand from
that area blow all through this region and if you were to take a look at the soil you might find that it had different trace metals although so far this is only being looked at not
- we still don't have any information on it
The reason this becomes important is that as of this
present moment in the crycidilite mine area phonetic of the Northern - of the Northeast Transvaal which is many miles away in that crycidilite area phonetic as of this moment no cases of mesothelioma of any kind have been reported
VOICE Now have they - you were talking first earlier about Wagner's work weren't you
DR WRIGHT
Yes
*
I mean
has
VOICE Had Wagner into the Transvaal
i
somebody gone in there looking for them as
unclear
might
DR WRIGHT
Wagner's data arose by reason of cases
that were occurring in the tuberculosis hospital a receiving
hospital that serviced the area and also by reason of the fact
that he had access to the routine autopsy material in the pneumo-
unclear research unit And the law over there is that any man who's worked as a miner when he dies it's the obligation
of the doctor to obtain the heart and lungs of that man and
ship them to the pneumo unclear research unit
has all these from all over
VOICE
huh
So Wagner
|
12
DR WRIGHT And the pneumo unclear research
unit
gets
has its
continued this
lungs from the
work in the same way that it
Transvaal just as well as we
has
get
- it them
from the Northwest Cape
VOICE Wagner is in Pennard phonetic
DR WRIGHT
Now
VOICE
In Wales
VOICE
In fact he made mention - of the first draft
of the background -
VOICE
Yes I remember that
DR WRIGHT
Now when I asked - of course this was
a major question for me to ask of these guys and I've asked
Young Webster phonetic who is in charge of the Pneumo unclear
Research Unit and who is a pathologist who is on this panel
and who is interested in mesothelioma and I've asked Lace Kramer
phonetic who is the official who has to do with the determin-
ing of whether or not a man is adjudged to have some illness
arising out of his employmeanntd therefore could be taken
out of his employment > they have a term for that that escapes
me at the moment - I've asked both of these men is there any
reason to believe that the collection of material or the mech-
anism by which it would come to yours or to some other equally
interested person's attention - is it any different in the North-
west Cape than it would be in the Transvaal and they assure
me that there is absolutelnyo difference
That if the cases were in the North - Northeastern
13
part of the Transvaal coughing here - up around the fringe area - that they should have them and when you ask them how
many cases they have they say they have at the most three You go to the mining people and say is this true The mine
doctor says no we don't have any
Those are not cases of
mesothelia Let's just accept the idea that they do have two or three The number of people at risk in the area in general is so close to the number that are in the Northwest Cape that you ought to have them in the hundreds
Now this may not be true just for crycidilite phonetic but we've got another one to talk about but before I
go to the next one let me say this
Then I asked Dr. Detroit
phonetic who is the Industrial Hygiene Doctor for the state
whether the duration of exposure and the history of exposure
would have been substantially different in the Transvaal than
in the Northwest Cape as far as crycidilite is concerned and
he said that he thought not That there might have been a
slightly heavier exposure in the Northwest Cape but that the
practices for mining and milling and the exposure of the gener-
al public were essentially the same in the two areas and that
the duration of the exposure was essentially the same in the
two areas
So that if you were going to have any epidemic of
mesotheliomas in that crycidilite area phonetic they should
have them and they don't have them
So I think it's reasonable
14
to raise the question as to why it was that crycidilite was picked on as being the cause of the mesotheliomas in the Northwest Cape
Is there some other difference between the two areas
Well other differences have not really been looked for
accepted just been
|
that this is the thing
It's
VOICE Which is in effect that they felt they had found a whipping boy and they -
DR WRIGHT Well they seem to have a fairly logical
cause
Now when you add to that in retrospect as you now take
a look at what has been reported in other parts of the world you find that where crycidilite phonetic has been handled in
the docks in England and in the textile plants that there is
an unusual frequency of something called a mesothelioma so it
may be more reasonable to think that crycidilite is involved
in some way but only the crycidilite phonetic from the North-
west Transvaal
I mean - Northwest Cape and not the crycidilite -
and so far I don't know of anyone who has come up with a popula-
tion only exposed to crycidilite from the Transvaal where you
don't find them Get an exposed group in England of this kind -
this would be something that you'd like to find but I suspect
you'll find that the users of crycidilite have bought it from
both places
VOICE Well the British have medical people have basically bought the idea of unclear mesotheliomas right
15
DR WRIGHT
If there is such a thing as a meso-
thelioma yes
VOICE Just - there's no doubt they've got it
in the factory regulations now
DR WRIGHT
Yes
VOICE They're going to have precaution label
apparently blue asbestos -
|
DR WRIGHT
Yes
they've bought the idea
and
they've now asked that you prove that this is not true
VOICE Right
DR WRIGHT which is not only - I'm just giving
you - I don't think that you would find the majority of the
men who are reasonably knowledgeable in South Africa who would
say that crycidilite phonetic has nothing to do with it
I'm just saying that you must raise some questions because the
experience in the Transvaal is quite different Now I know
that there'lble those - like Solikoff phonetic did to me
the other day he'll say - but oh the exposure hasn't been nearly as long in the Transvaal and all I can come back and do is say - well I was told that it was And he says -oh
no it wasn't Why argue that point
VOICE
Is there any basic difference in the people
I mean one group isn't white and one group black or anything
DR WRIGHT
No.
