Document Xzy6q1J56KJGovV96bXwwYyd4

FILE NAME: New York State & NY Times (NY) DATE: 1970 May 28 DOC#: NY024 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NYT Article - City Acts to Curb Asbestos Spray eraACTSTOCURB ASBESTOS SPRAi Begin* Hearing# on Cancer. Peril in Industrial Use By DAVID BIRD The city openedhearings yes terday on proposed regulation! that -would control the spray ing of asbestos to insulate and fireproof buildings. The ,,regulations concerning asbestos, which has been strongly implicated * * * can cer-causing agent, would be the first of their kind in the coun try. But because expert testimony yesterday indicated that substjtutes-m lght be just as harmful, officials said the regulations would be extended to the ipraying of all such material. One of the witnesses was Dr. Irving*.J. SeUkoff, director of the ^Environmental SciMjces Laboratory a t Mount Sinai Medical- Center and a leading specialist on the dangers of as- beHe*sald th at it had taken long -.years of study to prove that asbestos caused cancer and that be was not wHing to "play Russian roulette vdth the people of New York" to w rit andrfind out if the new su stitute- m aterials would cause C*D t?S elItoff said th at such substitutes as rock wool ana fiberglass had long-lasting qual ities .similar to asbestos and could,therefore remain in me hm grfor long periodsjm ddam agatthe tissue as asbestos did. ^Long-Time Suspect Asbestos bas long been con sidered a danger to those wno. new-spraying technique has mcreased-tne danger to the gen eral-public. Most of the sgraying "done to make bufldings fireproof with toe dry asbertos mixed! with w ater and shot through a nozzle onto beams, fioorir'and ceilings. has-grown rapidly because it replaces the much costlie^ method of enclosing supporting members in con* Crete. .. . In the spraying process, how ever, as mud) as. SO per cent of the asbestos escapes into the air. . To cofotrol this, the regula tions proposed by the city would require" the enclosing of spray areas $nd Cleanup and disposal procedures. Dr. Sellkoff.said that as long ago 83*1924 It was discovered that people who worked with asbestos developed scarred lungs. It took almost 30 more years of study to link the as bestoa with cancer. A, stu d / of 632 members of the asbestos workers' union here was begun in 1943 by Dr. Selikoff. By last April 4, he said, 403: of* the 632 nad died, 72 of lung cancer. He termed that number of lung cancer deaths a "disaster'* because in a nor mal group of that size only about 10 such deaths would be expected. The physician said .the contammhuqn bad spread to the point where "every person in New York City has some as bestos ,ln his lungs." The-proposals to enclose as bestos-spraying areas to protect the phb)ic drew concern from the State Labor Department that concentrations of the dust might ihen be even g reat for those doing the spraying. ' Jack Banff, chief engineer of the'.ft& te agency's industrial hygiene-division, said the high e r concentrations of asbestos dust would require breathini apparatus with an independent air. supply instead of the pres ent filter masks. Dr, Robert N. Rickie#,' who heads the city's Department of Air- Resources, saulr.jhe new regulations in clude that protection. The hearings resume today at 10 at The Cooper Union, 51 Xstor place, which is also the headquarters of the Depart ment, of Air Resources. (toprocluort n o t (nrnM on al me capyrt#* c m m . ftiihetm|irax*on|<beixpenieo<i