Document babZxYQ67vY1Gzan2aVqbdLvg

FILE NAME Talc TALC DATE 1973 June 27 DOC TALC077 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Newspaper Article - US Asked to Ban Asbestos in Food and Drink Processing gy we -ne ads oa A 10 THE SUN Wednesday June 27 1973 he Te ee rt . to U.S. asked to ban asbestos er as woe in food and drink boo processing Vim By STUART S. TAYLOR JR ce Sun The petition demands that since last August a proposed Staff Correspondent the Food and Drug Adminis regulation forbidding the use Washington of tration ban the use of asbestos of food additives that contain Americans may be gradually filters and the use of talc in asbestos according to the peti- e e poisoning themselves by swal- food processing charging the tion a lowing food beverages and agency with delays false had eri drugs contaminated with can- promises and obfuscation in Develops slowly causing asbestos fibers ac- wet cording to a petition to be filed tomorrow with the Federal Food and Drug Administration Asbestos fibers find their way into rice peanuts salami and other foods from the com mercial talcs used in process | ing according to the petition beer prepared by the Center for Science in the Public Interest dealing with past calls for ac- tion Albert J. Fritsch a director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest promised yesterday that the groups will take the FDA to court it fails to satisfy the demands in the petition A critical dose Cancer induced by asbestos develops slowly the petition asserts so that those exposed to asbestos may be killed by it after decades of apparent good health ; While admitting that the ef- fects of eating peanuts treated with talc and drinking have filtered through asbstos have and the Environmental Defense Fund Gin beer fruit juice The two nonprofit public terest groups also claim that such beverages as gin beer and fruit juices are contami nated with asbestos from the filters used to purify them Lung cancer cancer of the digestive tract and other fatal diseases have been shown to result from exposure to asbes- tos through swallowing as well as through inhaling the peti- tion states not been established with any | Millions of Americans may precision the petition claims already have received a criti- that cancer is rampant | among cal dose of asbestos fibers not asbestos workers who among have merely through the air they been heavily exposed breathe but through their food Asbestos filters are in use in and drugs the petition states the manufacture of almost all The seriousness of the con- kinds of beverages but other sequences and the absence of a materials can be substituted known safe level make it im- from perative therefore that | human exposure from all known sources be reduced to an absolute minimum An FDA ban is already in effect on the use of asbestos in manufacturing clothing and the agency has had before it easily according to the page| document ! Talc which according to the i petition is often contaminated with asbestos is used in mak-| ing pills and tablets in mold- | dry ing candy in packaging foods and as a chewing base |