Document MGzmeoL4a651NkDGknwxJN8dM

Volume 12. NumbM 2 THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS. INC. June. 10,1982 Asbestos SEUKOFF CALLS FOR WIDER SAFEGUARDS; CONTROL AOEQUACY, DATA MEANING DEBATED MONTREAL -- (By a BNA Staff Correspondent) -- A ban on the use of asbestos will not be requested if "proper control" of exposure is achieved in the wide spectrum of workplaces where fibers are found, according to Irving J. Selikoff. director of the Environmental Sciences Laboratory of the iituunt Sinai School of Medicine. Selikoff made his remarks May 25 daring the opening session of the World Symposium on Asbestos, a three-day meeting sponsored by the governments of Canada and Que bec and the Commission of the European Communities (see related article in this issue). Other first-day speakers dis cussed varying effects of different fibers, diagnostic and analytic uncertainties, and adequacy of existing controls. Industry has "done what it can" to limit exposure in asbestos mines and miiu hut now must expand its efforts to control it in workplaces where asbestos products are used, Selikoff told the symposium. The remaining disease prob lems, he warned, will be found among construction workers and others who work where there are "virtually no controls, respirators, or instruction." Turning his remarks to Johns-Manville Corporation, the argued that four of the six indicators used to detect asoestos-related disease are "non-specific" and commonly found in both patients with the disease and those without it The medical researcher characterized diagnosis as a ques tion of "weighing the probabilities based on the total picture, including exposure." He reported that a forthcoming docu ment prepared by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the College of American Pathologists will recommend that when available, both lung fibrosis and a demonstrated finding of fibers in the lung are needed for adequate diagnosis from tissue samples. Weill also contended that no definitive mortality data have linked pleural plaques to mesothelioma. With some rare exceptions, he said, no functional consequences can be expected from benign plaques. Higginson, discussing science's limited understanding of the variables of cancer causation in general, predicted that research in the next decade into the mechanisms of carcino genic action will aid regulators in determining what alterna tive preventive measures should be taken. Better compre hension of which factors initiate the formation of tumors and which promote or deter their growth may help scientists determine an "operational threshold," the conditions under which no effect can be found, he urged. world's largest asbestos producer, Selikoff stated, "You deserve credit for what you have done, but you must do more." He said he agreed with the industry position that the disease cases seen today are the result of past exposure, but added, "The exposure now will result in future disease." Selikoff urged the asbestos industry to begin a surveil lance and notification program of exposed workers. Noting that cessation of cigarette smoking has been found to con tribute to i reversal of disease risk in previously exposed workers, be argued that companies have the responsibility to inform workers of past exposure and warn them of the effects of smoking. In addition, he said, "virtually no ex posed workers are under surveillance," asserting that peri odic medical examinations could make early cures possible. Fiber Types, Uncertainties Epidemiologists have not made progress in helping soci ety control the risks of asbestos exposure since the basic data were reported 20 years ago, according to John Corbett McDonald, head of the McGill University Institute of Occu pational Health and Safety. Conclusions still must be reached concerning a dose-response relationship and vari ations between the effects of different asbestos fiber types, he told the session. Noting that only four cohorts of workers have been stud ied using Individual exposure estimates -- Quebec miners and miliars. New Jersey factory pensioners. New Orleans cement workers, and South Carolina textile workers -- McDonald contended that""it would still be very rash to say that we know what the dose-response relationship is tor mesothelioma," the cancer of the pleural lining of the long linked almost exclusively to asbestos exposure. Substantial differences have been found, be said, between the effects of amosite and croridolite asbestos and the more widely used chrysotile type. While he has seen no evidence of croddolite use without a hazard, "it is probably possible" to ew chrysotile safely in such products as brake linings. McDonald maintained. He speculated that health effeets "depend perhaps on the size and type of fiber." Remaining uncertainties also were stressed by John Higginson. until recently the director of the International Agen cy for Research on Cancer, and Hans Weill, professor of medicine at Tulane University. Weill maintained that diagnosis of asbestos-related dis- Maxzocchi, Rletze Debate Control Industry and labor representatives disagreed over the state of current controls in the workplace. William B. Rletze. chief environmental scientist and vice president of Johns-Manville Sales Corporation, argued that currently available controls allow asbestos to be used "safely and effectively without any measurable health effects." But Anthony Mazzocchi of the OU. Chemical and Atomic Work ers International Union called for a moratorium on asbestos use until a "meaningful" plan of controls is implemented. Rletze detailed a wide range of control devices, including vacuum units that can be used with saws, drills, and other -mall power tools. "Today we have adequate engineering technology available to reduce asbestos fiber levels in virtu ally all instances where asbestos is mined, milled, and manufactured, and in those areas where asbestos-containing products are used," he summarized. "Even in those few areas where control is somewhat difficnlL such as demoli tion or routine maintenance work, there are methods that can be used to reduce the asbestos fiber to acceptable levels,'* Rletze asserted. Maaocchi contended that, with a few exceptions, man agement has been negligent In controlling exposure. Less than one percent of workplaces surveyed by OCAW were in compliance with exposure standards, he said, arguing that scttntific evidence, while somewhat persuasive to manufac turers. has not changed the attitudes of user employers. Only a moratorium, in which a complete inventory of use and exposures would be conducted, would end the "crimi nal" exposure of workers that has occurred over "15 years of haranguing" over science, the labor official stated. "You don't have to be a scientist to see the absence of controls," 'Ui argued. Third-party liability litigation has done more to advance the cause of removal and substitution than regulations. Mazzocchi maintained. "Regulations have not changed the lives of workers." he asserted, saying unions "would totally immobilize the regulatory agencies if we were to complain every time." DUP 0906847