Document NGr8JKXve9Og19ggX5QjXdn6R

Reliefs ' / U/tt- - in this area since 1940. Its plant is lo- The cancer involved is a knobbly cated in Ventura and products are form called mesothelioma which grows marketed in Central and Southern in the lining of the chest or abdomen. California as well as in the Las Vegas, The peril is still small, the specialists Nev., and Phoenix, Ariz. areas. told the annual meeting of the Ameri- The company will continue to op- can Public Health Assoc, at the New erate as Rocklite Products and all op- York Hilton Hotel. erating personnel will be retained. However, Dr. Irving I. Selikoff of Ml Sinai Hospital in New York point' Rare cancer is linked to asbestos ed out that production of asbestos has multiplied sevenfold in the last 30 years and that the common insulating A rare but increasing form of can cer was recently linked to asbestos by a team of medical detectives. materials, unlike radiation and some chemical hazards, "has no half-life; it does not wear out; its half-life is infinity; its effect is cumulative. To the ex- 3 tent that it does harm to living tissue, the harm piles up and it lasts forever." The doctors nailed asbestos as the culprit in the rare ailment by gather ing facts from several distinct angles. In a study of cancer and other sta tistics in more than 1 million Ameri cans, American Cancer Society sta tistician E. Cuyler Hammond estab lished that between 1959 and 1962 ' * \ ' only one in 10,000 was dying of this rare cancer. (Other evidence indicates the rate is rising.) jHowever, among asbestos insulation ., installers who died in the last 20 years, Jmesothelioma claimed one in 30. L (Lung cancer killed one in six, stom- ach and intenstinal cancer one in 10). t- Dr. Jacob Churg, Mt. Sinai patholo- ( gist, reviewed 2,500 consecutive hos pital autopsies. Seven deaths had been caused by this rare cancer; all were among the 26 who also showed signs of high exposure to asbestos. CAPCO JEN 0001525