Document Z8bNvvxdnMBGRVa7Qm3BaRywZ

and reconmend a standard. So we have another first. This was the first criteria document recommending a permanent standard to be prepared by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and to which *v they have complied with the requests of the Secretary of Labor by issuing a criteria document, entitled Criteria for a Recommended Standard--Occupa tional Exposure to Asbestos. A criteria document is not a standard. A criteria document simply describes the effects observed at different levels of exposure. Based upon the criteria document however, one can recommend a standard. Criteria documents are descriptive. They describe. Standards are prescriptive. They say what you can do and what you can't do. This particular document contains a recommended standard and the criteria on which that recommended standard is based. However, it should be pointed out that this document itself does not necessarily reflect the final standard that vill be adopted by the Department of Labor. And, I might just quote Dr. Marcus Ray, Director of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, in a talk he gave in February where he said, "Please remember, under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, HEW's recommendations are not standards. The Department of Labor vill review our recommendations and those of ad hoc review committees and hold public hearl&gs, if necessary, and vill promulgate the final standard." Vow the public hearings on asbestos have already been held. They lasted about two veeks, and I understand that it accumulated quite a stack of testimony. Now, the next phase of the current phase is the digestion of this testimony by the Department of Labor. Out of that will come their recommendation for a final standard that will be published DUP 0901969