VOICE No real essential difference
DR WRIGHT
There's a mixture
You have white miners
16
and black laborers and you have the blacks living in the area Now the exposure as far as that part of it is concerned which was of interest and which has been grabbed on runs as
follows
It's been alleged that the exposure of the women and those who were not actually working in the mill or under-
ground has been rather light and this is - keeps creeping along
with the idea that small exposures will be harmful elsewhere
Well actually the exposures were really quite high for everybody The rugs in the area were made of crycidilite The mine that I visited in Creedman phonetic the manager said that
up until they took measures the ground was blue and there was
no vegetation for yards around the area hundreds of yards
This was so true that they have now paved all their
roads with macadam and they have covered their tailings piles either with big stones or with plastic sprayed it on and they
have cleaned up the mill to the point where it's really very looking and they have trapped and filtered all of the air that they exhaust from the place so that they don't spew that out anymore and now the ground is nice brown sandy ground with
plenty of vegetation growing on it
So the exposure - and furthermore many of the women
work and the babies were carried on their banks worked at
hand carving and that's been done away with
VOICE
That's been done away with
DR WRIGHT
Yes there are no more women handcarving
17
only men
VOICE
You remember that - oh okay remember that
DR WRIGHT
The men don't carry the babies
stopped about fifteen years ago -
They
VOICE
That was the unclear that came out in the
magazines showing some gal -
DR WRIGHT That's against the law now Actually handcarving is frowned upon but it still does go on Well there's another very interesting thing and that is that there's
a very substantial crycotile phonetic mine and mill in the
fringe area or in the Transvaal area with many years history
of production and And yet here's an
just
area
as dirty as all
from which as I
the othe inrts he past say the Pneumo unclear
Research speaks of three mesothelium - and the mines say none and the three that they have are not from the crycidolite mines
or the crycotile mines phonetic They're from the amycyte mines
phonetic
VOICE
In the same area
DR WRIGHT
In the same area
So now you've got
another little bit of indication that there is a place in the
world where the opportunity to find mesotheliomas should be
the same as it was in the Northwest Cape another place namely the Transvaal and yet they don't find them
VOICE
They do not find them in the Transvaal
DR WRIGHT
They do not find them in the Transvaal
18
in the crycidolite area or in the crycotile area phonetic
There are alleged three cases in the amycyte area of-
VOICE
Of the Transvaal
DR WRIGHT of the Transvaal Now amycyte phonetic
came under question because first of all -
VOICE
Excuse me who says these are Thompson
DR WRIGHT Pneumo unclear Research -
VOICE
Oh I see
Okay
DR WRIGHT
So far has said that
That's Ian
Webster phonetic and just says that that's what they are doesn't know where the men there have worked for certainty
because as you know the black laborer comes from all sorts
of areas and there's a good possibility that black could
have worked for a year or two over in the Northwest Cape and
then gone to work subsequently in Transvaal These are some questions that I'm sure will come out in our discussions in
Johannesburg
VOICE
Can you give us a roundhouse figure of
how many they think they have found around the Northwest Cape
Area
At this point
.
Webster
He came up with a fair >
started
looking
in what
Sixty
DR WRIGHT Wagner
VOICE VOICE
Wagner
Thirty two or thirty three
VOICE
Oh no
It was over a hundred
DR WRIGHT I think they're on the order now of
19
something like 180
VOICE
180 total
VOICE
Total cases
VOICE Out of a possible what
because -
DR WRIGHT
No one knows you have no denominator
VOICE
Are these women and men miners -
DR WRIGHT Everybody miners blacks and women
VOICE
I suppose they do have details on their age
and how long they could possibly have been exposed and so forth
DR WRIGHT
Many of them not because you can't get
this retrospective -
:
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT
You can find that some of them were on
the payroll of the mine but - and you know something about their
age but really the blacks have very little in the way of vital
statistics
VOICE
Well that's -
DR WRIGHT
The white miners yes they would have
that and they would know something about the length of exposure
and it isn't always forty years
VOICE But it is interesting at any rate cause you've
had some time to look for it looking for it I think Wagner
reported in '60 and he must have found them a little bit before
that so let's say ten years you've had to watch for this stuff
20
an awareness of it and theoretically everybody in that area
at approximately the same exposure or duration of risk and
yet relatively relatively few
DR WRIGHT What you're getting at is whether there's
an epidemic such as Thompson predicted
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT
And this goes to what we were talking
about a couple of months ago Webster is very adamant about
this He just says there isn't going to be any epidemic
VOICE Theoretically -
DR WPIGHT There isn't going to be any not even
theoretically They now have it by the year as I recall from
19 - the rate of discovery of cases from 1960 up till 1966 or
1967 and they're running very evenly 20 new cases a year There's been no great increase but -
VOICE But theoretically you would have thought -
DR WRIGHT
If there was going to be an epidemic
within six years you should see a very appreciable > it should
have gone from 20 to 40 to 80 -
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT
To 160.
Webster said that that's just
not going to happen They have that kind of information
VOICE He doesn't know why it isn't going to happen
I guess
,
because if he did -
DR WRIGHT
Well
he doesn't think
that
they are
minor exposures
He thinks that you have to have a substantial
21
exposure to have it happen and secondly he doesn't think
it's fiber alone
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT He thinks you have to have something
plus fiber He doesn't know what it is
VOICE
That thing in itself could be one of the
most significant -
DR WRIGHT
Well when you get around to asking him
what the other thing is -
VOICE
I mean the figures -
DR WRIGHT
The numbers
VOICE
standable thing
The numbers themselves are a good under-
.
