Document Mo7aq6eEQy27XQmog9ngVEVeL

FILE NAME: Newspaper & Magazine Articles (NMA) DATE: 1966 Oct 30 DOC#: NMA200 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Published Letter from The Sunday Times - Dockers Fear Health Peril from Asbestos S O C2C.TO A DHfafc asbestos cargoes at London Docks. The dockers believe ^fhat pr sent : working conditions are unsafe^ a view upheld by reports In1life Supday-Times that a "now" and |deadly tumour of the pleura can result many years after apparently brief exposure ; to asbestos dust. Df A. M. Lawrence-Smith, Prin cipal Medical Officer of the P.D A, has however made|a controversial attempt to assuage; their fears. In a signed statement circulated -V among the men h says that-the. jjj Ministry . of Labour arranged '.J scientific investigations which .ex- the tumour associated with asbestos-t-known as mesothelioma--req~uizes similar circumstanceess; to those U6lng asbestosis, a n d 'tjiat' tltlt lour o.ccurs .o.n..l.y...w...h.c..rp a particular variety and grade1of dust, not found In commercial cartfo, is released Into the ai^: 1 h |s has, he says, an 'assurance * from HM Medl,cal Inspectorate that' the gangs run no risk! of :jocument I on sei Tv?n'eli0ITw r a,sbeslosis ,,ln points. EVen lephon oral exposure frightened " i over the risk handling such cargoes, v , . , Appears capable of ^ .......................................... A1 spokesman of the Ministry thclioma. People of} Labour, however,'referred nie .many yeArs I after to}1letter onithe findings of the asbestos lips' ill- ctilfdlibod. Inspectorate, which- ,'has bjteh King -EdWrd VII said'pf tubersent;.to several interested!; It reports th(t the aencer of' air-borne dust was found; exceed the upper limits, of safety .`pbnsible .and |t, may be} feasible* to grocers' shops. | ! i il tohep iinllned hesiian -bags.j; of to! dispense with It entirely." -What they- unloaded wasj blue] asbestos- are; unloaded at the npr- ; "When asked to-comment on his asbestos in jnlined hessian bags; ; m?lj r ?te .of working, and agrees report, Dr Lawrence-Smith inti- labelled " G E F G O l Cenbestos!"} that in such cases respirators ;nBated- th at'h a did not wish to One big h a i burst and ibsj corn} ahopld1 bhe worn,. . 1 ... .; .'T*}i.! d'eebbate the.mastte. r on the phone, tents were distributed over th; The P L A has In fact. b ?an ; iThrougghh.its -aarrepaas offic.ers,. the others. Asbestos gkping; supplying the .men with masks Transp_ort;! and [General],. Workers t'hrough holes in man.y hior.e,: and] overalls ifor tis. when .'un hion has advised'members not made by the hooks 'which some an xtra trouble. bes^os and-Paying IHem foI r ^'handle cargoof asbestos where itiis imported; in permeable bags, dockers insist on usi-mng.i ESone of1 the men jvore nol respirator; , since that policy has been en- others did so interm ittent:'. A| A}'-world.authority oh : meso- forced at Southampton, safer bags scientist wpo has. I tested the thelloma,questionedbyipHon^ in ;Have become the rule. One ship masks personally says-it is hardly Tvo.-kwy,o!., where he was attendin--g a- '*Hs. turned away, unloaded fpom practicable to work in them f^r Cancer congress, considered that indon Docks because the men fflore'than ]ialf-an-hour. - '} more than one of the P liA 's pro- fused to handle the asbestos 'The solution is not m erely'a I no'uncements on this subjectrdid !oard, and I; understand .that a matter' of masks} but safer not || accord with the published fjfm of lightermei] will not handle methods of packing} find lording. facts. | ; ? ; ' jbestps at all. -That aspect of the proble m is . Dr Robert Murray,' [medical On -the West Iridia Docks, last now' ex.erek ing the jingenui ty of adviser to the Trades Union-Con Wednesday,, waiting to! -unload- doctors, seic ntists, and industrial- gress, said: " This faj a misleading ie City, of Exeter,out of`-Durban, ists througl out `the Ijvorld. "