Document RpV2eX2yKqa2opep9ag1Vzbvv

Letter Degussa to Customers U-<K Asbestos Thickening Agents A 14 and A 28 Termination of Distribution by December 51, 1971 Dear Sirs, For quite some time you be long to our circle of customers buying asbestos thickening agents and you certainly appreciate the advantages of these products. In spite of the technical success we have decided to terminate the safe of asbestos thickening agents by December 31, 1971. The main reason for our decision is our doubt regardino possible secondary health hazards. It was known before that inhaling asbestos fibres may cause asbestosis. This could be prevented by observing the prescribed precautions. Recent statistics, however, have shown that it is not impossible to develop lung-cancer despite complying to the safety rules. Therefore, we feel obliged to withdraw our asbestos fibre products from the market, although not all offerers share our doubts. We very much regret to have to confront you with the problem of changing those formulations which included A 14 and A 28. As a substitute we recommend our Aerosil types, a I though these do not possess all properties which are necessary to fully replace A 14 andTTi 28 for all applications. Our sales force and technical service group will advise and assist you in reworking your formulations. In case you cannot do without A 14 and A 28 despite of our objections, we are prepared to handle all orders arriving till December 31, 1971 on your own risk. We hope that you will understand our decision. Sincerely yours. DEGU S S A UCC 010641 TRANSLATION (Article from "defazet" January 1972) - v~0 'l UTSC.K5- Obituary on An Irreplaceable Product Another raw material producer became the victim of the hysteria on health hazards and this time it is a material which is nearly irreplaceable due to its exceptional properties: a special upgraded asbestos. The fibrous particles of this material ar^ of a length up to 10 micron with an exceptionally small diameter of only 0.02 to 0.03 micron. Degussa, who have developed this material otter it as a thickening ag? under the name of A-28 and A-14 (longer and stronger fibre tufts). Many producers utilized the advantageous properties, f.i. in sealing compounds, artificial stone coatings, Plastisols, epoxy systems and many other applications. Beside the extra ordinary thickening effect, this material has also other advantages such as high chemical resistance, no moisture pick-up, insolubility in all systems, defined particle size, easy incorporation, all-round utilization independent of polarity of the system and stability of standardized thickening ranges. This material is said to develop cancer. Certainly, it cannot be excluded with certainty that somebody working a long time only with this material may get a cancer one day, but an indisputable proof that this ill ness can be traced back to the influence of a special asbestos product is nearly impossible. In case the person is a smoker, the proof is absolutely impossi Cancer may also be developed by street dust or any other pollution, as these mater contain also particles of different shape and size the effect of which we do not k exact Iy. You can see that this is only fantasy which is not understandable in this scientif age. - The question for a substitute of A-28 and A-14 cannot be answered. Similar effects will be tried by reworking the formulations. Which will be the next product to disappear from the raw material market? At present one is eagerly digging in dust-heaps. HLM/km January 12, 1972 UCC 010642