Document Z4jG9QeLKq6peB2GG9bqMxE1J
FILE NAME: Johnson & Johnson (JAJ)
DATE: 1972 June 16
DOC#: JAJ 108 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NYT Article - High Levels of Asbestos Found In 3 Paints and 2 Talcums Here
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. THE N E W YORK TIMES. VRIDA Y, JUNE 16, l m '
High Levels of Asbestos Found In 3 Paints and 2 Talcums Here
By GRACE LICHTENSTEIN
Three brands of textured ceil were using the paints. The ing paint and two brands of city's new air-pollution code, talcum powder have been wouhtilcahwswetnhte instporaeyffiencgt Foefb. a2n7y, named by the city's Environ material containing asbestos. mental protection Adminlstra- Air Resources Commissioner
tion as having heavy asbestos Fred C. Hart said yesterday
fiber levels that might contrib- that, as a result the manu/ac
ute to lung cancer years after turers had come forward with
a person inhaled their dust.
asbestos-free paints. The environment agency's
The paints, named at a news concern about asbestos in baby
conference at a construction powder surfaced almost a year
site on West 14?th Street yes ago, when Jerome Krelchmer,
terday, are:
the Environmental Protection
tjA-Coustex textured spray Administrator, advised consum
finish, manufactured by Am ers to stop using talcum Until
sterdam Color Works, the suspicions about its asbestos
Bronx, said to contain 50 per content were cleared up.
cent mixed asbestos minerals. At the time, Mr, Kretchmer
Texure, manufactured by said two brands tested showed
Purity Paint Products Corpora from 5 to 25 per cent asbestos
tion, Brooklyn, said to contain fibers in them but declined to
60 to 80 per cent mixed asbes name them until tests on other
tos minerals.
brands were made.
Imperial QT texture finish,
Other Tests Awaited
manufactured by the U.S. Gyp After repeated inquiries from
sum Company, said to contain newsmen, the agency released
5 to 10 per cent of one kind of a letter dated June 8 from
asbestos.
James R. Marshall, director of
The talcs are Landers baby public information, to a con
powder and Johnson & Johnson sumer naming Landers and
baby powder.
Johnson & Johnson as the
According to a spokesman brands. He said the agency was for the Department of Air Re still awaiting results of tests on
sources, the paints are de other brands, since it suspected livered in powder form, mixed that "virtually every talcum
into a liquid, then sprayed on powder contains some asbes
ceiling interiors to finish.
tos."
Acting on'information from A spokesman for Johnson &
the International Brotherhood Johnson denied yesterday that
of Painters and Allied Trades the company's baby powder
District Council 9, the depart contained asbestos, saying the
ment had several paint samples Food and Drug Administration
analyzed by Dr, Jrving Selikoff in the last year had accepted
of the Mount Sinai Environ test results from three inde
mental Sciences Laboratory, pendent laboratories proving
who reported the high asbes this. He said the E.P.A. knew
tos quantities.
of these test results. The Lan
The department issued 13 ders Company could not be
cease-and-desist orders begin reached for comment.
ning in May to builders who The Food and Drug Adminis tration is also investigating the
possible health hazards of tal
cum containing asbestos. In an interview, Mr. Marshall
suggested that plain com starch
was a cheap and acceptable,
substitute for baby powder. I
Dr. Selikoff, considered the' ,
leading health authority on as
bestos, has long warned of the danger of lung cancer. Asbestos
spray is used to fireproof the Steel beams of new buildings.
JNJ 000086528