Document bpbdYrv2r47g1QZJ2eYerYoZ

182 ASBESTOS-DUST EXPOSURES--ENTERLINE & KENDRICK als, along with a control group of three plants producing, cotton textiles, with the employees of the producer of asbestos fric tion materials merged with the employees of the nine producers of asbestos textiles. This report presents data separately for workers in 15 asbestos building products plants, 11 asbestos friction material plants, 9 asbestos textile products plants, and 3 cotton textile plants. The 35 asbestos products producers whose workers were studied were selected from a list of 100 employers classified as manufac turers of asbestos products in the 1959 edi tion of County Business Patterns,u The as bestos products plants chosen were those which, it was believed, had most of their workers in production, as opposed to sales or other services, which had a sizeable work force, and for which it was believed some in formation could be obtained on asbestosjdust levels. It was hoped that past dust lev els in these plants could be associated with mortality data. Unfortunately, historical data regarding dust levels proved to be in adequate and this part of the project was abandoned. It is believed, however, that the general levels of asbestos-dust exposure vary considerably among the four groups of plants, ranging from no exposures in the cot ton textile plants to heavy exposures in the asbestos textile plants. Exposures varied considerably within plants and many of the workers studied were in areas or engag activities where exposures were almost' existent. The general impression gain surveying some of these plants is that tos dust is less in building products than in friction materials plants, and bd these are considerably less dusty than tos textile products plants (Craley, L,. communication, 1966). It seems likely" these relative levels of dust exposure' probably existed for some time. Observations regarding the levels of tos dust in the three groups of asbestos p ucts plants studied are borne out by f shown in Table 1. During the period erf June 30, 1963 the cohort of 21,755 as products workers produced a total of 65$, sons who died with asbestosis either ( underlying cause of death or as a coni tory cause of death. As Table 1 she deaths with asbestosis mentioned varied!" siderably among the three industries, ing from less than 1 per 1,000 pe studied in the asbestos building prod industry to 13 per 1,000 persons studi the asbestos textile industry. There we deaths with asbestosis mentioned among! ton textile workers. Of the 19 death ce cates with asbestos listed as a contribu cause, seven gave cancer of the lung as underlying cause of death. Data shown in Table 1 confirm more i jective impressions regarding general le: Table 1.--Number ot White Males, Aged IS to 64, Who Worked in Selected US Asbestos and Cotton Textile Plants at Some Time During 1948-1951 By Age and Type of Product Type of Product Total Age in 1950 15-64 15-24 25-34 35-44 45,54 55-64 Building Products 12,402 2,770 4,572 2,807 1,480 773 Asbestos Friction Materials 7,510 1,402 2,489 1,845 1,053 721 Textile Products M43 316 593 524 274 136 Cotton: ?; Textile Product! 6,281 1,448 1,709 1,566 985 573 4 By Deaths at Ages Under 65 With Asbestosis Mentioned, as of June 30, 1963 Deaths Asbestosis Listed^,; Industry Asbestos building . products Asbestos friction materials Asbestos textile ' products. No. of Workers With Asbestosis Mentioned 12,402 7,510 1,843 10 ' 29 24 Per 1,000 Workers 0.81 3.86 13.02 Underlying .8 21 15 Arch Environ Health--Vol 15, Aug 1967