Document a4QoQBE2YapYw3ZB1g0kbdpnX

PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT REK-34 OM*04OI VWfiyMOtAUM M NU( C&HWP o-c July 7, 1987 Ms. Judy Spencer Legal Department Industrial Commission of Ohio 246 North High Street Columbus, Ohio 43215 Re: OD 190485 Employer: R. E. Kramig Company Cincinnati, Ohio Employee: Dear Ms. Spencer: Hqnr is a 39 year-old man who has worked as an insulator for approximately 17 years. He began work in 1966 but had a four year break while serving in the navy. In the clairr, he states that he was an asbestos worker for 22 years. Since he started in June, 1966, then 21 years has elapsed to date. He was in the Navy from 1968 - 1972, four years. Since he was not an insulation worker in the Navy, his total time spent as an insulator was no more than 17 years, not twenty-two. While the fiist few years may have had occasions of moderate to high exposures to dusts such as asbestos, the health effects of such exposures were beginning to be recognized and at least, minimal controls were instituted in many factories. In the early and mid-seventies OSHA and EPA regulations brought both voluntary ar.c enforced reductions of dust gases and vapors emitted in the workplace. -Personal protection, especially respirators became much more common. Substitution of less toxic materials, such as fiberglass for asbestos, began to occur in the late seventies and this action f ii r* her reduced exposure to hazardous materials. Ir. "to. case, most of his worklife has been spent during the time when control measures of all types were being introduced and/or increased in usage. Exposures were decreased dramatically. H Cincinnati District Office Suite 107 8230 Montgomery "c?d Cincinnati, Ohio 45236 (513) 791-1980 5D y worked out of a Union Local/ and as a result would have moved from location to location, not remaining in any one job or plant for long periods. This variation very likely reduced his likelihood of continuing, consistently high exposures. The only recurring situations when exposures would have been likely would be in repair or tear-out of old installations where asbestos had been used. medical report presents a number of ambiguous signs, symptoms and conclusions. His personal and family medical histories are filled-with respiratory and cardiovascular complications. He has had rheumatic fever and suffered from shortness of breath. Both parents have emphysema and hypertension. His physician states that he has a 5% disability. This seems to be a very small degree of disability, if any at all. The signs and symptoms, including X-ray and pulmonary function results, which are used to.diagnose asbestosis, are ambiguous and similar, if not identical, to those indicative of a number of other respiratory diseases. Some of them are not even occupationally-related. It is likely that^SMBtopas received some exposure to asbestos in the first few years of his work, but the disease which he claims at this time would also be due to other factors which have pre-existed for most of his life. If I may be of further assistance in this claim, please let me know. Sincerely, Industrial Hygienist Literature sources used in this include: 1. Occupation Lung Disease, Weill Warick, Marcel Dekker, Inc., N.Y., 1981 2. Pulmonary Function Tests in Clinical and Occupational Lung Disease, Miller, Grune Stratton, Inc., N. Y. 1986 3. Asbestos Related Disease: Difficulties in Diagnosing Occupationally Related Illness, Raymond Murphy, M.D., Frontiers in Medicine, F^b. 10, 1981