Document MMYay0jd3Qm7YrozZyZkdBwrz

TO Prom Svejeet Or. J. L. Xoosea/Paul Scbeuerle/ 9 a. WBT John Vyverberg - Hew York Asbestos end the General Public Oete August 19. 1968 ec: F. 11. fdwards J. X. Murphy - As promised, attached is ea article on johas*Kanvllle and alto position pspor oo "Asbestos and tho Control Public." You ooy use this for background information la helping you to handle the eurrtat complaint* la tad out of the Berlin plant. However, this position ptptr is not to be reprinted or released. JV/es Attach. Job^L^verberg % 02 401 0487 40, ASBESTOS AND TK GENERAL PUSl'lC r '<* people of virtually every nation in the world benefit frcn ^ the many uses of the mineral, asbestos. Asbestos helps to build safety and durability into schools, houses, ships, aircraft and public buildings. With the increasing use of this mineral fiber, the question has been raised as to whether asbestos, especially as dust in the air, poses any health risk to the general public. The sate question is being asked about man)i other materials in general _ , i use in our modem society. Medical and scientific research is ' being conducted to find answers. For asbestos, many of the answers are already in. Research to date shows no'health risk to the ^neral public from the various uses o asbestos. To the extent that any asbestos fibers are in the general air -- and there are literally hundreds of different animal, vegetable and mineral fibers in the dust of the air -- there is nothing to show that these are a health hasard for the public. . To see why this is so requires understanding of how and why asbestos is used, of some of the scientific research that has been conducted, and of the meaning-of this research with regard specifically to those with occupational exposures and to the general public. . 02 401 0488 , MOCEre uszs g*o* cvt knowledge The peculiar properties of asbestos hava been fascinating people *ver since the mineral was discovered aore than 4,500 years ago.- Although asbestos in the raw state is as dense and compact as the rock which encasep it, the ore can be separated into--" light# silky fibers. These fibers have aany uses. They can be woven into non-combustible fabrics for such things as fire curtains for theaters or protective garments for firefighters. They ean be added to other aateriale to produce floor and ceiling tile* roofing shingles* siding* asbestos-cement pipe and many other useful products. i The earliest known use of asbestos gess back 45 centuries. V Objects unearthed by archeologists in rinland indicate that it was used to hold together piects of pottery before the clay was ^ baked, the word asbestos is from the Greek; it aeans "unquenched" or * incombustible? Ancient peoples used asbestos as a shroud for kings so mourners could recover the ashes of the illustrious dead from the cinders of funeral pyres. Zt is referred to by the ancient historian Pliny as lintsa vivua* -- the funeral dress of kings. 02 401 0489 4C MINERAL PROVIDES SAFETY AND DURABILITY In the twentieth eentury, asbestos has become an increasingly # esse ntial materiel of an expanding industrial economy. Asbestos bat many vital functions in construction, transportation and Industrial procsssas. it providas built-in protaction against fira and deterioration- in acoras of common products in daily us a. 4' Through tha years it baa saved countless lives and billions of dollars in property damage by preventing or checking tha spread of fires. Electrical installations are safer because of asbestos . insulation. When used as packings ind gaskets, asbestos promotes * . k the efficient operation of industrial machines *end pumps. ' Xn transportation, the brakes on vehicles -- ears, trucks, buses and trains -- are dependable because asbestos is a chisf .. component in brtke linings, bo othsr material stands up so . `e durably under the high temperatures created by friction When brakes are applied. #' . V OCCCTATIOWAL RISKS AND STEPS TO PROTECT WORKERS To meat the increasing demand for this invaluable fiber, a vorl^ide asbestos mining and processing industry came into being. . As in many other mineral and materials industriss, the need * * * develops to prot.ct employ., tq.in.t occupation.! hurd*. 02 401 0490 -4 - It was found that seme. workers exposed to excessive asbestos dust over a period of years davalopad a non-malignant lung disease called asbestosls. As with many similar conditions, asbastosis is dosa-and-time ralatad -- that is, it davalops only aftar inhalation of axeassiva concentrations of asbestos dust over an average pariod of 15' to 20 years. Sons medical studies have reported an association between asbastosis and an increased risk of a certain type of lung cancer (bronchogenic) Sven though the gumber of lung cancer cases among asbestos workers is only a small fraction of the total employed/ _ * the industry considers the problem serious. Zt is the subject ' ' ' - ,, ' of considerable scientific research through statistical, clinical Ur ' and pathological studios,of exposed workers; through experimental studies with laboratory animals, and through studies of the physical and chemical nature of asbestos and associated minerals. The asbestos Industry has invested millions of dollars in e: equipment end techniques to prevent the inhalation of asbestos dust by workers in ths mining and milling of asbestos and in tha manufacture of asbestos-containing products. A program of education and training it conducted for asbestos fabricators and applicators to provide them a thorough understanding of potential risks and to encourage general adherence to sound industrial hygiene practices. * . 