DR WRIGHT
Of course
VOICE If this is only - if this is the rate going
-
on
DR WRIGHT Not only that what's going to be very interesting and which they do not have and he says that he hopes to have it by the time of the conference I asked him well do you know whether or not the ones that your panel is turning down as mesotheliomas were the neighborhood cases Because if you speak to some of the men down there the approach has been in the past this on the part of Wagner and others If you had a tumor that looks like it might possibly be a mesothelioma and there's a history of any association of - in any way with the fiber ergo - it's a mesothelioma
22
That if you look without knowing anything about it it isn't always necessarily called a mesothelioma and 25 of them have been thrown out and the question is were those that were thrown out the ones that were neighborhood cases In other words they knew they lived in the unclear names area leaving behind only those who would actually have a working exposure which begins to be the case in England where if it wasn't a working exposure it's recognized that it was a very substantial
exposure
They don't know this because at the present moment
because the panel is looking without knowing the exposure They
don't want to know it and Ian said that as soon as they are
finished with it then they will go back and get what the expos-
ures were
How it will turn out I don't know
VOICE I don't want to - but you time is growing
short
I wonder if we could jump suddenly to the United States
and what you know about it here and what we know about it maybe
going back I don't know what your plan of development is
DR WRIGHT
Well I think that it would be better
if I did it in a systematic way and did it again next week
VOICE
Right , very good
DR WRIGHT
I wouldn't know what I talked about
the next time
VOICE Okay DR WRIGHT Now amycyte phonetic is chemically and physically rather similar to crycotile phonetic It's closer -
23
I mean to crycydolite phonetic It's closer to crycydolite
than it is to crycotile and obviously they wanted to take a hard look at it and it was just as dirty an operation both
as regards the working place and the surrounding community
I was there and it's only mined in one very small area around
Pinge phonetic And the duration that is the number of years that
amycyte phonetic has been being produced is equivalent to
that so far as the living and recently dead population is concerned is equivalent to that of crycydolite phonetic so it's very striking to me that in this situation even though they had been striving very hard to find cases of mesotheliomas
that the best they can come up with is three Now I'll come to
the United States just for a moment because in - the only place where there has been a striking - that isn't quite right because we just double the number That's striking enough but the only
place where a substantial number of mesotheliomas has been dis-
closed is in the insulation workers
Partly it's because none of the other groups has
been looked at in the same way although this isn't completely
true because if there was an epidemic of mesotheliomas it would
make itself known in the
crycotile phonetihacs
Sepford Pegion
been mined for
striciy phonetic where
years and where the
doctors aren't so stupid but that if there were something very
striking especially in retrospect and the doctors do know up
24
there about mesothelioma In retrospect they would say oh yes we've been wondering what those funny tumors are
It just hasn't happened so far up there and it hasn't - unless
we are happened to the same degree as in the textile industry but I don't think we can say anything about the textile industry But we can say something about the insulation industry because surely Selikoff phonetic has published that
he has these mesotheliomas of the pleura and peritoneum
Will everybody agree that they're mesotheliomas Well I suspect that they will not and one of the reasons I think that is - it's never happened elsewhere and secondly Church phonetic his own man has already said my hearing that when he looks at these tumors he finds as of the moment he can classify something like 26 varieties Well there aren't
all that many so - each one must be classified almost differ-
ently or 2 or 3 in any one classification So one really wonders is this really a homogeneous
group That you can call mesophelioma Or is he talking about some other tumors And that is something for the future
to tell think
VOICE Have they gone to the registry now do you
DR WRIGHT
All these tumors will go to the registry
VOICE Yes right
DR WRIGHT
All the past ones have gone and surely
all the new ones
25
VOICE
You mean all that Selikoff and Church
phonetic have studied
DR WRIGHT
Well if Selikoff holds out then he's
doing what he's asked others not to do
VOICE
Does he agree - as said at the mecting -
DR WRIGHT He may decide to hold everything out
when he learns that he's on the committee
LAUGHTER
DR WRIGHT find out about it
That's
neither here
nor
there
.
