Document NejkKQkppwyG4EeV99YZOR8Zw

Asbestos Information Association North America mMtXXfXXm%XX%V& 1660 L Street, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20036 October 2, 1973 MEMORANDUM FOR MEMBERS SUBJECT: Items of Interest The attached are forwarded for your information: a.) Nader-Harris article in Environmental Action, Septembe: 15, 1973, "Asbestos in Lake Superior11 . . b.) Article from American.Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, May 1973, "Asbestos, Talc and Nitrites in Relation to Gastric Cancer". R. H. Mereness Executive Director Attachments 6 to-ntunnu-nQl Action Scytcin1*r 1 5. 197J n \ r^1 : -- t_v ?" j f -a ^CS nfa nr=a r- L& ' ,,H nr n r T' U \ I u u Li L 'v-b The J.al;e Superior experience should serve as an omi nous warning of the public health disasters we can expect if wc continue to spew a'sbcstos recklessly into the environ ment. Unfortunately, asbestos is one of the most ubiquitous substances found in our industrialized society. It has over 3000 industrial uses and is found in well over 300 consumer products. Since 1900, world production of asbestos has in creased 1000 times as more uses have been found for it. Although there is no absolute proof as to whether as bestos levels in urban air or in the liquids wc consume rep resent a hazard to the public, it is known that those who work with asbestos face severe occupational health hazards. Asbestos hns presented a known workplace health hazard since the turn of the century. Workers in asbestos textile and insulation plants often died of asbestosis before reach ing middle age because so much asbestos had accumulated in their lungs that they could no longer breathe. Since 1918, six years before the first report of asbestosis appeared in medical litcrarure, American and Canadian life insurance companies routinely declined to insure asbestos factory workers. After the advent of the first crude in-plant dust control systems worker exposure to asbestos dust was reduced and, although many employees still died of asbestosis, they lived longer on the average. As the spectre of asbestosis began to recede, cancer soon became the major cause of death among asbestos workers. In fact, today cancers of the lung and stomach arc the cause of death for 45 percent of all asbestos workers. An extreme account of asbestos exposure, reported by G.W.H. Schcpcrs in 1949, describes what can happen when no controls arc placed on worker exposure to asbestos dust. The workers described arc young Bantu children who work ed in British-owned asbestos mines in South Africa: . . 1 found young children completely enclosed within large shipping bags, trampling down Huffy amositc asbestos, which all day long came cascading down over their heads. They were kept stepping lively by a burly supervisor with a hefty whip.! believe dies*.* children to have had the ultimate of asbestos dust exposure. X-rays revealed several to have radiologic asbestosis with corpulmonale (right heart failure) before the age of 12." Dr. Schcpers went on to speculate that the reason a 1959 survey contained no mention of these children was that they had all died by then. . The ease just described is a severe one, but the same dan gers, albeit on a smaller scale, await asbestos workers and consumers of asbestos-containing products. The Department of Labor has established a protective standard for workers, although, as is the case for most workplace standards, it is not well enforced. There is still no regulation demanding hazard labeling on friable asbestos products sold in hardware stores. (Friable means that the asbestos easily Hakes off.) Thus, workers and homeowners alike can be exposed to as bestos. The citizen activity surrounding the Lake Superior-Re serve Mining situation is not isolated. Several public interest groups and labor unions have begun to mount a campaign aimed at forcing federal regulatory agencies to enforce ijv.s which will curb asbestos exposure. Some of these actions include: The AFI.-CiO's Industrial Union Department and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) arc now suing the De partment of Labor to demand that it strengthen its demonscrably inadequate occupational standards. A number of public interest groups, including EDF and the Center for Science in the Public interest (CSPI) arc suing the Environmental Protection Agency for major dele tions and loopholes in its newly-issued asbestos standard. CSP1 recently petitioned the Federal Trade Commis sion to undertake a survey to ferret out all asbestos-contain ing consumer products and to requue disclosure of asbestos as an ingredient. CSPI and EDF have petitioned the Food and Drug Ad ministration to ban the use of asbestos as a filtering material. Asbestos filters arc used by some beer, wine and distilled spirit manufacturers, soft drink manufacturers and some pro ducers of