Document LJnJpbrrVajm0Nq8Dd0NJbp7b

PAGE: xxxxxxxx |C M Y K SUNDAY POST-DISPATCH Vol. 125, No. 299 2003 www.STLtoday.com PROUDLY SERVING ST. LOUIS FOR 125 YEARS OCTOBER 26, 2003 1 2 3 4 5 6 $1.25 ST. CHARLES EPA warning on asbestos is under attack Lawyers target materials detailing dangers in brakes By Andrew Schneider Of the Post-Dispatch 2003, St. Louis Post-Dispatch The federal government's 17year effort to warn backyard and professional mechanics of the dangers of cancer-causing as bestos in brakes is under attack. The international law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to stop dis tributing warning booklets, posters and videotapes that give mechanics guidance on the need to protect themselves from asbestos. The 10-page petition called the science on which the material was based unproven and irrational. The firm said the EPA's guid ance for mechanics had been used to support thousands of personal injury lawsuits brought against hundreds of American companies by me chanics. The suits involving the auto workers alleged they were sickened or killed by exposure to asbestos in brakes. The firm refused repeated re quests to identify its client in the effort to stop the booklets, but it has represented at least one major asbestos firm and two insurance companies in volved in asbestos litigation. The lawyers took their action under an obscure law passed in 2001 called the Data Quality Act. It demands that govern ment agencies work with the White House's Office of Man agement and Budget to estab lish a process that permits "af fected persons" to challenge information gathered and dis seminated by the government. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., said she introduced the fourparagraph measure as a rider to an appropriation bill "to ensure accountability to the taxpayer." Emerson's staff said the lan guage for the law came from Jim Tozzi. He is the director of the Center for Regulatory Ef fectiveness, an industry-funded group scrutinizing government regulations. Tozzi worked for the Office of Management and Budget during the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administra tions. Still a threat Court filings and public health surveys indicate that thousands of auto workers are diagnosed each year with as bestos-related diseases, such as mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. Few mechanics take protective measures when working with brakes -- mainly, they say, because they believe asbestos is no longer present. They are wrong. Although the major car makers say they no longer use asbestos, the brakes on many older cars contain the fibers. More than $124 million worth of asbestos brake materi al was imported into the United States last year. Thus, the po tential danger will exist for decades as replacement brakes containing asbestos continue to be put on vehicles. The Post-Dispatch talked to about two dozen St. Louis me chanics or garage managers. All but two said that asbestos had been banned and is no longer in brakes. Leaving no fingerprints Dr. Sidney Shapiro, a law pro fessor at the University of Kansas who has written and lec tured on the value and danger of the information act, said he is concerned that "the legislation opens the door for corporations and trade associations to attack any scientific information that EPA makes public, and asbestos is a fine example." Shapiro is with the Center for Progressive Regulation, a group that exam ines regulations on environmen tal and consumer interests. He added: "The act is also a great tool for OMB to try to in fluence policy because their in volvement won't leave any fin gerprints." The White House is already being heavily criticized by some lawmakers for its Council on Environmental Quality, which guides the president on environ mental issues, and allegations that the Office of Management ^and Budget is influencing the PHOTOS BY ANDREW CUTRARO / POST DISPATCH Bob Wind works on brakes Thursday at B&B Muffler & Service at Chippewa Street and Nebraska Avenue. He was surprised to learn that some brakes still contained asbestos. A brake box at B&B Muffler & Service carries warnings about as bestos. Mechanic Bob Wind was amazed when a Post-Dispatch photographer showed him the box. "I just can't believe it," he said, squinting to read the small type. actions of the EPA. The budget agency counters that it doesn't meddle in the agency's Data Quality Act decisions. "The Act itself places us in a broad oversight role but does not specify how the OMB-agency re lationship should be handled," said a senior OMB official. "OMB has encouraged agencies to consult with us before they re spond. However, it is the agen cies that decide how to respond." The Gold Book The law firm, based in Philadelphia, says the dire warnings regarding asbestos ex posure have no scientific basis. It has demanded that the EPA renounce years of extensive studies that state otherwise. The main target in their peti tion is a thin gold-colored EPA pamphlet titled "Guidance for Preventing Asbestos Disease Among Auto Mechanics." Tens of thousands of copies of the Gold Book and other asbestos warning material have been distributed to schools, garages, auto dealers and unions since they were first published 17 years ago. For two years in the mid-'80s, the EPA and asbestos experts from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration gathered extensive research on exposure to mechanics from leading gov ernment and civilian scientists. The petition says that the EPA has it all wrong and that brake repair work is safe. "The continuing availability of the Gold Book, and its alarmist and inflammatory tone continues to hinder a fair-mind ed assessment of the hazards, if any, imposed to users of as bestos-containing friction prod ucts," the petition states. Steve Johnson, the acting deputy administrator of the EPA, said the Gold Book was being revised before the peti tion arrived, but he insisted that the science upon which the guide was based was "solid" and "we stand by it today." Over the past few years, "we've learned a great deal more about asbestos and its dangers, which are significant," Johnson said. "We are looking at all of our as bestos programs to ensure that they reflect the latest informa tion on the hazards." Johnson said he wasn't per mitted to discuss the EPA's posi tion on the petition but said a de cision would be made by Nov. 24. Thousands of suits The lawyers said they are concerned about what happens in court. "In