Document Z29vLrjyeqX9zrzyRBdZ8aN8

FILE NAME: Owens Illinois (OWILL) DATE: 1949 Nov 10 DOC#: OWILL043 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letter from OWILL to the Industrial Hygiene Foundation RE Animal Experimentation by Saranac Labs RE Kaylo toxicity OW ENS-ILLINOIS G L A SS CO M PAN Y G ENERAL O FFICES TOLEDO 1, OHIO # November 10, 19h9 Mr. J . F. McMahon, Managing D irector In d u strial Hygiene Foundation of America, Inc. UliOO F ifth Avenue Pittsburgh 13, Pennsylvania Dear Mac: Some months ago we reviewed w ith Ted the re s u lts of animal experi mentation th a t Saranac has been carrying on for us during the p ast three years to determine the to x ic ity of Kaylo d u st. Kaylo i s a lightw eight m ineral, predominantly calcium s ilic a te , made in two forms by our Kaylo D ivision. One form is a low-density in su latio n which can be shaped in to boards, blocks, or pipe covers; and th e 'o th e r form i s a higher-density stru c tu ra l product reinforced with wire mesh su itab le fo r roof decking. I t i s made by mixing a water slu rry of asbestos, diatomaceous ea rth , s i l ic a flo u r, and lime, which i s poured in to pans, dried and then autoclaved. Under the rig h t temperature and pressure conditions, p ra c tic a lly a ll the free s i l ic a combines with the lime to fonn a calcium s ilic a te with the asbestos fib ers intermixed to give i t strength. For i t s animal inhalation experiments, Saranac used dust th at had been taken from a larg e Sly dust a rre s te r in one of our Kaylo Division p la n ts. Ted pointed out th at i t was important to check the composition of th is d ust against the air-borne dust th a t our employees in the p lan t actu ally breathe. While a l l the fab ricatin g operations are equipped with good dust exhaust systems, there i s a dust exposure when finished slabs are stacked in box cars fo r shipment. Recent dust counts show th is to range from about 25 to 50 m illion p a rtic le s per cubic fo o t as sampled with an impinger. Last week we co llected a "vacuum-cleaner'' sample of the dust given o f f during the loading o f hox cars a t our S a y rev ille, New Jersey plant. We'd lik e very much to have th is analyzed for i t s constituents that may have some health asp ects, and we'd appreciate i t i f you could do th is fo r us. This l e t t e r i s attached to a package containing the dust sample, OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS COMPANY Mr. J . F. McMahon - 2 November 10, 19k? I f you take the blocks of Kaylo and knock them together, you w ill see a small cloud of dust i s given o ff. This i s the way the dust was generated th a t we co llected with the vacuum cleaner from the a i r . I t seems to us th a t i t would be w ell to separate the dust sample into a fractio n whose p a r tic le size is above fiv e microns, and a fractio n whose size i s below fiv e microns. Analyses might then be run on each fractio n . We are in te re ste d prim arily in the amount of asbestos present and the amount of fre e s i l i c a . I t would perhaps be worth while also to break the free s i l i c a component down in to c ry sta llin e and amorphous s i l ic a . We hope the dust sample is large enough fo r you to work with--a t le a s t so you can give us a prelim inary r e s u lt. At a l a t e r date we w ill probably want to run same additional te s ts , a t which time we can probably get la rg e r q u an titie s of the dust. Since there is some urgency, however, fo r the re s u lts , i t would be fine i f the present sample could be used now. Please b i l l us fo r the necessary charges. ^ -Dr. Shook and I are looking forward to seeing you next week. Sincerely yours, W.G.HazardjM INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS DIVISION