edible oils. CSPI is coordinating electron microscopic analyses to determine the degree of contamination asbestos-cement pipes cause in drinking water. This effort has led to the de velopment of improved methods for determining the pre sence of asi>cstos in water. Because of the dust hazard to utility maintenance workers and the longer life and greater strength of cast iron and prestressed concrete pipe, CSPI ad vises towns to discontinue using asbestos-cement piping. Although you may not live near Lake Superior, or even work in an asbestos factory, you may still be exposed to as bestos. It Is important that citizens begin to become aware of potential asbestos exposure. For instance, be on the look out for consumer products containing friable asbestos. If you suspect that a hardware store product contains asbestos, read the label. If there is no label, ask the salesman, or, if necessary, write to the manufacturer. Ask local hardware stores to remove asbestos powder, asbestos impregnated wallboards and other friable products from their shelves. Check home pipe and boiler insulation and sec (hat the surface is not broken. You can buy resin-impregnated cloth to rewrap the pipe insulation. Find out whether the building you work in has uncovered asbestos fireproofing in the recirculation air ducts or on the ceiling. If so, have a scaling applied. Ask local brewers, dis tillers and processors of beverages and edible oils if they use asbestos-containing filters. If there is an asbestos mine, mill or manufacturing plant near you, find out what it discharges into the air and water. (There arc recorded eases of asbestos-plant neighbors who have died from rare "asbestos cancer.") Are there open as bestos dumps nearby? Are ore-carrying trucks covered with tarpaulins? Although wc know little about the dangers of many of the applications of asbestos, wc stilt should err on the side of prudence rather than public health. The public has the right to expect the burden of proof to come from those who manufacture products containing potentially toxic sub stances like asbestos. Barry Castlcnun and Albert Fritsch. 1i Reserve's waste asbestos :s going uuo the arras veil as toe water. as shown tn this 1969 photo of the company's smoke plumes. Only fteo measurements of airborne asbestos pollution have been nude in Stiver Ray - and both were higher than that recorded anywhere else m the U.S. (photo courtesy l.l'A) Selikoff who by then had been retained by EPA to corrobo rate their work and to study the asbestos content of tissues taken during autopsy of Duluth residents. But rumors began to spread, and under pressure from environmentalists and the press, EPA decided to alert the public to the presence of as bestos but to recommend only that pre-school children switch to bottled water, a decision founded on the fear that a more inclusive recommendation would "panic" the resi dents of Duluth. Dr. Selikoff, the nation's leading expert on asbestos ha2ards, had recommended that persons who were previously "unexposed" should also be warned not to drink Lake Superior water. His personal convictions were strikingly evident at a press conference held on June 19. When asked if he would be drinking the water while in Duluth, Selikoff answered, "Not knowingly -- however, 1 must admit that my memory slipped this morning and l did have coffee." In that same press conference. Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond of the Na tional Cancer Society, a leading authority on cancer epidemi ology, responded similarly to the same question: "\ycl!, I cleaned my teeth and I drank some water afterwards, having completely forgotten about it this morning." That these can cer experts, along with other scientists, will not drink Duluth water is an omen that apparently has gone unheeded by EPA and county and state Department of Health officials. Largely because of the overly cautious attitude adopted by EPA and the state ami county Departments of Health, most of Duluth's residents remain unperturbed today that the Like Superior water they have held so sacred all these years may be detrimental to their health. Statements such as, "I've been drinking this water for 35 years and I'm as fit as a fiddle," jrc common. Although bottled water sales increased rapidly subsequent to the EPA announcement, the current level of sales indicates only a small fraction of Duluth's resi Environmental Action September J 5. ! V ? ? dents have switched despite warnings. The situation i$ far ther compounded by the tact that much of the bottled v\ : rc- comes from ncarbv Superior. Wisconsin, whose underground wells arc replenished by Lake Superior. This water has also been shown to be contaminated with asbestos. Thus c.cn parents why follow the otfieul advice anJ provide bottled water to their pre-school emidren may not be able to avoid the hazard. Refusal by