Document ba49pZk3RK6GLXqwyo0qy51gD

FILE NAME: Union Carbide (UC) DATE: 1974 Nov 11 DOC#: UC049 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letter from Union Carbide to Asbestos Information Association RE Business Suffering from Regulatory and Adverse Publicity UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION MINING AND METALS DIVISION 270 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y. 10017 November 11, 1974 M r. John H. Marsh Asbestos Information Association 1660 L Street, N . W . Washington, D . C . 20036 Dear John: Y Ur*n3 mrandU1J1 of Novembe.r l974/ requested appropriate comments regarding the effect of occupational and environmental standards and adverse publicity on the U S osbestos Industry to be used at the forthcoming Paris conference. O ur business has suffered* both from regulatory and adverse publicity problems, although by and large I feel that the / regulatory concerns carry much greater weight than does adverse publicity. For example, I because o f > e publicity associated with the Reserve M ining trial and the dumping of asbestos tailings into Lake Superior, one of our larger ceiling tile customers in that area I discontinued use of asbestos in his product. This executive decision was made in spite of the fact that the manufacturer was in compliance with O S H A and EPA regulations. One of the more significant problems with the present O S H A regulations deals with in terpretation of who should receive medical examinations. As you know, the present regulotions provide no quantitative nor cut off limit below which employees are not required to receive annual physicals. This regulation is a course of considerable consternation to occasional users of asbestos and, in general, rather than comply with the most literal in terpretation of the regulations, they are seeking substitutes for asbestos. Often these sub stitutes produce an inferior product from a technical point of view. O n e business that is in potential Jeopardy is the tape joint business where the mainstay of this trade is asbestos-containing muds. Selikoff has been publicizing recently the dust hazards associated with sanding of tape joint compounds, which is obvious adverse pub licity and there is concern that in some operations O S H A standards could not be met with out the use of respirators. These circumstances have caused tape joint compound manu facturers to seek substitute materials to asbestos. . It is my general view that the publicity associated with asbestos health issues has had no detrimental effect on employee morale. I think much more damaging to employee morale is the loss of business and consequent loss of jobs. WCT/es Very truly yours, j I W . C . Thurber Product Manager - Asbestos hm 10375,