Document XR3xnNwaQbrq7mBB3qY2Y4dG

FILE NAME: WR Grace (WRG) DATE: March 31, 1966 DOC#: WRG151 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: 1966 Memo to Mr Bleich with document study of asbestos link to cancer Office tAermrandum TO FROM : SUBJECT : Mr. B leich Benjam in F. Wake 060336S3 MONTANA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH DATE: March 31, 1=66 .We th o u g h t you m ight h e I n t e r e s t e d in t h i s . 03161 PLAINTIFF'S |(V) EXHIBIT ^ ur.u 5 i 7 , 5 u u, c j " ;) :;i ..-t .. . _____ _ c: *1 V 4.; A ... ^ antichfilesterol drug, Mer/29. Lawyers coordinating these claims estimate that the total punitive damages a-gainsi ` Richardson-Merrell may amount to more than SOO million, and that total damage claims against the eompan; nav reach as higU as S3;5 million. Meanwhile, cases still in the offing against companies in other industries jrc being pursued actively by cooperating trial attornies. These attorneys speculate that some of the claims could easily rival the projected figures in the Richardson*Mcrrell case. ASBESTOS UNDER SCR1.TIVY Grants totalling Sa24,000 have been awarded to Dr. Irving J. Selikoff at Mt. Sinai Mosoital in Now York Citv for the study of the health hazards of airborne mineral dusts. The grants will be used to support the hospital's new environ* mental health laboratory, headed by Dr. Selikoff. The new facility has already begun a 3-year study of the dangers of asbestos dust. In this study, the lung tissue of up to 4,000 persons who are expected to die at Mt. Sinai and other hospitals during this period will Ito examined for traces of asbestos fiber. In addition, investigators will look for the correlations between causes of death and the pre sence of asbestos fiber in lung tissue, and will determine the occupational histories of the deceased and their relatives, as well as other pertinent background. ` Asbestos-Cancer Link Studied ^ Previous research by Dr. Selikoff, Dr. Churg and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond, the American Cancer Society, has shown high rate of cancer among New York City asbestos insulation workers. The research team has been studying a union group of insolation workers with twenty or more years of exposure to asbestos dust. They found six to seven times the "expected" rate of cancer of the lung and three times the normal rate of cancer of the stomach, coion and rectum. Mesothelioma, a form of cancer ordinarily so rare that it is not separately coded among causes of death, was found to have "extraordinarily high incidence" among asbestos workers. . A further consideration is that the exposure to asbestos dust docs not need to be continuous for the link with cancer to be shown. Lungs of affected asbestos workers and others have been found to contain asbestos particles even after a ten, fifteen or twenty year gap in the apparent time of exposure. There also appears to be a latent period of about 20 years between initial exposure and the detection of cancer symptoms. Mount Sinai researchers point out that, if the cancer-asbcstos link is conclusive, the present incidence of asbestosinduced caaccr is the outcome of exposure as long as twenty years ago when the world's asbestos production was 300,000 tons annually. Today's production is 3.5CO.OOO tons annually, a seven-fold increase. Autopsy studies have shown asbestos fibres in the lungs of at least 25/t of the general population, testifying to a widespread distribution of asbestos dust in our atmosphere. Asbestos is used chiefly in building ccnstruction as an insulation material. Supporting Dr. Seiikoff's view that asbestos dust is already a serious air pollutant, is the research conducted by Dr. Dzidra Cauna, pathologist at Presbytcrian-Univcrsity Hospital in Pittsburgh, and Dr. Robert S. Totten of the Uni versity of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine. . Dr. Selihoff's associates informed the Environmental Science Bulletin that they will conduct a thorough inventory of all mineral dustsin the lungs. Specialists at (he Public Health Service feel that there is a crucial lack cf baseline data in this area. ' NEW STUDY SUGGESTS LINK BETWEEN PESTICIDES AND BIRTH DEFECTS A possible relationship between pesticides and congenital defeats in children was suggested in a case reported in the Feb. 21., 1966. issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Fred Matthics, an investigator at St. Benedict's Hospital. Ogden, Utah, said the infant was horn with 2notia, facial paralysis, and cardiac anomaly, a combination of defects usually associated with the use of thalidomide by the mothers. The mother in this case, an agricultural worker, did not use thalidomide during the sensitive period of organogenesis, but did pick cotton daily I i PLAINTIFFS EXHIBIT