mosr food and (leverage manufacturers and restaurants to switch to an alternate source of water u.To helps assure that area residents will continue consuming as bestos. A notable exception 11 leno's, Inc. (of Jenn's Pi/.'ai which immediately switched to well water upon learning of the asbestos contamination. I lowevcr, most of the area's mod and beverage manufacturers, including .American Bakeries (Tastec Bread), Zinsmaster Bakeries (Master Bread). Coca Cola, Pepsi Coia and Elliot Meatpacking Company, also ship in interstate commerce, thereby exposing residents outside of Minnesota to the asbestos. The U.S. Food and Drug Admin istration (FDA) has direct responsibility for protecting the health and safety of consumers in such matters including the prohibition of carcinogens from food. FDA officials Washington decided to take no action in this ease, however because in the words of one official, the problems with food arc "not as serious as with dnnking water." Neither FDA of ficials nor St. Louis County (Minn.) Department of Health officials were even aware at that time that beverages, such as the Coca Cola product line, were bottled in Duluth. One can only speculate as to how much asbestos is consumed by the "soft drink generation" children of Duluth or nearby Wisconsin. . I he fate of residents along the shores of Lake Superior who have been breathing and drinking the as bestos for the past 17 years remains to be seen. Although Dr. Selikoff and other scientists are attempting to predict their fate by analyzing asbestos levels in human tissues, it may be months before tne results of their studies arc released and even then their findings may be inconclusive. In the meantime, whether Reserve Mining Company will be allowed to con tinue its environmental abuses will apparently be decided by one man. Judge Miles Lord, who is hearing the United States suit in federal court in Minneapolis. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), represented by attorney Scott Lang, has intervened on the side of the United States against Re serve, although EDF has alleged violation of state and federal asbestos air pollution laws and has asked for a preliminary injunction against Reserve's discharge of asbestos to the air and to Lake Superior, a request which EPA refuses to sup port. In a separate suit, EDF' has cited EPA and the MPCA for failure to utilize their emergency powers to protect the public health until results from scientific testing are more conclusive. Larsjclv as a result of EDF's intervention, the MPCA has recently amended it- complaint to allege violation of state air pollution laws and to join KDF in seeking a pre liminary injunction. However, at this writing, testimony is still being heard by Judge Lord; Reserve continues to release significant amounts of asbestos to the air in Silver Bay and 67,000 tons per day of asbestos-containing tailings to Lake Superior; and more titan 150.000 residents bordering die lake continue to ingest and breathe high level* ot asleso% that may eventually cause their death. Copyright 0 Ralph Nailer, 197.1 .--A 4*- Jk tlihL 3 MX Industrial Hygiene Summary Reports This Journal welcomes brief comments derived from daily activities which may be useful to other members of (lie profession. Address >our communications to: Richard f. Schcrheruer. Health and Safety Laboratory. Building 320. Kodak Park Uorks. Lastman Kodak Company, Kucitcster, >'y Vork ]4650. Asbestos, Talc and Nitrites in Relation to Gastric Cancer Recently, Mcrliss1 suggested that the high incidence of gastric cancer in Japan may be associated with treatment of rice with talc in Japan. He noted that some commercial "tales" contain asbestos, which he proposed as an ctiologic agent in gastric cancer. Merliss cited a report of a small excess of gastric cancer in a group of insulation work ers exposed to dusts containing asbestos and a larger excess of pulmonary carcinomas and pleural mesotheliomas in miners who appear to have had mixed exposures to as bestos and talc. He noted that some geo logic deposits of talc arc associated with trcmolitc, anthophyllite and chrysotilc varieties of asbestos, accounting for the presence of fibrous particles of asbestos to gether with platy particles of talc in some commercial preparations of "talc." Our group has carried out tests for car cinogenicity of various preparations of as bestos through experiments with animals. The present paper summarizes some results and reports a new experiment with a prep aration of talc containing asbestos. A pos sible alternative mechanism involving ni trites in gastric carcinogenesis is discussed. In 45 hamsters maintained throughout their lives on diets containing 1% of the chrysotiie or amositc varieties of asbestos, we found no gastric carcinomas and no tu- TOs work turported by USPHS Research Gram EC 0U22* from National Involute of