Document b5Yb8wKk5O7JBG20M6e0pGXK3

FILE NAME: General Motors (GM) DATE: 1985 June 25 DOC#: GM045 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letter to GM RE NYT Article with Newspaper Article Attached June 25, 1985 Dr. J.C. Vagner Dear Dr. Wagnerr I recently read in the New York Times about your award from General Motors. The Times' story attributed the grant to "two key discoveries? that only the thinnest and straightsst fibers of asbestos, or similar fibers, cause mesothelioma; and that certain typos of asbestos are more dangerous than others. Among the less dangerous is the white asbestos..." It was my understanding that Stanton et al. discovered the first thing, and that, to the extent that your studies on animals addressed the latter point, they did not show whits asbestos to be less carcinogenic. This is not to say I disagree with the idea of honoring your v/orfc and the very important research you have done. however, I can't help but wonder if the General Motors foundation has an agenda of its ovm. G-M is a longtime user of chrysotile asbestos in brakes it manufactures, and GK is a defendant in numerous personal injury kav,'suits brought by workers xposcd to dust from working with these products as mechanics, etc. A defense raised in at least some of these suits is that chrysotile used in the brakes is either incapa ble of giving rise to a health risk or is incapable of at least causing mesothelioma. GM also stands to be regulated under new (expected) 03HA standards for asbestos, and a cen tral aspect in dispute is whether there is adequate scientific basis for setting differing standards for the different types of asbestos dust. I would be interested in discussing these issues with you while in viales in late July or early August. If this would be suitable, please let me know when you expect to be available and how I might reach you by phone just beforehand. Sincerely yours, *2., ,,yimpcaetr tne-ocmn fjtate Supreme Court i.4ce. , 3 Cancer Researchers Named ates Supreme Court cision in an opinion jtice Thurgood Mar- pnent of capital pun- Winners of $130,000 Awards sball said that the enalty rulings, had -given that capital By HAROLD M. SCHMECK Jr . bwtheir task as the nining whether a Three scientists who have made im cells to resist drug treatment. He. ; should die at the portant contributions to cancer re showed how cancer cells generate mul search and diagnosis were named win tiple copies of genes that direct the pro-,. a suggestion to ners yesterday of the General Motors duction of enzymes that thwart the isibility lay else- Cancer Research Foundation prizes for drugs' intended action. tolerable danger 1985. Using the multiple gene copies, the, choose to miniits role." The winners, who each received cells produce unusually large amounts , of such enzymes. The extra copies evi-.. ihall said, was $130,000, were Dr. Paul C. Lauterbur of the State University of New York at dently arise spontaneously in some as well as to Stony Brook, attractive for Dr. John Christopher cells. Under treatment with a drug,, these cells and their progeny become sentence, GWlaagmnoerrgoafnL,laWnadloeus,ghanHdoDspri.taRl oinbeSrotuTth. dominant in the cancer tissue because an appellate Schimke of Stanford University. sentence was they are protected against the drug's action. insideration ingDrre. sLeaaurtcehrbinutrhweausseciotefdnufocrlepairomneaegr amTphleifdicisactioovneryinof tmhiasmprmocaelisasnof gceelnles ightheintanly considers. netic resonance. The technique pro came as a surprise to scientists. The Miss., No. dtuurceess osfhsaorpft, teisxsquueissistuelcyh daestathileedb,rapiinc, pimhepnoormtaenntotnheiosrentoiwcalbiemliepvliecdatitoonhs.ave. late Jus,, Harry A. heart, liver and muscles. In the 12 Discoveries About Asbestos ns and San- syeeaarrcshsirnecpeorhte sphuobwliisnhgedsuhcihs fimirsatgerse, Dr. Wagner, the asbestos expert, was' _vas particu- the citation said, the technique has be come a leading diagnostic tool for de cited for two key discoveries: that only the thinnest and straightest fibers of :OA M S N 3 H 1 > y e a8P jn in a 5-th- tecting tumors, strokes, hemorrhages and other serious problems. asbestos, or similar fibers, caused mesothelioma; and that certain types of titutionalliar to the Dr. Wagner, an expert on the role of asbestos are more dangerous than - \e today. asbestos in causing cancers, was cred others. Among the less dangerous is the ited with producing " a significant part white asbestos called chrysotile mined of the scientific knowledge that led to in Canada and used widely in the' safeguards against life-threatening as United States. Death bestos levels in the workplace." In addition to contributions to the evi In answer to a question at a news conference yesterday, Dr. Wagner said -- A teen- dence linking asbestos to lung cancer, there may be more risk in the whole \murder- Dr. Wagner's research showed that ex sale ripping of asbestos out of Amer s thrown posure to small amounts of asbestos ican buildings than in leaving the ma 'ter what fibers could cause a rare and deadly terial in place. iult at a form of cancer called mesothelioma. Each award consists of a prize of ject, the 17 years Cells Thwart Anticancer Drugs $100,000, a gold medal and a grant of $30,000 to finance a scientific sym thmur- Dr. Schimke was cited for important posium in the winner's field of re Cann. discoveries about the ability of cancer search. i