02 401 0491 440 Studies in'asbestos-using.industries in Hngland end the United State* indicste that, where dust control measures heve been taken, the/risk of, lung diseeses among the workers has been^greatly reduced. >0 BISKS _T0 SPftBAL PUBLIC SHOWN I STUDIES Because of the occupational health hazards associated with asbestos/acme writers who are concerned about general air pollution have raised the question of whether there is asbestos dust in the air in quantities that sight constitute a health risk to the general public*' * Studies of asbestos exposure and human health have produced no evidence of any health hazard to* the general public from the nee of finished asbestos products. Xsbestosis does not occur among the general population; it occurs only among those with long-time, heavy occupational expo: res. There is ng evidence that anyone has ever contracted any disease from exposure to the veering or weathering of brake linings, floor tile, roofing, or * oth**r products containing asbestos. Brake linings in particular were the subject of a 1968 t ited States Public Health Service report. Jeremiah lynch of the national Canter for Urban and industrial-Health, 9, S. Public Health Service, conducted the tests. He concluded that any asbestos that might come from brake lining wear was "an 02 401 0492 inconscquental health factor i* urban air pollution,* Tha * "ViL'T . ' study provided scientific evidence refuting much racant unsupported y . apaculation that the*wear of brake linings night be releasing , , many asbestos- fibers; isto the/air* "* 'Except in all but the nost extreme driving conditions, only a very small fraction of the 30 to 50* asbestos present in a brake lining excapes into the atmosphere as free fiber.....the remainder is converted into soma other nineral as a result of the extreme temperatures generated at small spots on the lining surface. Thus, although urban air contains a few free fibers as a result of brake lining wear, they represent a very small proportion of the total asbestos used in the manufacture of brakes. Many sources of respirable fibers not associated with tsbestos prefects have been identified, * and the free fibers from brak? lining wear appear to ' be an inconseguentidli'health factor in urban air pollution.* ' .> ' - Other medical and acientific reports show that tha occupational health risks fro* "asbestos dust exposure do not * extend to the public'. . , .` . . -^i .. .. 2ft 196? Dr*. ft. S. Interline and H A. Xaedrick reported . on the reduction of asbestoaii among workers in asbestos fabricat- lag industries where protective measures have been taken. They pointed out that the email wgunt of aabestoe to Which people ia general may be exposed la of "little importance"s The question of the effects of Um levels of asbestos dust exposuro on disease is important, torn# affects are detectable....oven in the asbestos building products industry# where apparently overfall axposures are minimal. 02 401 0493 ir:;-: Jt-seems likely# however, that these exposures ere greatly ia excess of those'in urben communitites end if very lovlevel exposures of populations to asbestos dust play any ' pert ..in the pathogenesis -(development) of disease it must . v*. be very*small indeed....Asbestos dust at levels to which \ genera^ "popgletions are exposed probably is of little * impg^atance`in'the'etiology (causation) of disease." * Q-CAIXgQ "ASBESTOS BODIES" WOT RSLATgD TO DISEASE Sn the aid-lMO's the question of public exposure was discussed in studies that reported finding so-called "asbestos bodies" in the autopsied lungs of city dwellers not known to have been exposed to asbestos dust. The authors of one such study, - Drs. J. 0. Thomson and W. M. Gravis, reported that these so-called . > i' % *' % "asbestos bodies" had no relation with either the cause of death or with any history or symptoms of pulmonary disease. ( - ' -* They also noted1 that it 6tld havetaken a tremendous 1 ' i: . .* * ` increase in the maker o.f "asbestds 'bodies" found in the autopsied lungs to constitute even a "minimal" case of asbestosis. They * .- said in their IMG reporti '. . ' It should be stressed that in spite of frequent asbestos bodies ia the lung bases none of this group had pulmonary disability and all died from other esuses.*.to convert the scanty or very scanty bodies which we have demonstrated to be present in so many urban dwellers to the frequency present ia a minimal basal asbestosis would require an 'increase by hundredfolds and to get a more diffuse classical asbestosis with pulmonary disability the multiplying factor might well be ia many millions.* * \ 02 401 0494 43 Zn. a similar study tht same year. Or*. L. Anjilvcl and w. m. ' *` .- , $ 4 ThurlbecX noted that thesf<it.n6 risX*of cancer to tha general population fromasbestos exposunr. These researchers said: .. ft"* * , ** '9 . "In our series thara saamad to ba no particular association ' bebvewn malignancy and tha prasanca of asbastos bodias... * asbastos bodias are not more common in patiants with malignant disaasa in tha autopsy populations va have studiad, and thus casual axposura to asbastos is not an important causa of malignancy in tha ganaral population. Thasa and similar findings hava raisad tha question of the ** $ raal identity of thasa so-called "asbastos bodies*" Tha term has for years baan applied loosely to describe a tiny body of tissue in tha lung containing a core of soma inhaled particle t- asbestos, talc, man^&ade textile fiber* or certain other common substances'. The name "asbastos body" is misleading if the core substance has not been positively identified. Thus, it is ' .