Document Z4LjqgpxVqX8kyovQM6gLoBg8

FILE NAME: ICI (ICI) DATE: 1967 May 25 DOC#: ICI037 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Report to Board Meeting-Publicity Issues with Asbestos and Health fiOO^-OlTJo Turner A Newell Limited Dosrd Meeting - 23lh May, 1617 Asbestos and Health Publicity Problem s Its a 13(a ) I w h n k * d to mail a report to tho tloard on ths cu rran t situation on thta topic, I think tho Hoard may appraclata a aum m ary of the background first, lllatory Aa Iha Hoard la aw ara, aabaatoala (dlffuaa flbroala o f Utt lung) haa lieen a recognised problem alnre ahoul 1030, and alnca tlien a vary larga amount of Group capital, revenue and managerial effort haa liven aipanded on controlling and diminishing the Incidence of Ihla dlaaaaa. No cure haa yet been found; the d isease, once begun, la Irreversible and almost Invariably shortens life, except where some other quite dlatlnct cauae of death aupervenea. T here la good evidence that In o u r factories conditions a r e now auch that very few new caeca a re now being caused, but ae the d ise a se can take 30 o r even SO y e a r s to develop caaea will continue to be Initially diagnosed fur a good m.iny y e a rs to come, At present new notifications In the l),K. a r e occurring at the r a te of about 80 a year, with a tendency still to Increase. The annual numlier of de a ths haa risen to 64 In the taat two y e a r s , com pared with 40 a y e a r from 1961 1964 and only 28 a y e a r In the ten y e a r a from 1931 - 1980, The total num ber of deaths from 1973 to the end of 1966 was 776. The reasons why the Improved conditions In facto rie s which date back, In part, for ov er 30 y ears - have not caused the nu m b e r of new diagnoses to p ass the peak by now a r e four-fold. Firstly, because the Insulation contracting side of the industry was not subject to Regulations and did not realise its danger In time; moat of the new cases a re now arising on that side, caused mainly by conditions |0-20 years ago. Secondly, because the population employed In the Industry Increased rapidly during the !930'a and this population is now getting older and more liable to develop d isease of one kind o r another. Thirdly, because of the striking fall in the incidence of tuberculosis and the death rate from pneumonia and other chest diseases, so that more people liable to chest trouble live longer and get aebeatosia. And fourthly, because methods of diagnosis a re getting steadily keener and are causing the Medical Panels to diagnose disability at an earlier stage than before. Even if no new caaea were being diagnosed, the number of deaths of asbestosis cases is bound to rise for s good many y ears yet, because the existing cases caused by exposure y e a r s ago a r e getting o ld e r and when they die - many of them well after retirem ent age inquests are held and their deaths are associated, at least partly, with asbestosis. A further factor whlrh timet medical attention and a d v e rse publicity 1 that an Increasing proportion of aabeatoala caae now develop lung cancer a a aerondary effect. Thl Increase, oddly enough. 1 partly due to auhatantlal rlae In the expectation of life of aabeatoala caaea due to Improved condition, Aa a reault of theae fuel a, much medical r e a e a r r h In many part a of the world haa hern foniaaed In the laat ten yenra on the health prnblema of aabeatoa, leading to international medical conference end the publication of many paprra, all of which create unfavourable publicity, even when the r e a e a r r h r r a Ihemaelvea a r e not actively hoallle to the Induetry o r courting personal fame, aa aome of them a r t. A piece of m edical r e a e a r r h In Capetown In I PUS Indicated that many lunga of the urban population rontalnrd bodlea whlrh were, o r looked very like, the "frrruginnna bodlea" whlrh a r e found In the lunga of aabeatoa w orkera. Although theae bodlea are harm leaa In Ihemaelvea and It haa alnre hern aItown that very alm ilar bodlea CM be rauaed by many different duata which a r e p re a rn l In urban life the auggeatlon waa made that aabeatoa may be a "general urban h a ia rd " and thla haa been much written and talked about tn Public Health circle. Finally, what really caught the public attention In llrllaln waa the discovery - flrat In A frira and then In and around the Cape Aabeatoa Company's factory In Harking of an aaaoc.alien between aahealoa and the ra re form of ra n re r railed mesothelioma. While thla d laraar which kllla rapidly la predominantly associated with crorldotlte, there la aome evidence of an occasional aaaoclallon with chryaotlla, and thla cannot lie absolutely denied. Htta summary may aerm long but It la a very brief and elective digest of an enorm ous subject, It will, perhapa, aarve to show the magnitude of our problem, fteeearch Problem The main difficulty ta that the eaact cauaatlon of the pathology ta not yet understood, and eo no one can eay why aome typea o r origin of aabeatoa may be m ore dangerous than o th ers, o r why the range of eueceptlbllity In Individuals aeemn to range from alm ost nil to quite rapid Involvement; there le even aome evidence, recently, that the troubles may be mainly caused not by the aabeatoa itself but by infinitesimal trace elements of metal from