Document VK2bJJopdy4RkarYewVGB1N08

FILE NAME Painters and Allied Trades PAINT DATE 1978 Aug DOC PAINT059 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Article from Painters and Allied Trades Journal NYSSILR NYSSILR ITHACA DEFENDANT'S EXHIBIT vic vic case specific- JournalJournal decorate landmark the- are in Vancouver B.C. NEWS AND FEATURES page Inside Front Cover From the General President 6 IBPAT Members Display Skills at Industry Show 9 Labor Law Petition Drive Launched 12 D.C. 51 Craftsmen Utilize Safety Skills 31 The General Treasurer Reports DEPARTMENTS ' page 14 Ask the Doctors Bystander Exposure 15 Local and District Council News 24 Sports and Recreation 26 Bacon Forum 27 Financial Report DEVOTED TO THE TRADE INTERESTS OF RESIDENTIAL @ COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL @ SIGN @ PICTORIAL COACH fiAUTOMOBILE @ AIRCRAFT MACHINERY fiRAILWAY EQUIPMENT SHIP AND SCENIC PAINTING . DECORATING fi PAPERHANGING WALL COVERING e DECORATIVE AND ARCHITECTURAL GLASS WORK GLAZING fiCARPET LINOLEUM e SOFT BRUSH TILE ' PAINT AND VARNISH MAKING MAKERS AND TO THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN GENERAL Any member or subordinate body publishing programs souvenirs other documents of any description must not designate them as The Official Journal of The Brotherhood or as The Painters and Allled Trades Journal either upon the publication itself on their advertising Contract forms or stationery Robert J. Petersdorf Publisher 1750 New York Ave. N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 Published monthly by the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades Second Class mail entry authorized at Washington D.C. POSTMASTERS ATTENTION Change of address cards on Form 3579 should be sent to THE PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES JOURNAL 1750 New York Ave. N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 Subscription Price 2.00 per year copy 20 cents PRINTED ON UNION MADE PAPER PRINTED WITH UNION MADE INK VOLUME 92 No. 8 AUGUST 1978 The official journal of the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades organized March 15 1887 and the only publication issued under its auspices ESSOCIATION ESSOCIATION \ ESSOCIATION ma . PRINTED IN U.S.A. S. FRANK RAFTERY General President . 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 ROBERT J. PETERSDORF General Treasurer 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 General Vice Presidents BERNARD SNIEGOWSKI 1st District . 1443 Westchester Boulevard Westchester Ill 60153 A. L. MONROE 2nd District 7909 Bayberry Drive Alexandria Va 22306 JAMES WOLFORD 3rd District 100 Devon Lane Williamsville N.Y. 14221 JACK T. COX 4th District 2212 DuPont Drive Irvine Calif 92664 GUY LEBER 5th District 1930 Bishop Lane Louisville Ky 40218 JAMES B. COX 6th District 8800 Blue Ridge Ext No. 10 Kansas City Mo. 64138 WILLIAM A. DUVAL 7th District 1750 New York Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20006 Ask . Bystander Exposure to Asbestos The _ Doctors Do you worry about the chemicals with which you have to work Do you have symptoms of an illness which may be connected to your occupation Ask the Doctors is the JOURNAL feature de- signed to an- swer your questions about the haz- ards in the > painting and allied trades This month a. Dr. Edwin C. Holstein of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine discusses the dan- gers of asbestos Two months ago the Surgeon General of the United States sent a letter to every physician in the United States The purpose was to alert doctors to the hazard of as- bestos particularly to past and present employees of our shipyards Since so many painters have worked in shipyards and still do I thought you should know why the Surgeon General is concerned about you Few painters think of themselves as asbestos workers However when painters must work in close quarters with other tradesworkers as often happens in shipyard work they may be risking a bystander exposure Bystander exposure was discussed more fully in the December 1977 issue of the IBPAT Journal Briefly it refers to an exposure to toxic materials being used by another worker nearby and it commonly occurs with . asbestos lead solvents and sandblasting to name just a few A team from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine went to a major United States shipyard to investigate whether bystander exposure to asbestos had occurred there among painters and other tradesworkers As you may know asbestos has been widely used in ships for insulating boilers streampipes bulkheads hot water pipes and nuclear reactors A total of 1,000 men including 82 painters received complete examinations It was found that almost half of the workers had abnormalities of their chest rays characteristic of the effects of asbestos The painters were actually a little worse off than the average of the 82 painters examined or 54 percent had abnor- malities of these kinds Since these men had not worked with asbestos themselves the only explanation is that they were victims of bystander exposure How many shipyard painters are there in the country We know that about million people have worked in shipyards since the beginning of World War II In 1943 about 3 percent of shipyard workers were painters If this percentage has continued then there have been roughly 150,000 painters employed in shipyards since the beginning of W.W. II If we guess that third have died from natural causes as well as asbestos diseases that leaves about 100,000 of you out there And if the Mt. Sinai study is accurate that about half of such men have abnormal chest rays then about 50,000 living painters are already affected and others who have been exposed may become ab- - ' normal in the future The reason that the Surgeon Gen- eral is so concerned about this situa- tion is that other scientific studies have shown that the health effects of asbestos exposure can be very serious They include an enormously increased risk of lung cancer especially among cigarette smokers mesothelioma cancer of the lining around the lungs or abdomen moderately increased risk of cancer of the colon rectum stomach and esophagus food and asbestosis scarring of the lungs that leads to shortness of breath In fact some studies of exposed workers have shown that eventually close to half died from one of these disorders For most of these diseasesthe risk does not begin to increase unti 15 or 20 or more years have elapsed since the asbestos exposure began On the other hand as little as a months of exposure can lead to dis ease after the year delay period has passed For example a painter whose only asbestos exposure } curred during a month stint in 23h shipyard in 1960 would begin to at risk about now And anyone did shipyard work during W.W. even if only for a few months would already have been at risk for some years now The point I am making is that any of you who worked in ship yards or were exposed to asbestos in some other way before about 1960 are already at risk for the eases I have mentioned If your posure began after 1960 your will begin to increase 15 or 20 years from the time your exposure began What should you do if you have worked in a shipyard or have been exposed in some other way The Surgeon General strongly recom mends and I agree that you smoking immediately The reason that asbestos hardly increases risk of lung cancer at all among smokers Secondly you should make certain that no further expo sure to asbestos is occurring in your work today Finally you should cate a qualified expert in occupa tional or pulmonary lung disease and have yourself checked regularly so that if any of these disorder arise they will be detected treated early Mt. Sinai is equipped and staffed to perform a thorough evaluation this sort If you live within a fe to be checked drop me a postcard postcard at the following address Edwin C. Holstein M.D. Environmental Sciences . Laboratory Shipyard Clinic Mt. Sinai School of Medicine 5th Avenue and 100th New York New York 10029 Be sure to include your address and phone number 14 THE JOURNAL