Document OEexp6qymQ2BNjgOjakvG2np1

FILE NAME: Texaco (TEX) DATE: 1965 Fall DOC#: TEX038 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: PA Dept of Health - News & Views Malignancies in Asbestos Workers - A Preliminary Report I ) ; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 7- ------------------------------ News & Views Division of Occupational Health Pennsylvania Department of Health F e ll 1965__________________________ ;________________ ______________ ;____________________V ol. ) , Vo. k Malignancies la Asbestos Worker - A Preliminary Report - Within recent year and months there has baen a considerable amount of material in the lite ra tu re vhloh Indicates th at aabeetoeis is d ire ctly related to the I ncidence o f malignant tenors and cancer. JLs early as eigh t years ago a Pennsylvania pathologist reported that he had seen at autopsies many cancer cases in persons who also suffered trem asbestos!. The pathologist is on the s t a f f of a hospital idiich receives so s t of ths patients froa a nearby town where a large asbestos plant is located* This plant makes asbestos te x tile s and also brake lin in gs and clutch facin gs. Ths findings of ths pathologist hare created concern in the asbeetos industry and i t was f a i t appropriate for our health department to review the problea. To obtain as complete a story as possible the record roams of s ix hospitals which draw th e ir cases p a rticu larly froa the area of the asbestos plant were searched for cases where asbestosis was considered during the period between 1956 and 196Lt. Seventy-fire hospital records coded as asbestosis were located. These were people who either were diagnosed on admission, on x-ray s, or a t autopsy to have asbestosis or asbestosis was mentioned in the d iffe r e n tia l diagnosis. A fter obtaining the 75 records, an attempt was made to locate these former p a tie n ts. A large mmber were no longer a liv e and th eir survivors had to be contacted. For these 75 an occupational and smoking h istory was obtained froa th eir survivors and/or from plant management. Seven either had Dot worked at this particular asbestos plant or the diagnosis had been rejected . This l e f t 68 asbestos workers who had worked in one particu lar plant. Further study of these records shoved that 21 among them not only had evidence of asbestosis but also were suffering from cancer. Twelve of these had lung car.'j*.r and nine had various other growths such as bladder cancer, leukemia, e tc . The smoking history of the 12 lung cancer casea revealed that fiv e had never smoked which is more or less the same distribution o f smokers versus non-amokers as in ths general population. Of the nine cases with other malignancies, two never smoked and three were cig ar smokers only. Another interesting feature was th at among the other cancers, not the lung cancers, there was one case o f a malignant mesothelioma. Another interesting finding was th at of the 21 casea with cancer 13 worked in the te x tile department of the plant and four worked in brake lin e manufacture. The department where one nan worked regains unknown and the reet worked at various other Job s. ' - 2-y . Two o f the 11 lung cancer cases and one o f the lymphoblastoma cases had worked in the asbestos p la n t fo r a to ta l o f only s ix months which is a rather abort exposure, and one wonders how much th is short exposure may have con tribu ted. Eighteen o f therm 21 cones had sta rte d work in the p lan t prior to 19h0 and 12 had started work prior to 1920. Of the 21 cases o f cancer 11 were born before 1900 and only one was b o m a fte r 1910.