* . ,. not necessarily so that the finding of such "bodies" in city * f dwellers' lungs means that these people inhaled asbestos. 0 ,* feme specialists now are insisting that 'these be called "ferruginous (iron-1lice) bodies" because the cver-growth tissue contains some Identifiable iron and because the cores do not always contain asbestos. . Dr. J. M. 0, Davis, in *1967, deplored the "current furor * * nv*r asbestos bodies...artiich recently appeared in the professional literature and was widely reported in the news media with varying degrees of sensationalism." He commented specifically: ' 02 401 0495 . . ' ' - "...the basic assumption that esbcstos-liXe bodies can only bo produced from asbesott has proved incorrect sod this cists considerable doubt on the theory that has been the chief*besis of the asbestos "scare*** . .* .. MANY YHIWCS BESIDES ASBESTOS MAYCAUSE riBROOS "BODIES" I '. . * Much research verb is going on to develop vayt of identifying the particles that may be the core of these "bodies." it has been shown that a number of substances can cause "bodies* in both humans and experimental animals. L. J. Crsllsy and associates In tha U. f. Public Health Service hevs discussed the great number of aubstances which m^ht produce "bodies" in ^ human lungs. Publishing in I960, they said* . H*'. ' ** ' "On the* premise that the fibrous bodies observed in the lungs of persona at autopsy are ell "asbestoe bodies" and ~ jEhat coated fibrous bodies ere e specific reaction to asbestos fibers, seme investigators have concluded that asbestos fibers/Ore significant air contaminants.... *ftes^cable fibd&'aay be mineral*, vegetable or animal in origin and may come from both natural and synthetic sources, there are well over a hundred different natural minerals with acme degree of fibrous structure. .Sespirable fibers of vegetable origin may be from both live and dead plant tissues..Animal fibrous material# include animal hair and scale, inseot hair.Synthetic fiber# Include the newer ceramic fibers*, ..as well as a wide rang# of established and amarging organic types used in textiles, fillers, containers, filaments, structural materials, ate." Whatever their origin, tha "bodies" that have been reported . have not been connected with any disease, or vith the eause of % , death, in the subjects studied* Sven if acme asbestos la among the variety of dusts la tha general air, there is no evidence 02 401 0496 Jf* that it has any health significance.. "i w, . 1' ` .. itJMMARY ... * , . People throughout tha world benefit from the aany uses of asbestos---in schools, houses, theaters, ships, aircraft, offices and other public buildings, fumances, boilers, firefighting equipment and in a myriad of everyday produets. With the 20th century growth in the use of asbestos has cone recognition of the need to ogpe with occupational hazards associated With excessive inhalation of asbestos dust. Much \ progress has been and is beYrfg'aada in pcotecting workers who k handle asbestos fibers in sines, sills, factories and in seme building and lsulation tVades. " i- ' i ti * <r Medical scientists studying the occupational health hazards *e , -. of asbestos see no evidence t>?t sbestos poses any risk to the general public. Asbestos dust Is not present in the general air in amounts of any significance to human health. ( . . FCTSPCCTTVS ' ` .* a ** . ` Zt is laportant to view in its proper perspective the expressed concern of some writers that asbestos la the ambient eir is e health rick to the general public. * J 02 401 0497 . - 11 - Asbestos is by no means alone in having the finger pointed 'toward it as a possible health hazard. LitaraXly hundrada of substances -- as ccssson and avaryday as fuel oil# charcoal a broilad steaks# iron rust and egg yolks---are know or suspected * of being cancer causing agents under certain experimental conditions. . * The point is thm nearly everything we use and create in our increasingly complex society has bean suspected# by soaeone, of being a potential hazard* . ' % .. To forego the aany benefits of these produce of aodarn ' * technology -- simply on the basis of suspicions that are un 4 supported by medieal evidence# would be a great and unwarranted disservice to the American public. * # 02 401 049S REfCRENCES Anjilvel, X*. and Thurlbeck, W. M., "The Incidence of Asbestos Bodies in the Lungs at Random Necropsies in Montreal1* - CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL, December 3, 1966. Cralley, L. J., Keenan, k. 0., Lynch, J. A. and Lainhart, w. S., "Source and indent!fication of Respirable fibers." - AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL KYCXNE JOURNAL, March - April, 1968. Davis, J. M. 0., "Asbestos Bodies and Bioeffects -- A Detective Story* Presented at the nesting of the Industrial Hygiene foundation, Pittsburgh, Pa., October 1967. Enterline, P. and Kendridk, M. AS* "Asbestos Dust Exposures at vci ous Levels and Mortality* ARCHIVES of ENVir$nmental HEALTH, August 1967. t Lynch, J., "Brake Lining Decomposition products.*^"Meeting American Conference of Governmental industrial Hygienists, St. Louis, V Kay 1966. .' Thomas, J. G. and Graves, w. m. "Asbestos as an Urban Air Centviinant." ARQZVES Of PATHOLOGY, Kay 1966. 02 401 0499