we'll
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT At any rate the interesting thing about
insulation groups
it is that the information group seems to be aware there is the
greatest - and this is a group who certainly have been exposed
to various kinds of fiber crycotile and amycyte phonetic as
being the most abundant and some agreement that there may have
been to some degree some crycydolite exposure although this
has never been considered to be a characteristic fiber in in-
sulation production but I guess that no one would be brave
enough to say that there's been absolutely no crycydolite used
VOICE
Isn't there some in the spray that -
DR WRIGHT
Yes I think so
A fellow up there
said the other day that there was
VOICE That's what I thought yes
DR WRIGHT
So there have been all three used
VOICE
Yes
26
DR WRIGHT But Selikoff phonetic is fond of
saying - oh this is
that in South Africa
amycyte
where there
yet it's rather interesting is this very heavy amycyte
exposure and where the same guys discovered the mesophelioma
in the crycydolite they and I can understand why
are not discovering it in the they might want to find some
amycyte
Well
now before I leave South Africa let me tell you that first of all Thompson when I spoke to him said - vou see all these as-
bestos bodies epidemic
this
can only mean
that we're going to have an
VOICE He said that to you again this trip
DR WRIGHT Yes and I said - well why don't we
have it and why don't they find all these And he said - well
anyone who fails to find them doesn't recognize them and I said -
Neuerman well how about
phonetic who is the Finnish pathol-
ogist
olite
who says there are
phonetic and he
no mesotheliomas associated with anthropsaid - Neuerman phonetic wouldn't
know a mesothelioma if he saw it
And I said - do you mean to
tell me that he wouldn't even know that it was a tumor And
he said - that's right Well when face this kind of a ment-
ality it's somewhat like our friend up on Fifth Avenue the kind of guy that you'd just like to walk away from
and it's because
their mind is made up and they're going to find whatever it takes
to fit the facts
Thompson further said that asbestos fibers are so
27
ubiquitous that he had to give up his own experimental work because even in the distilled water he found asbestos fibers
I didn't follow that up other than to raise my eyebrows -
and say - I don't quite see how a fiber gets distilled over
and he said well - with the electron microscope the water
the distilled water is full of asbestos fibers
Well mavbe they are down there because maybe he's got enough crycydolite sprayed around his laboratory to do that but at any rate when I said - well how about talcum
powder and he had to allow that there was some fiber in talcum
powder and I brought home some talcum powder fom the drugstore and it's got fibers in it I don't know what they are whether
they're asbestos or talcum but I'm going to give some to Louis
|
Crowley phonetic and see --
Now back to the general area because as you know
almost always you'll find some disagreements that don't appear
on the surface and surely don't appear on the right
unclear
name Kramer and - he's in the Miners unclear Board and
is the fellow who has to do with saying whether or not if a
man has an injury if he deserves compensation and Ian Webster
who is in charge of Pneumo unclear research in - both feel
strongly that there is not going to be an epidemic that the
public exposures other than in the immediate vicinity of a
mine or a mill are negligible
Webster even gave as an official pronouncement in
28
a letter that I that asbestos
unclear
pipe
poses no
does not
hazard have
it whatsoever that query having been made to him
VOICE Whose going to get that letter
DR WRIGHT Ian Webster
VOICE You mentioned that December 17th DR WRIGHT I can't find it I'm still looking
I may find it somewhere in my things I haven't been through
them all
VOICE Would you consider writing him and asking
him to repeat it or would that be -
DR WRIGHT I'll ask him when I'm down there
VOICE VOICE
the You mean next - in
~
I think discussion at our meeting was
that you were going to give Jack the address and that you were going to write to him
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT Well I can give you the address -
VOICE
Is that work for me to do
DR WRIGHT
Of course You can just say that -
have him put his view that it isn't a hazard
VOICE You say that he wrote to some government -
DR WRIGHT He did write to the government yes
VOICE
That's what I recall
I want to get that
address from you
I don't think you had your address book
that day as I recall
29
DR WRIGHT That's alright I could give you the
telephone number
VOICE
And I was about to phone him
DR WRIGHT Pneumoconiosis Research Unit phonetic
Post Office Box 4788 Johannesburg - I guess it would be Union
of South Africa
|
VOICE
Very good
DR WRIGHT
You find that when you begin to talk
around a little bit that there are some conflicting opinions
and there are two people who represent asbestos producers
crycydolite and amycyte people phonetic a radiologist and a pathologist both of whom feel very strongly that the mesothelioma situation has been grossly exaggerated The pathol-
ogist is the one who raised the question as to whether there is
such a thing as a mesothelioma He's the guy who got up in
Dresden and said that these things they're calling mesotheliomas
are predominantly metastatic lesions
V^ ICE Yes
DR WRIGHT As you know out of all of those meso-
theliomas that have been reported in South Africa I think it's something under ten in which there's been a complete autopsy
the bulk are just from the lung and heart things that are sent
to the research unit or they are biopsy specimens
VOICE
So they don't even know that these are
primaries
30
DR WRIGHT
Well -
VOICE
Or he said -
DR WRIGHT Well they think that they can look
at them and tell that you see
VOICE
But he says that -
DR WRIGHT But he said that they really need a
complete autopsy When I say ten I might be in error but there are much fewer that they've had autopsy on than have
not been autopsied I think they are stretching it a little
but I do have and gee why didn't I give that to vou I have
two things that he wrote the pathologist wrote -
VOICE That the government unclear -
DR WRIGHT That you really ought to have
you'd have to make photostats of photostats
Well
VOICE We've done that
VOICE Some of the stuff we've copied is unbeliev-
unreadable
able and unreal -
DR.WRIGHT This is Bruckman phonetic who is the
pathologist His answer to this fellow and that you won't have
too much trouble copying This is the statement from the Scient-
ific Research people Why don't you copy those off - meso-
thelioma - this is by Hurwitz
|
VOICE
Fine
phonetic
also
a pathologist
DR WRIGHT
I've got two very good papers on the
subject of that asbestos itself like Sydney Steele phonetic
wrote
31
VOICE
Oh
DR WRIGHT
You mean two written by others
.