Occupational Safety and HeaHh. and by a rant from Fannie E. Rippei Foundation. mors in the gastrointestinal tract except for a neoplasm in the mesentery of the colon.: We are unable to relate that lesion to the treatment, since ashing has revealed no as bestos fibers in it. After intrapleural injection of 25 mg chrysotiie or amositc into hamsters, we re ported tumors diagnosed as pleural mesothe liomas.'1 Eight to 10 such tumors were found in each of 3 groups of 50 hamsters treated at this dose level.3 We have now completed an experiment in which the hamster-intrapleural method was used to test for carcinogenicity of a sample of talc containing asbestos. For this work, we obtained samples of commercial talcs from Whittaker, Clark & Daniels, Inc., New York City. A sample of cosmetic talcum powder grade was seen by microscopic ex amination to be composed of platy particles typical of the mineral, talc (hydrous mag nesium silicate). Another sample of a grade used for some industrial purposes ("-13 Talc") was found to be a mixture of platy and fibrous particles. X-ray diffraction .analysis revealed the presence of major amounts of trcmolitc asbestos and talc and a minor amount of a serpentine mineral (amigoritc). Each of 50 hamsters were given right intrapleural injection of 25 mg of this sam ple suspended in 0.5 ml saline. The animals were followed for their life spans. No tu mors attributable to the treatment were found. Granulomatous lesions were com- 227 JAy ft 7^ 228 mon on plcqral surfaces, but these lesions tended to be small and focal in contrast to larger and more fibrotic lesions induced in hamsters by chrysotilo or amositc. The negative results of this test for car cinogenicity of a talc containing asbestos, and our earlier test on feeding asbestos to hamsters, do not offer support to the view that asbestos-containing talc contributes to the incidence of gastric cancer in Japan. Although death rates reported for gastrto cancer arc notably high in Japan in com parison to other countries, the highest re ported rate comes from Chile.4 Studies of gastric cancer in Chile have been reported from our laboratory with an hypothesis that high rates for esophageal and gastric cancer may be due to conversion of nitrates to nitrites by soil bacteria with subsequent synthesis of nitrosaminc carcinogens in plants used as food or through interaction in the stomach with secondary amines in food.s Chile has the world's largest known ge ologic deposits of nitrates, which arc used as fertilizers. Nitrosaminc has been reported in wheat plants and wheat grains.4* Nitrosamincs can form through interaction of nitrites with secondary or tertiary amines in the stomach, and have been shown to induce esophageal and gastric cancers in rats.7* High concentrations of secondary amines have been reported from Japan in dried fish.9 The situation invites attention to a po tential role of the nitrogen cycle in environ mental carcinogenesis. A source for direct ingestion of nitrites by human populations May, 1973 arises from use of nitrites as food additives. Other potential factor'; in gastric carcino genesis have been rcccntfy reviewed by Hacnszel et at.'" who found no support for the tale-asbestos hypothesis on epidemiologic grounds. 1. Mcrliss. R. R.: Tale-Treated Rice and Japanese Stomach Cancer. Science I7J:] 141 (Sept. IT 1971). 2. Smith. W. E.. L. Stiller. R. Elsnsser and D. Hubert: Tests for Carcinogenicity of Asbestos. Aim. /V>if York Acini. Science 132:456 (Dee. 31, 1965). 3. Smith. \V. E.. D. Hubert, and M. Badollet: Biologic Difference-, in Respond to Long and Short Asbestos Fibers. Miner. hut. Hvg. Assoc, i. 23: Abstract =\6Z (Feb. 1972). ` 4. Macdonald. E.. ;.nd P. Wolf: in Epidemiologi- till. Experimental and Clinical Studies on Gastric Cancer. Japanese Cancer Assn. GANN Monograph 3 1)968). 5. Zaldivnr. R.: Geographic Pathology of Oral. Ksophugcui. Gastric and Intestinal Cancer in Chile. Ztsch. Krehsjorsih. 75:! (1970). 6. Hedler. L.. and P. Marquardt: Ueher das Vorkommen von Nitrosaminen in Nahrungsund Futtermitteln. Xattnyn-Schmiedchergs Arch. Phurm. exp. Path. 25V:'176 (196Xi. 7. Sander. J.. F. Schweinsberg. and H. Menz: Untcrsuchungcn ueher die Hntstchung cancerogener Nitrosaminc. im Macen. Hoppe-Seylcr's Ztsch. physiol. Client. J4V.I691 (I96H). 8. Druckrcy. H.. S. Ivankovic. and D. Schmaehi: Organotrope carcinogens Wirkungen bei 65 verschiedcnen N-nitroso-Verbindungen an tiO. Ratten. Ztsch. Krehsfarsch. 6V:IQ3 (1967). 9. Kawamura. T.. K. Sakai. amJ F. Miya2awa: Studies on nitrosaminc* in foods (IV). Dis tribution of secondary amines in foods. J. Food Hyg. Sue. (Japan) 12.192 U971). 10. Hacnszel, W., M. Kurihara. M. Segi, and R. Lee: Stomach Cancer among Japanese in Hawaii. J. Sat`1 Cancer Just. 49:969 (1972). William E. Smith. M.D. Health Research Institute Fairleigh Dickinson University Madison, SJ. 07940 o(-