the highly charged envi ronment of such litigation, the Gold Book has been used to try to sway jurors, who are told that it represents EPA's current po sition and thinking on the ques tion of whether asbestos-con taining friction products are dangerous to users. "Outside the courtroom," the petition reads, "continuing availability of the Gold Book, and its alarmist and inflamma tory tone, hinders a fair-minded assessment of the hazards, if any, posed to users of asbestos containing friction material." Ernie Conry, a retired me chanic, is involved in a suit. He is sick. He has mesothelioma, a fast-killing form of cancer caused only by exposure to as bestos. It usually is fatal within eight to 10 months. It has been 22 months since his doctor diag nosed the disease. "I'm lucky. Very lucky," said Conry, 70. "My younger brother had mesothelioma from the Navy, and he died 12 months to the day from when he was told he had the disease. Just wasted away." For a man told he only had months to live, Conry looked healthy. He held up an X-ray of his lungs and ran a weathered finger along the gray shadow of the fast-spreading tumor. He doesn't need to look at the Xray. The pain reminds him that he's sick all the time, he said. Conry worked on brakes in various Ford garages in St. Louis. He said he was never told to wear a respirator or to be cautious. His blue eyes sparkle with anger when he speaks of never being told about asbestos in brakes. "Nobody told us then and no one is telling the guys changing brakes today they had better be careful because they may be covering themselves with as bestos in the dust from the brakes," Conry said. "It's like a secret. A deadly secret." He prints up his own fliers warning of the dangers and hands them out at union halls and in gas stations. He admits that few take it seriously. "If I can just save one guy, one other human from suffering the pain that I live with, then it's worth it," he said and paused for a moment. "But you know, they don't really believe me." On Thursday morning, Bob Wind was hammering loose a brake drum from a 1996 Ford Escort at B&B Muffler & Ser vice at Chippewa Street and Ne braska Avenue. Black dust and grime covered his clothes and the floor beneath the car. There was no visual way to tell whether the dust contained as bestos. "You just can't get away from the dust. It's everywhere: your hair, your nose, your eyes," Wind said. He was surprised to learn that some brakes still contained as bestos. "I thought it was out lawed years ago," said the me chanic. "I've never seen anyone wear a mask in a garage. Never." Ernie Conry, a retired mechanic, was diagnosed with mesothelioma 22 months ago. He worked on brakes at garages in St. Louis and says he was never told to wear a respirator or to be cautious. He has produced fliers warning of the dan gers of asbestos and hands them out at union halls and auto shops. Wind was amazed when a Post-Dispatch photographer showed him a box of replace ment brakes in his own store room that said "Caution. Con tains Asbestos Fibers." "I just can't believe it," he said squinting to read the small type. Another box said "100 percent asbestos free." But on the back of the box, in even smaller type, was written: "Product may contain a chemi cal fiber know to the state of California to cause cancer." Who protects the mechanics? The EPA says that its regula tions direct it to worry about the safety of home mechanics and students, but that OSHA has the responsibility for the workers. An examination by the Post Dispatch of 31 years of OSHA inspection records shows that nationwide, fewer then ten gas stations a year had been cited for asbestos problems. Richard Fairfax, OSHA's di rector of enforcement, said in a telephone interview that OSHA does not have a national pro gram on asbestos exposure. "I know we've done sampling. Going through the old inspection reports I found a couple that I did," Fairfax said. When asked when his were done, he answered: "A long time ago. In the '70s." In 20 phone calls to various OSHA regional offices and some of the states designated to do their own OSHA inspections, the Post-Dispatch found no one who could recall the last time they'd actually tested for as bestos in a gas station or garage. "Most of the operations are small businesses and do not have a lot of employees. Our targeting system is geared at employers with 40 or more workers," Fairfax said. Fairfax said he had no opinion "either way" when asked whether asbestos exposure to brake workers was a health concern. But the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, OSHA's research arm, has conducted repeated studies over the years documenting the dangers of asbestos, not only to mechanics but also to their fam ily members who may be ex posed to asbestos on their work clothes and to others in the garage area exposed to large amounts of asbestos in the air. As far back as 1975, NIOSH had many recommendations on protecting workers, including the posting of warning signs in garages saying "Breathing As bestos Dust May Cause Asbestosis or Cancer." But many proposals were ig nored, said Dr. Richard Lemen, a former director of NIOSH and an assistant U.S. surgeon general. "NIOSH cared. EPA cared. It was as if the rest of government didn't really care about the health of these mechanics and their families," Lemen said. "Eliminating EPA guidance is absurd. The risks from asbestos still exist and unless meaning ful actions are taken by the gov ernment, mechanics, and all too often, their family members, will continue to die." Last week, five members of var ious House committees wrote to the heads of the EPA and OSHA expressing concern that neither agency "appears to be monitoring the risk of asbestos exposure to mechanics and ensuring that pro tections are in place." The five lawmakers urged the EPA not to withdraw the brake guidance, saying "it would mis lead the public by conveying the false impression that as bestos exposure from brake re pair work was no longer a risk." Other public health experts shared their views. "In making this move on EPA, the law firm seeks to justify cor porate suppression of warnings in the past with government suppression of warnings today," said Dr. Barry Castleman, a na tional authority on asbestos and health issues. "The loser in this gambit is the public." Post-Dispatch photographer Andrew Cutraro assisted in the reporting of this story . Andrew Schneider: E-mail: aschneider@post-dispatch.com Phone: 314-340-8101