Yes
VOICE
unclear regardless you would have some
curiousity about why - whether these are metasticized or any-
thing else why they were doing it in this peculiar place for
this peculiar group of people I mean -
DR WRIGHT
Yes it's an unusual event
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT From a quantitative point of view
it's clear that some people down there possibly those whose
ox has been gored the heaviest look upon Wagner as an oppor-
tunist of the first order a man whose judgment was not always
sound because he was influenced by the great desire to promote
himself with this mesothelioma thing They don't go so far as
to say there's no problem but they say that the magnitude of
it has been grossly exaggerated by him
VOICE
With a closed mind
DR WRIGHT
Well with a deliberate intent to
find and to stretch the truth
Now these are rather serious
things to say VOICE They're not said openly DR WRIGHT They're not said openly and the other
thing is that I suspect that Wagner like all other humans who
find themselves in what they think is a situation of great
interest who pursue it very very strongly and make some errors in terms of numbers and there's nothing wrong with that
32
providing in the end that it tends to balance itself out which is what it's doing
I wouldn't attribute any malignant intent to what - to Wagner myself There are those down there who do
VOICE Are you talking of Wagner or Thompson now
DR WRIGHT Wagner
VOICE Right
DR WRIGHT Thompson I'm through with
anything about him
VOICE You already decided that one
- saying
DR WRIGHT Well I have nothing more to tell you
about him but Wagner I think cannot be dismissed as being a
dishonest man and being a fabricator That he may have been
in error in enthusiasm I could readily understand him because
I think many of us are and this should be taken into account
and it may have something to do with what you might call the
neighborhood or direct exposed people That he needs to continue to substantiate his posi-
tion is probably also true There are some other oddities about
it and that is that Wagner's sister is Ian Webster's wife
and that makes Webster I think a little reluctant to criticize Wagner so that the fact that he does criticize him is to be
taken into account That it's probably closer to what Hurwitz
and the other man -
VOICE Bruckman phonetic DR WRIGHT The pathologist say than maybe I would
33
like to believe
I was shown a letter which contained in it
a statement Please hurry up and find a case of mesothelioma from Tinge phonetic
LAUGHTER
And it was a letter from Wagner So this is the sort
of kind of climate that should never go beyond this desk but which I must report to you because it goes to some understand-
ing Now my considered judgment would be that it doesn't alter the basic things at all It might go to the quantitative end of it and it goes to of course his great desire to find the
mesotheliomas in this other area so then you're forced to say
well why in this area do you not find them since to all in-
tents and purposes as far as the fiber exposure is concerned
they are the same
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT
So mavbe it isn't fiber at all or maybe
it's fiber plus something that's peculiar in the Northwest Cape
This he is not going to want to have to face anymore than I
would have to want to face it after I had made such a todo about
it Webster believes and possibly this is because of thinking along these lines that there must be something besides exposure to fiber and he currently says that he thinks that a previous inflammation of the pleura - he's gotten involved in the tuberculosis question quite heavily because he finds a high incidence
of tuberculosis in the asbestos miners higher than in the quartz
34
exposed people Now the problem down there is of course that
tuberculosis in the natives is as essentially as it was in our country about thirty years ago it's rampant very common and I don't know what other things might happen in those areas
besides this exposure to asbestos fiber Ian is very careful
doesn't say too much about it and is being very conservative but possibly he's led into some of these avenues because he would
like to find an explanation that would help his brother
off the hook
I don't think I have anything else to say about
South Africa mesothelioma and I think it's about the time
that I ought to get the hell out of here
VOICE
Yes you should
DR WRIGHT We'll talk about New York mesophelioma
the next time
What time do you have
VOICE
I have about four after three
DR WRIGHT
I'm going to try to get together with -
next week I'm coming back and I'm going to try to meet Dr. McCann
phonetic who is the doctor for General Dynamics and I'm going
to look at some insulation settings with him -
VOICE Very good thought - they just bought -
DR WRIGHT They just bought --
VOICE
VOICE
Bought Asbestos unclear Corporation They wrote us for some information
VOICE They already -
35
DR WRIGHT
McCann
VOICE No their Public Relations Department
have already inquired for information from us which - which is a unique experience because no other company had that interest which I thought was good
DR WRIGHT Fine get in touch with Hugh because Hugh is going to try to set that up for either Thursday or Friday of next week That's - that means that I'll be here either
on the alternate day either Thursday or Friday -
VOICE You'll be here those two days
DR WRIGHT Yes I'm in Connecticut on Thursday
and then I'll be here on Friday firm plans are -
and versa
so
far
as my
e
VOICE
Then we could make a date
DR WRIGHT
Yes
VOICE And drop you a note or whatever
DR WRIGHT You're doing better by me than what poor old Bucher gets He gets it day after day doesn't he
VOICE
Who Oh Oh yes
Sure does
of afternoon would that be do you know Jack
Morning
DR WRIGHT
would be out
Well the day that I go to Connecticut
VOICE
It's out
It's got to be the other day
As you knowI get jammed up but I'll hold them both as long
as I can
DR WRIGHT Morning is probably better because on
36
a Friday I'd like to get out of here by noon if I can Friday evening is a son of a bitch to get out of
here
VOICE I know that prefer morning in any event
so I'll
.
