Document X7285aoyL4qNBjrD1qDJ7jYow

AUG 4 1973 May 26, 1972 Dr. Josoph X. Wagoner, ScD Director, Division of Field Studies U Clinical Invc ot if-at ions National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health 550 Main Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 Dear Joe: From the presentation cade by you and Dill Johnson at the AIHA Conference last wc^:c, it appears to me that NIOSH is grasping at straws and will stoop to almost any level in ito efforts to implicato Chrycotile as a major causative agent of asbestos related carcinogenic disease. While your representation of our Man hair, operation as a plant processing practically only Chrysotilo i3 correct insofar ay present and recent pact conditions are concerned, it certainly is not the case in regard to exposures that occurred in this plant during the early 1940'a, particularly during World War II. Consumption of Aroaits fibre at Mar.hoin from 1941 through 1944 averaged ApproxiTi'uteJy 750,000 pounds per' year almost all of './hich v/ent Into products that involved a major proportion of relatively dirty manual fabrication and handling. lJuch of this was dono under high priority on defense contracts for the U. S. Navy. The product was a special woven Amosite heat insulating blanket or Mattress' for high pressure stcan equipment aboard Naval vessels. Asosite was used in spite of ito greater dust producing potential because Chrysotilo asbestos waa in short supply and could not be obtained in the quantities needed for this high volume high priority requirement. Operations involved blending and opening of the bull Aioosite fibre in our Preparing department, followed by carding into heavy roving or wick. The wick thus produces, wao then woven in combination \/th Chrycotile yam on a cpectal lund loon in our Tape Weaving department to produco a continuous blanket approximately 30 inches v.'ido. This material then was manually handled and fabricated into custom shaped insulation Mattresses1 in which the Amo site '-/as encased inside layers of rcruler Ch'-yootila cloth for nechanicsl protection. Thio was a very dusty job requiring ali.oet/i::-nd.,..'ork, sons of which was performed by women. Due to its high bulk, the finished product required special pac'.iaging, which also had to be dune manually. All the operations involved were considered to bo M.l/Tiificantly dustier than typical operations within our plant. Fortunately, /d.l wore terminated in 1V45, although the '.quipmsnt rciaained installed and waa used to produce a ft-./ job lot orders in 1V46 and 1947. *