Document a3pDpjOvjxzgOXG3BZD9YXXM

Industrial Hygiene Digest December, 1967 1136 Jan. 11-12 Jan. 17 Jan. 17-18 Jan. 18-20 Jan. 19-20 Jan. 20-25 Jan. 24-25 Jan. 24-27 Jan. 29-31 COMING EVENTS Rocky Mountain Academy of Industrial Medicine (3rd Annual Institute of Industrial Medicine), Aspen, Colorado. Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, New York, New York. American Rheumatism Association, (Interim Meeting), Baltimore, Maryland. National Conference, the Community and Emergency Medical Services, San Francisco, California. American Society for Surgery of the Hand, Chicago, Illinois. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Chicago, Illinois. Health Physics Society, Mid-year Topical Symposium (Sponsored by the Savannah River Chapter) "Environmental Surveillance in the Vicinity of Nuclear Facilities", Augusta, Georgia. American Group Psychotherapy Association, Chicago, Illinois. Society of Thoracic Surgeons, New Orleans,. Louisiana. LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS 1127 Illness Linked to Air Pollution in Beryllium Suit, "AF.eading, Pa. jury awarded damages of $109, 160 on October 23, 1967 to Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur F. Heck in a suit against The Beryllium Corporation. The Hecks charged that defend ant's beryllium ore refinery and alloy plant, by polluting the community air with beryllium dust, had caused Mrs. Heck, a local resident, to contract berylliosis, a chronic lung illness. The verdict concluded a second trial of the case ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after the lower court set aside a 1964 jury award of $110, 000. Medical testimony for plaintiffs at the retrial attributed Mrs, Heck's illness to community air pollution added to earlier exposure to contaminated work clothing and possibly abetted by the stress of pregnancy. Defense experts, without contesting the diagnosis, contended that the clothing contact in 1942 and 1943 alone caused Mrs. Heck to become ill in 1960 and that berylliosis is typically a disease of individual susceptibility and long latency. The issue of negligence was restricted to periods after March 30, 1950, the date of an AEC recommendation that concentrations of beryllium in plant neighbor hoods be held to a monthly average of 0. 01 micrograms of beryllium per cubic meter of air.. Applying Sutton's equation to assumed source strengths, an expert for plaintiff calculated con centrations up to 0. 1 micrograms at 1951 and 1952 Heck residences three and four miles from the plant. Defendant's expert contested these calculations for failure to Include such steps as an adjustment for the "swing of the winds". Net effect of the omissions, according to the defense, was to inflate the plaintiffs' numbers by a factor of nineteen which, if corrected, would reduce the 0, 1 figure to 0. 005 and the other values in proportion. The case is subject to judicial re view after transcription of the voluminous record of the eleven-day retrial." -- Beryllium Corporation Communication to Industrial Hygiene Digest 1128 Employment Discrimination. A bill to bar discrimination in employment because of age has been approved by the Senate. S. 830 would bar such discrimination by employers, employment agencies, and labor unions. However, bona fide seniority systems or employee benefit plans are exempt. Reason for the exemption is to permit employers to hire older workers without necessarily including them in employee benefit programs. A similar bill was approved earlier this month by the House Committee on Education and Labor. Asa result, chances are that Congress will approve the proposal. -- Chem. Eng. New 45, 43 (Nov. 13, 1967). 1129 Licensing Ctinical Laboratories, The details of federal licensing for clinical labs will be settled in a conference between House and Senate. In the version of the Health Partnership Amendments bill passed recently by the Senate, certain clinical laboratories would be exempt from federal licensing provided the licensing body has been approved by the Government and has accreditation standards at least as tough as the Government's. The House-approved version exempts from the licensing provisions labs operated by pathologists. The American Chemical Society opposes this kind of blanket exemption. The chances are the conferees will approve the Senate version of the licensing procedure. -- Chem, Eng. News 45, 43 (Nov. 13, 1967). 2. 03122709