just put down - would
VOICE Can I ask just one quickie that you're going
to touch on I'm just curious as to your reaction Selikoff
now says that he's - 10 of his deaths among insulation workers
are mesothelioma is that high
VOICE
Pardon me
VOICE We haven't gotten the others back
VOICE Yes no they're still being done yes
VOICE
unclear along and just settle for one
copy
VOICE VOICE
They were only planning one copy
Excuse me Carl - I'm sorry
VOICE VOICE
That's alright That one out of ten of his insulation deaths
insulation deaths now are mesopheliomas
DR WRIGHT One out of ten
I hadn't seen the
figures but if he can tell you that VOICE Am I not right- I'm going on mentally - but
I know we were shocked when we saw that
DR WRIGHT
Well 50 of his deaths are cancer
VOICE Yes
DR WRIGHT
10 of those are mesotheliomas
37
That's a very high frequency
VOICE
Yes
20 of those
VOICE
No no - he said 10 of the total deaths
VOICE
Total deaths and he says - 50 are cancer
So that would mean 20 of cancer - yes
high isn't it
That's pretty damned
DR WRIGHT
10 is very high
VOICE
Yes
DR WRIGHT If they're all mesotheliomas
VOICE
Yes well |
-
to
VOICE Well there's got to be somebody else trving
VOICE
-
Yes
well
- we
- Thompson do a
-
|
guy's name were something different
|
VOICE Yes
VOICE I wince every time -
wish that
VOICE
I wince a little myself
Of course he doesn't
have the P and vinegar in his name that I have
VOICE I know I know that
DR WRIGHT Boy you ought to meet that guy
VOICE
I met him you know
DR WRIGHT He's a bantam rooster isn't he
VOICE
He came right over into the middle of a group
of us at Dresden and he'd say - okay here I am in the camp of
the enemy
That type - -
38
DR WRIGHT
Oh he's very insulting
I went all
the way down to Capetown to visit him and he knew that he was
the
only guy and
his
opening
remarks
to me were
-
well
you
represent the industry don't you You'll whitewash them
LAUGHTER
VOICE
Yes - well that's the tipoff you know
guy who can think that way will operate for the record
Any
DR WRIGHT
I said - oh I don't think so
He said -
oh yes
-
you
fellows
are
all alike
So I said - you can see who's
on the committee and if you want to call somebody like Paul Colten
phonetic and Marvin Krisher phonetic whitewashers - I think
you need your head examined I handed it right back to him -
without a smile I said - that's an insulting thing to say to
somebody unless you know them better
rooster
VOICE He's a little - a short haired bantam That's what he is
DR WRIGHT
No I wouldn't take two minutes of that
crap from him or from anybody else
VOICE
A bantam rooster type
DR WRIGHT
I haven't finished my report In fact
I haven't started to dictate it yet on my South African trip VOICE Oh I thought that was done in fact I was
going to ask you about a copy
do
DR WRIGHT
No there were so many other things to
VOICE
You may shut it off -
END OF SESSION
6623E
MINUTES OF THE SEVENTEENTH MEETING OF THE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE OF THE INSTITUTE OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
The meeting was held in New Orleans
March 15 and 16 1975
Louisiana
Present were
Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr.
George W. Wright Ian Higgins Paul Kotin
Marvin Kuschner Premysl V. Pelnar
**
Dr. Michel Lesage
Chairman Member Member Member Scientific
Secretary
Medical advisor QAMA
Guests present during the first half day
Dr. H. Weill Dr. M. Ziskind
Tulane University Tulane University
1
Dr. Wright introduced Dr. M. Lesage who will
serve as liaison between IOEH and QAMA In this function
he replaces Dr. Karl Lindell who has retired from his advisory
function with QAMA by the end of 1974
2
It was
on behalf of Scientitic
to Dr. Lindell for support to IOEH
many
unanimously resolved that Dr. Wright
Committee write a letter of appreciation
years of most valuable cooperation and
... /
. .
a)
2/1 Manviile
To PAUL KOTIN M.D.
ateh
j
From LOIS GAUL
161161 Internal Correspondence
Date NOVEMBER 2 1977
Copies G. WRIGHT M.D.
Subject MEETING WITH DR GAZE OCTOBER 31 1977
DR GEORGE WRIGHT AND DR
OFFICE ON MONDAY OCTOBER MEETING BUT DR GAZE WAS
WILLIAM R. PAUL MET WITH
31 1977. M. HARRIS WAS ACCOMPANIED BY G. MORGAN
DR GAZE IN YOUR UNABLE TO ATTEND THE AND A MR TANNER
DR CAZE STATED THAT HE WISHED TO DISCUSS THE OBJECTIVES AND ROLE OF
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION WHOSE JOB HE SAW AS ESSENTIALLY ONE OF
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND OF PRESENTING INDUSTRY'S CASE IN THE BEST
POSSIBLE WAY ALTHOUGH EVERY COUNTRY'S PROBLEMS WITH RESPECT TO
ASBESTOS ARE SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT DR GAZE FEELS THEPE IS SUFFICIENT
UNIFORMITY FOR A COORDINATED FFFORT
THE AIM IS TO PRESENT INDUSTRY'S
SIDE WITH MORE AUTHORITY AND PRECISION THAN HAS PEEN DONE UNTIL NOW
DR GAZE ALSO STATED THAT COMPARED TO SELIKOFF AT THE JOHANNESBURG
CONFERENCE INDUSTRY APPEARED CONFUSED AND MORE PREPARATION IS NEEDED
TO ANSWER THE KINDS OF STATEMENTS SELIKOFF IS MAKING
DR GAZE WAS
SOMEWHAT CONCERNED THAT PARTICIPANTS AT THE JOHANNESBURG CONFERENCE CONFERENCE DID NOT QUESTION SEI.IKOFF AND SEEMED TO ACCEPT HIM AS AN AUTHORITY AUTHORITY .
