Document RJywX5xLaQNbxNRYKbopYBoJE

OR. A.C. FHQ3XH FOSSCO 2XC., U.3.A 2nd July, 1971. J.M. MAOJAIR a n i usr SUBJECT t ASBESTOS jw/xrj J ER. M.E. DAHL2HOT ^MR. E.J. JAOOX Dear Did;, Thank you for your letter of June 2^th whioh I have Just studied on return froa holiday. Your letter opens up a complex, and at the moment, rather ill-defined sphero of interest. In spite of a massive amount of work and a lot of published papers, the whole field of the toxioity of asbestos in the "cold" condition is clouded with uncertainty, different bodies drawing different conclusions from the medical evidence. I think it is true to say that the U.K. has taken a'considerable lead in the study in this field, which has had two main effects. Firstly, the Factory Regulations relating to tho use of asbestos in Industry are tighter here than enywhere else in the world. Secondly, the asbestos industry itself has set up various bodies to defend its own position and produce responsible counter-attacks to tho scaremongers. The main suppliers of asbestos have formed the Asbestos Information Coaalttee which is mainly a public relations function employing undoubtedly high-powered public relations consultants. This is a whitewashing Job. They have also given large sums of money end granto to an independent body with no eoroercial axe to grind, called the Aabestoals Research Council, which is also sponsored toa-certaln-extent-by-ihe.Mialstry of Health. Following your letter, I re-oontacted Dr. Holmes who is the Secretary of the Asbestosis Research Cornell, specifically on this question of the toxicity of asbestos after thermal degradation. To be honest, the Information that he could give me was fairly thin but here is a smmary of it for what it is worth j occurs leading to tne formation of forsterlte. Some work has been done at Cambridge University on injecting these minerals into animals end these experiments have not given rise to the harmful medical effects (apart from normal foreign body rejection meohanlsms) that 00cur with the original cold asbestos. This work has been reported' to the Asbestosis Research Counoil and any published roferencos will be sent to us. There is oontinuing work along these lines, but again an animals cnly, which is duo for reporting and publication within the next few months, again this will be supplied when available. -- continued - r>OS~~00~"00000023c5 /> m. r.c. isceKzz FOSBCO INC., P.3.A. e 2nd July, 1971. jm/KFj ______ I also got in touch with Dr. Alan Hodgson of Capa Asbestos Fibres who is certainly cna of the world's technical experts of amoslte asbestos. He oould add little information to that already given by Dr. Holmes except to say that the transformation temperatures in aaoeite were slightly higher than those in oruoltile as referred to by Dr. Holmes. Following the lead of the U.K. Asbestos industry, I did gather from Dr. Holmes that the Ame.sican counterparts have also reoeatly set up a .United States Asbestos Information Committee. This is based on the offices of Johns Kannville. In New York and they employ the P.R. firm of Hill & Knowlton Inc. also of Hew York. Sinoe this committee is vitally concerned with maintaining and -increasing the sales of asbestos to industry, they could be a useful source of information in the U.S.A. Their counterparta in the U.K, do Issue a number of helpful documents from tiso to time end some' of their activities were referred to in my Beading Systems Bulletin - Special Issue No.l* (with FWR/EJJ). You ask if there Is any group In the U.K. that oould perform the sort of research that would help us to defend our continuing use of asbestos in hot tops j and here I must certainly agree with you that there is no known material at the moment whioh gives the sane 'cost/effectiveness in hot tope as asbostos. I think the most ooncise answer to this question is that work is being currently done by various workers in the U.K. under the aegis of the Asbestosis Research Council, but like all experiments involving gestation periods it takes a very long time to get any positive results. My own feeling is that to eponsor any additional research into this field is unlikely to be productive exoept on the purely public relations, whitewashing aspect that by spending all this amount of money we oould prove to our customers that we are responsible suppliers. Vhen I get these actual medical reports, as promised by Dr. Holmes, I will send them on to you. I think that the evldhnoe at the moment is that the degradation products certainly above 700C are not harmful, though we must be prepared to face the argument that the temperature at the back of Profax tiles in meny applications does not rise above 400C end hence the breakdown produces here will be borderline. The real problem is that since people don't know exactly what parameter of asbestos causes the hazards in the first place, it is impossible to eheok whether these are reduced or removed at higher temperatures except by these long drawn out and inconclusive tests on animals. Finally, I think that our best defence should be based on the following : even in the U.K. where the Factory Aots with regard to the handling of asbestos are tighter in their legal enforceability than anywhere else in the world, the regulations that impose the need for special dust extraction equipment are based on both the concentration of asbestos fibres in the atmosphere and the length of time that workers are exposed to this on a continuous b&ala. I believe that it is most unlikely that these, concentration time liimlts are ever met in a steel works stripping area, though bocause of the exclusion of asbestos in all hot tops supplied in the U.K. it would no* be impossible to verify this faot here in England. I think It is also important to bear in P QS"-2J0--02i0CJ2)G2Sb b 0952 Eft. R.C. PHOENIX POSECO PfC., U.S.A. 5 2nd July, 1971. that IT P.S. Limited bad not taken this aggressive lead , asbestoscontaining tot tops slight still be aoooptahle within the U.K. steel Industry. I trust that theso remarks are gelpful and look forward to your ooooents. I will naturally be happy to discuss it in more detail when we next meet. Kind regards Yours alnoerely. J.M. MADIAIR FOS-00-0000002867 0953 0 1 8 0 4 .0 0 0 t If* ! | i