Document MJN5V1jd5q0aaoEZ2e290J6Kj

THE NATIONAL OBSERVER Sounding Board A Selection of Current Opinion vr Asbestos Isn't That Bad, Say Those Who Vroduce It On the political front, certain politi cians, especially those in cities and states where sprayed asbestos is under investi gation, have launched attacks on asbes tos. Many have been expressions of gen uine concern for the public welfare, but others have been little more than at tempts to cash in on the current interest in the environment. Additional adverse publicity has been generated by environmentalists and con sumer protection advocates such as Bar ry Commoner, Rene Dubos, and Ralph Nader, who frequently include asbestos in their list of alleged public-health haz ards. Nader's recent utterance about the use of asbestos as a filler in cigars and cigarets is a prime example. I might mention in regard to Nader's claims that to the best of our knowledge no asbestos is used in the manufacture of cigars or cigarets. . Considerable publicity has been gen erated by doctors investigating various types of asbestos-related disease. Their comments and speeches have often been exaggerated or quoted out of context, and their opinions or theories reported as absolute fact. In other instances, these doctors themselves have spoken out with out knowing the full facts of a particular situation, or have exaggerated the size of the problem in order to attract more at tention. The net result of all this publicity has June 14, 1971 been to foster a series of very erroneous and very damaging impressions in the public mind. First reports indicate that the level of asbestos existing in the corough of Man hattan in New York City--probably the most heavily polluted of all American urban centers--is at a level of about one nanccrani per cubic foot, and can be measured only under an electron micro scope. A nanogram is one-billionth of a gram. Translating this to the levels rec ommended by the American Conference of Governmental and Industrial Hygien ists for occupational exposure, we find that a worker employed at a recommend ed safe level of 5 fibers per cubic centi meter of air has an exposure at least 30,000 to 100,000 times higher than that of the average New Yorker. Putting it in even more graphic terms, a New Yorker throughout a lifetime of 70 years would be exposed to an amount of asbestos no greater than that to which an employe in an asbestos mine or plant would be exposed in 2Vi working days at the rec ommended safe level of 5 fibers per cc. Which brings us to the second major erroneous impression concerning asbes tos: That asbestos causes lung cancer and other disease among the general pub lic. This erroneous impression has arisen because some doctors, writers, and oth ers have translated the occupational haz ard to the general public without con sidering the vast differences in the amount of expbsure between the two groups. The fact is that there is no evi dence, scientific or otherwise, that any one in the general public has ever con tracted any disease from exposure to the minute amounts of asbestos that exist in the community air. In years past, there may have been some potential haz ards to people living in the vicinity of asbestos mines, mills, and manufactur ing plants. However, as technology .was developed for the control of asbestos dusts in Industry and the prevention of its escape into the community air, these potential hazards disappeared. --W. P. RAINES, secretary o/ the As bestos Information Association/ Korth America, at a press briefing in Kcw York City. 3APCO KIN 0001332