DR WPIGHT POINTED OUT THAT STATEMENTS ARE NOT CONTRADICTED AT SCIENTIFIC
MEETINGS BECAUSE THEY ARE WEIGHED BY SELIKOFF'S PEERS AND SCIENTISTS
PAMILIAR WITH FIELD KNOW VALUE OF WHAT HE IS SAYING
DR WRIGHT AGREED
THAT THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD HAS NOT PUT FORWARD A UNIFORM OR STRONG
COMPETITIVE ATTITUDE TO COUNTER SELIKOFF HOWEVER AT SCIENTIFIC
MEETINGS MOUNT SINAI IS AND PRESENTS REASONABLE
CAREFUL IN
DATA
DR
WHAT IS SAID STICKS TO WORK IT KNOWS WRICHT EMPHASIZED THAT NOT EVERY-
THING SELIKOFF SAYS LEADS TO MISCHIEF THAT HE WAS REASONABLY CAPEFUL
AT JOHANNESBURG THE PROBLEM IS THAT IN NONSCIENTIFIC MEETINGS SELIKOFF
AND MOUNT SINAI REPRESENTATIVES ARE LOOSER IN THEIR INFERENCES BUT
DR WRICHT IS NOT CERTAIN ABOUT WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH RESPECT TO
KOPP'S STATEMENTS TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND NEWS MEDIA
DR HAS
WRIGHT ALSO STATED THAT THE AGBESTOS INDUSTRY IN THE EPTEDEPTED STATES
BEEN TREATED PRETTY FAIRLY PY GOVERNMENT PEGULATORY AGENCIES OVERALL
ASBESTOS HAS NOT BEEN RANNED AND THERE IS NO TALK OF BANNING IT
THE PRESS IS THE GREATEST DANCER
AS FAR AS WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE SITUATION DR WRIGHT INDICATED THAT THE
EUROPEANS GERMANS BELGIANS MUST BE BETTER PREPARED AND MUST DOCUMENT
WITH NUMBERS IN THE LITERATURE
THE ASSOCIATION SHOULD STRESS THIS
DR WRIGHT THEN DISCUSSED LEPOUTRE'S BELGIAN DATA AS AN EXAMPLE STATING THAT FROM WHAT HE UNDERSTOOD THERE WAS NO FOLLOW ON PEOPLE WHO LEFT
THE PLANT AND WITH MESOTHELIOMA SUCH FOLLOW IS MOST IMPORTANT
HE
KOPP D.
-2-
NOVEMBER 2 , 1977
ALSO HAD THE IMPRESSTON THAT DEATH CERTIFICATES ARE A PROBLEM IN AND FRANCE BUT THAT THESE ARE IMPORTANT FOR APPROPRIATE STUDIES
BELGIUM
DR GAZE THEN ASKED ABOUT THE THESIS THAT FIBER COATED WITH CEMENT IS
INNOCUOUS
DR WRIGHT
MACHINING OF PIPE FOR
REPLIED THAT HE DIDN'T BELIEVE IT EXAMPLE BUNDLES MAY BE FRACTURED
THAT IN THE RELEASING
FIBRILS NOT ON THE SURFACE ORIGINALLY AND WHICH THEREFORE MAY NOT BE
COATED
DR WRIGHT THEN DISCUSSED HIS RECENT WORK WITH KUSCHNER ON
GLASS FIBERS AND THAT COMPARED TO ASBESTOS GLASS HAS LESS PROCLIVITY
TC CAUSE FIBROSIS
THE FEACTION IS QUALITATIVELY THE SAME FUT QUANTI-
TATIVELY NOT LIKE ASBESTOS
DR GAZE INQUIRED ABOUT WEILL'S STUDIES AND ASKED WHETHER DATA WERE
CONCLUSIVE AND WHETHER THERE WERE ENOUGH CASES IN THE STATED THAT WEILL'S STUDY WAS A RELATIVELY SMALL ONE
STUDY
DR WRIGHT
BUT THERE WAS AN
EXCESS BRONCHOGENIC CANCER COMPARISONS USED LOUISIANA
EXPERIENCE
MORTALITY
STATISTICS NOT U.S. AS
AND MORBIDITY
A WHOLE
EXCESS
CANCER WAS SUGGESTS A
NOTED LEVEL
ONLY THAT
IN IS
THE TWO HIGHEST CATEGORIES OF EXPOSUPE WHICH
TOLERABLE
WEILL STARTED WITH POPULATION
THAT HAS A BETTER MORTALITY EXPERIENCE THAN LOUISIANA OVERALI
WEILL'S
GROUP THERE
OF C SHEET WORKERS DID WAS A SMALI UNDETERMINED
NOT REPRESENT A PURE CHRYSOTILE - EXPOSURE
AMOUNT OF CROCIDOI
IN THE PIPE
PLANT THERE WAS OF COURSE MUCH MORE CROCIDOI AND THE CONTRAST OF
THESE TWO POPULATIONS IS USEFUL
UNFORTUNATELY THE NUMBER OF DEATHS
IS SMALL ESPECIALLY IF AN ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE THEM INTO CATEGORIES OF
SEVERITY OF EXPOSURE IS MADE
IT IS MOST DIFFICULT TO ASSESS THE
RESULTS AT THIS POINT
DR GAZE MENTIONED THAT POBERT MURRAY BELIEVES HE TAS IDENTIFIED A
CROUP OF WORKERS WITH ONLY CROCIDOLITE EXPOSURE
THERE MAY BE A
GROUP AMONG BATCHER BOX WORKERS ALSO AND SMITHER IS IN TOUCH WITH
THIS GROUP TO VERIFY
OTHERWISE THERE IS PROBABLY NO GROUP OF BLUE
