Document bBB68dE6NRzGjLQ7rZ7D1KXz3

SOUTHWEST & TEXAS Published by SouJh**.s?si Section and Texas Section, American V/c?er Works Association ot 306 E. Adams 817/773*1313 Temple, Texos 76501 ..gust, 1981 Vol. 63, No. 5 Asbestos-Cancer Study Finds No Link U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region G, headquar-: tered in Dallas, Texas, has issued a statement that no conclusive evidence links the ingestion of asbes tos in drinking water to gastroin testinal cancer. In an official response to questions regarding the potential health effects of asbestos in drinking water Mac A. Weaver, Acting Chief of the Watei Supply Rranch, reported: "Based on our findings, we do no: believe the citizens . . . are subject to! any measurable health risk from asbes'os in their drinking water. "Because of the acknnwj^lged. health pioblcms related to asbestosinhaled and/or ingested by workers in occupational exposure, it is natural for people to extend this concern to other exposures. EPA and the scientific community have felt that extensive study is justified to determine if there is a level at which asbestos in drinking water might represent a measurable risk to public health. No conclusive scientific evi dence lias yet linked gastrointestinal cancer incidence with ingestion of asbestos through drinking water." Weaver added that the presence of asbestos fibers in drinking water may result from naturally-occurring sources in the ground water or from asbestos-cement (A/C) pipe wben highly coriosive waters are conveyed. PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT CAPCO JEN 0032762 August, 1 9E31 City, County and State EPA Region Six Comments on Safety of Asbestos-Cement U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region Six, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has slated that no conclusive evidence links the ingestion of asbestos in drinking water to gastrointestinal cancer. In an official response to questions regarding the potential health ef fects of asbestos in drinking water Mac A. Weaver, acting chief of the Water Supply Branch reported "Based on our findings, we do not believe the citizens... are subject to any measurable health risk from asbestos in their drinking water. Because of the acknowledged health problems re lated to asbestos inhaled and/or ingested by workers in occupational exposure, it is natural for people to extend this concern to other exposures. EPA and the scientific community have felt that extensive study is justified to determine if there is a level at which asbestos in drinking PUBLIC WORKS/or Auquxi. 19S1 water might represent a measurable risk to public health. No conclusive scientific evidence has yet linked gastroin testinal cancer incidence with ingestion of asbestos through drinking water." Weaver added that the presence of asbestos fibers in drinking water may result from naturally-occurring sources in the ground water or front asbestos-cement pipe when highly corrosive waters are conveyed. CAPCO JEN 0032763 ASBESTOS PIPE FIRMS CHALLENGE EPA 'MTINUED FROM PAGE 11 :re waters are high in ... :ural!y occurring asbestos. Both studies failed to show any link between the mineral and gastrointestinal cancer. The pipe producers also pointed to studies reaching the same conclusion based on tests in Connecticut Duluth, Minne apolis and St. Paul. GROUND WATER AGE ELMHURST. ILL f.'.QHim ;i5/,DD JUN 1981 ASBESTOS'PIPE FIRMS I CHALLENGE EPA OH CRITERIA j A TRADE association representing manufacturers or asbestos cement, pipe have challenged EPA's water quality criteria and argues that they should not be used as guidelines i.i promulgating drinking water standards. The A/C Pipe Producers Association claims that EPA's criteria rely on inadequate scientific evidence. They note that EPA's conclusions are .~i based on research on the IT 1 inhalation of asbestos, p- j despite the fact that h: { extensive scientific findings Sf- ' are available on the j/j I ingestion of asbestos, [.; ; including through the (T| medium of drinking water. In stating its case, the ` e . association cited studies p - conducted in both Quebec j and the Puget Sound area, ' ' CONTINUED ON PAGE 60 J CAPCO JEN 0032764. Arlington, VA - Preliminary suits of government-sponsored udies on the effect of ingested .bestos on laboratory animals iovv no carcinogenic effect. The studies are being conicted by the National Institute of ivironmental Health Sciences IEHS) under the direction of the iblic Health Service's National xicology Program. The Environental. Protection Agency (EPA) s contributed a portion of the iding. The aim of the . NIEHS/EPA jdies is to assess the biological ircinogenic) effects of asbestos ers which are ingested"o rlaR'erro the body through the digestive :t, as in drinking water. A large number of male and nale hamsters were fed as- ;stos over their entire lifespan, /o types of asbestos fibers mmonly used in the manufacture asbestos-cement products were ministered. The doses of asstos fed to the hamsters were millions of times higher than levels which occur in drinking water consumed by the public in a lifetime, in areas where asbestos occurs in the drinking water. The same number of animals called a "control group,'' were fed a diet with no asbestos. NIEHS reports, "There was no indication of major difference in the mortality rate between the "hamsters receiving the asbestos diet or the control diet." Prelimin ary analysis of the hamster data indicates that no carcinogenic or cocarcinogenic ' effect was ob- served. VV The analysis included thorough pathologic evaluation of some thirty tissues from test animals. In addition, preliminary results - of rat studies, carried out in a similar manner, also were reported. The lifetime exposure phase of the study concluded, "...longevity was not affected by exposure to the various types of fibers." These findings are consiste; with a number of other studies i animals fed asbestos in food c drinking water. ln"T9B0, th Health Research institute c Fairleigh-Dickinson University re ported no malignant tumor related to treatment in harnste; maintained on drinking watc containing 13 billion asbesto fibers per liter. JU>J 193 1 F CAPCO JEN 0032765 * * 'k ASBESTOS HATER CRITERIA BASED ON INADEQUATE DATA, A/CPPA CHARGES Drinking water standards should not he based on Environmental Protection Ager.cv water quality criteria for asbestos, according to the Asbestos/Cenent Pipe Producers Association and the Asbestos Information Association/K'orth America. Criteria, published in late 1980, "do not accurately reflect either the latest or the best ' scientific knowledge" about effect of asbestos in drinking water, A/CPPA says (CUR, Dec. 2, 1981, p. 243). . EPA drew conclusions almost exclusively from inhalation studies, despite the fact that a substantial amount of ingestion research was available, A/CPPA charged. Omitted from EPA data were findings of studies which failed to establish any cause and effect relationship between ingested asbestos and gastrointestinal cancer. Studies conducted in Quebec, Connecticut, Minnesota and Washington failed to show causal link between asbestos fibers in drinking water and gastrointestinal cancer. Studies conducted at EPA's Health Effects Research Laboratory show similar results. Although water quality criteria are not binding, A/CPPA claims the}7 fall far short of meeting statutory requirements. Charging that EPA ignored available evident and calculated "totally inadequate" risk assessments, A/CPPA maintains that criteria should be rewritten to reflect studies on ingestion. Since EPA issued no modifica tions to recommended ambient water concentrations for asbestos, A/CPPA is reviewing challenges to EPA action. f^ /> *- v ; uUt-M: (rhltu ti>.i wi *W.wf V MAY 19 19 3] l CAPCO JEN 0032766