the beatera of the opening machines In the m ills. (Thla might explain why d ise a se s a r e relatively rare among the m in e r .) Three problem are now being studied In alm ost every m ajo r Industrial country. Publicity in the U. K. The allegation mainly In re g a rd to m esothelioma, and even thle le very questionable * that quite alight eapoaure to aabeatoa duet could be dangerous haa Ird to alarm among dockers and also to very damaging and alarm !at statement about th* dangers of using Continued I. aabeatoa product! o r even of living In aabeatoe-cement buildings. Much of thla la ludicrous but anm r of It la being put out by hoapttal and university authorities who dp word c a r r ie s weight, and tha earn# dlalorllnna reverberate and a r c picked up and repeated with a annwlmlllnfl effect. The Induatry'a product a re oetng "ameared" directly and indirectly In many wnya and Ihla la almoat aa difficult to combat aa MrCarthy'a political am e e r campaign on Individuate in the II, 8. A, ten yeara ago, Every iib.editor now knowa that the danger of aabealoa dual la new, and unfavourable artlclea and alarm lat haadltnea are appearing almoat every day, particularly In local papera and In Trade Union journal, whenever any event eueh aa a medical lecture, an Intpieat o r a Common I.aw aeltlement cornea up. Queatlona In Parliament have been coming up at the rate of two o r three a week, but the Mlnlatry of laliour haa been parrying theaa very well. II, II, C, T. V, put out a vary Irreaponalble programme In "24*Hours" In February. The altitude of labour In the docka, building eltea and the contracting Induatry (though not, fortunately, In any T. A N. Group factorlea, ao far) haa naturally become rcatlve and there have been etoppagoa of work, and Ihreata of more, on building altea and ahlpyartla whore aabealoa tnaulatton o r fire-reatatlng partition are being Inatallcd. Illg m aiom era aucli aa I. C. I , , Hoapttal Authorltlea, the Navy and the C .K .G .It. a re tending to turn to non-aabestoa m aterial! where pnaatble; Hrtttah Hallway o r their Unions . have quite accidentally made mattera worae by widely publlrlatng the decision (which they had In fact made about a ye a r ago) to ceaae ualng aprayed Limpet Aabeatoa on railway coaches, Everything possible la being done through the Medical Adviser to the T. U .C ., through the Medical Officers and officiala of the Nationalised Industries and by technical and commercial contacts With o t h e r c u s t o m e r , to allny a la r m and establish practices which will eliminate risk, but the problem la becoming not ao much one o f convincing management but of calming down the ir workers; even if there la no risk contractors and uaera will tend to avoid aabeatoa If they fear that Its use will give yet another opportunity for trouble maker! to make trouble. This makes a new problem tor the salesmen of all companies to surmount. The most eerloue aituatlon currently la In the docks; every Important port In the country except Avonmouth. Manchester and Glasgow la now closed to aabealoa unleaa It la not only In Impervious bags but also palletised o r in containers. Palletisation la being carefully investigated by the Canadian and now the African Mines, but this will take many months to become the general practice. Action Without 111 fu rth e r extending this long report much of the action being taken muet go un-mentioned here. On the publicity front a small Aabeatoa Information Committee has been formed, consisting of myself aa Chairman with Senior D irectors of Cape Asbestos Co. L td ., Continued, ] *1 i ] the llrltlah Halting k Aabeatoa Group and GBFCO Ltd. and tilt Ixjnrinn branch of an American firm. Ihll Ik KnowHon International, i haa been appointed aa Public Delation Conaultanta. Their Job will be to combat and, If pnaalble, to forratall adverse publicity In all quartera. A I'rraa Conference haa been arranged on I Pth May and the Preaa lleleaae will have been eeen by the T. k N. Director! before thla report la circulated. Codea of Practice have been publlahed for the Inaulatlon and Itulldlng Conatrucllon Induatrlea. A pamphlet addreaaed to dor hr ra haa been rnmpnrrd, with collaboration from the Port of tandon Authority, the National Aaanriatlon of Port Kmployera, the Unione, the Mlnlatry of l^ilMiur ami varloua medical authorltleo (every word haa to be cherhed ami agreed with many people an ardunua and time* consuming proceaa) and will have been publlahed before thla report appeara. A programme of getting thla leaflet acroea la being planned by Mr. Howe of T. A. F. Ltd. and by Mr. W. P. Howard, our Ihibllc llelntlona Officer. Meetlnga are being planned with Intereated M .P ,'a and contacta have been o r are being made not only with the academic reirarrhera but with Hnlveratty and other authorltlea who may be likely to emit damaging pmnnunrementa. All the Group's big cuetomera and their medical adviaera have been contacted by the Unit C o m p a n i e s concerned or by the Group' Medical Advlaer, Dr, Knoi. but until It can be proved that no r i a k a artee from uaing the Group's product the tendency of cuatomera to play for aafety by looking for alternative materials can be combated only by very active selling of the superior attraction of aebeetoa. John Waddell, `i 1 j I