WORKERS OUTSIDE OF SOUTH AFRICA
DR GAZE ALSO MENTIONED THAT HE HAS BEEN READING U.S. LITERATURE ON
THE HIGHER CANCER RISK IN POPULATIONS RESIDING NEAP REFINERIES AND
THAT THIS SITUATION MAY CONFOUND THE DATA IN NEW JERSEY
DR WRIGHT
STATED THAT HE TRIED TO POINT THIS OUT AT JOHANNESBURG
INSULATION
WORKERS HAVE A MORE DIVERSE EXPOSURE HISTORY THAN DO WORKERS IN
ASBESTOS MINING AND MILLING AND THAT IT IS IMPORTANT TO ACCOUNT FOR
1 COMMUNITY EXPOSURE AND 2 OTHER OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
DR WRIGHT
SAID HE WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED TO FIND THAT MANVILLE HAS
TOTALLY
DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE THAN ANY OTHER PLANT
DR GAME FEMARKED THAT THE PROBLEMS IN THE U.S. ARF LARCELY FELATED
TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ALSO UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS AND THE MEDIA BUT
IN EUROPE THESE FACTORS ARE COMPOUNDED BY TRADE UNIONS WHICH HAVE
IMPOSED ALMOST A BAN ON THE USE OF ASBESTOS
IN FACT THE TRADE UNION
CONGRESS HAS RECOMMENDED THAT ASBESTOS USE BE FANNED TEN YEARS FROM NOW
DR GAZE ASKED WHETHER ROBERT MURPAY WAS RIGHT MAN TO PEAD INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION
DF WRIGHT INDICATED THAT FROM HIS BRIEF MEETING WITH
KATIN M.D.
nies
NOVEMBER 2 1977
THIKPAY IN JOHANNESBURG JOHANNESBURG JE GJERD HIM
PERSONALITY PERSONALITY PERSONALITY
WILL MURFAY BE ABLE TO
CF NUMBERS FOR DOCUMENTATION
AND TROGGET MURRAY CONVINCE EUROPLANS
HAD AN OF THE
ENGAGING NECESSITY
DR GAZE ASKED WHY THERE WAS A FIGH INCIDENCE OF MESOTHELICMA IN THE
C.K.
IS THERE REALLY LESS MESO ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE OR HAS IT BEEN
UN RECOGNIZED DR WRIGHT STATED THAT HE DOESN'T WORRY ABOUT THE
DIAGNOSIS IN CERMANY
IN THE U.S. THERE PROBABLY IS SOME FRIOR ON
THE SIDE OF MESO DIAGNOSIS BUT THAT ANY ERRORS WOULD NOT AFFECT AFFECT
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA
DR GAZE SUGGESTEL TEAT THE FACT THAT GERMANY
WAS DEPRIVED OF ASBESTOS DURING TWO WORLD WAFS MAY ACCOUNT FOR THE
DIFFFRENCE IN MORTALITY EXPERIENCE
THE GERMAN ASBESTOS EXPERIENCE
HAS BEEN IN PIPE AND ASBESTOS SHEET NOT PEALLY IN INSULATION
DE WRIGHT SAID THERE IS A NEED TO SHOW THAT INSULATION EXPERIENCE
IS NOT RELATED TO FIPE AND SHEET EXPERIENCE
ONLY HANS WEILL IS
LOOKING AT PIPE IN THE U.S. SO THE GERMAN PIPE EXPERIENCE SHOULD DE
DOCUMENTED
DR GAZE SAID HE SEES A NEED FOR SEVERAL LEVELS OF DETAILED PUBLIC
INFORMATION ON ASBESTOS WHICH PRESENT FACTS IN A SIMPLE WAY IN
SEVERAL LANGUAGES
HE FEELS THAT AUDIOVISUAL AIDS BACKED UP EY
7. SMALL TEXTBOOK WOULL BE APPROPRIATE
DR WRIGHT SUGGESTED THAT
THE INFORMATION WOULD BEST BE COMPILED BY PEOPLE FREE OF DIRECT
CONNECTION FORMED AND
TO INDUSTRY AND THAT POSSIBLY
THE INFORMATION THEN CONDENSED
A SMALL COMMISSION BE TO CLEAR SIMPLE FROSE
BY A PROFESSIONAL WRITER
THE NEED IS TO EMPHASIZE THAT WHAT IS
BEING SEEN TODAY IS A RESULT OF FAST EXPOSURES
TEXT SHOULD
INCLUDE PROS AND CONS OF SPECULATION
MORE EMPHASIS THAN HERETOFORE
SHOULD BE PUT ON THOSE POPULATIONS WHO HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO ASBESTOS
AT LOWER LEVELS AND WHO HAVE NO DEMONSTRABLE ILL EFFECTS
1.E. WRIGHT ALSO STATED THAT IMPORTANT FUTURE RESEARCH MAY EE IN
LOOKING AT LUNG RESIDUES AND FINDING OUT WHAT THEY MEAN
HOW DO
RESEARCHERS GET CASES TO LOCK A ESPECIALLY HOUSEHOLD CASEST THE
LOGISTICS OF SUCH RESEARCH APE DIFFICULT AND WOULD REQUIFE COOPERATION OF NUMEROUS ACENCIES INCLUDING LABOR UNIONS
THE