Document gDO3qY4yv1KNEB9Dwxw04B61Q

FILE NAME: Z/ZZZZ/ DATE: DOC#: / DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION:h/EZWZ tsZ . .. ~ AI,..", PIalntlff's Exhibit .-,'--A' sbestos Information Association/NorthS-AUCm-1e5r1ica . DlsmaunON 22 east 40th Streef New Yol'ft N. Y. 10016 f. H. L.irlson .R. O. ~.~3r.;W1 0 Oo 212-689-3378 R. J. !!::r.I::..~ 0 J.:.1. A!,:~::;:I [Cjl AUqust 3, 1'73 A.. A. ; ::~::,:de 0 C. f. c:-; :~n 0 a P.. L.~::" :.' 0 ~..o. :':-,:-,~3r Cl 'H. \.. ~~~'f 0Cl Hr. William So .Snneeaath n. 'E_~.~~" 0 1I%e814ent 0. E. C'do( C0l a Union Carbide Corporation D. J. G::al 270 park Avenue G. L V~:lSSi$ 0 sew York, tlew York 10017 M. K.wGt 0 file 0 , Dear HMr. Sneath: . OVer the past t.wo ucl one-half year., the Abb8b.aesttcos %nfonatloA Assoclation/lltOrth America, has played a major rol. in of whicb your defen4J.nv ~ compaD1 11 member ( asbestos J.nd\tltzy , ~ unwGrante4 labOr the pr.o, anA lue.pona1ble certain segments attacks by fOver.n.ment, of the medical profession. a114 I by var1QuIi I environmental and consumer act!v1ist l)roups. t.... t ""..""0 I I I , , I ~ IIllI'''' , I I "f r f" t'lt I1I I--.- While mOst e~ecutivaa within I the II t industry Lavae ~J1 .h P~ up- 0 with time developments period, many on of tne the asbestos-health front durin9 this details relating- to ~'le qgenesis and current stat.us of the overall problem, a.s on AIA/NA activities and aQ~omplishments, well have as informat:iC!n never been OGllected in a single doc~ent for industry dissemination. !l'lU.s de'ficiency has ZIOW been corrected. A~~aehad for made by Matth yo ew ur H . i nfor Swe ma ton tio 1e, n 18 Exe a cu copy of tive Sec A re p ta r r es.een y of t at th io e n MA-WIAAhly/NAA,BbteosttohSe?"Atahbeeastpoeae'cthexotuiltelinInes. ttihtuetegroinwthJuonef. thEe nataibtleeadtos- b.alth problem .atiantspress as a wi~ national issue, the regard to ~to., philosophy of the aDnd ~e effort. bein~ -l.edgea.l..,byg.otbveerAnmZAen/MtAl~ , ccu!strtaolm-we1r"t~ b dthepupbrlOicb'lr.e_laOtILiotnhes medical, fronts fff";1 fohi. :orll!U!&en~at:ion to be both . -. .. J .. . . --. '. - .....~. . WIY ASBESTOS? AAsPbreesstoesntTaeti~o1n1eBeIfnorsetittbuete Arlington, Virginia JuDne 7, 1973 By lrIatthew M. cutive Swetonic Secretary Exe soci&tion/North America Asbestos Information As "'lam sure that many of you have asked youurrsse.lv.s q min,ly ve a.sked 'myself, why ~as the asbestoB nQust.:y see I1:5 by alJI3seeeIn hsainqled out as thepprreismse, tgaerrgtaeitn,fosergsmoenmtasnyofastashne medical J ns~r aotivis~ ,porvoefrensmsieonnt,, laanbdobr,y tvhaerious environmental and co groups? . Why us? Can asbestos really be all that bad? Are mericans" products we produoe truly 9'oinq to k.ill millions of A ort of nefarious 'tahse some experts have p~setdroicytetdh?e aOsrbeisstotsheinredussotmrye ?s coIlU)lex ..i.:J..both conspiracy-rtahfeooant stwoerd'teo"'ttilt qtte8t1-cn-<)f ".wh..tu\il.aos.n. of three and simple. Complex because it is a combina because each of the interrelated but saeparate factors. Simple quite obvious. factors is, when considered by itself, asbestos can cause dise&se, The three factors are (C1l) the need for asbestos control, kesman arose to champion ment a~encies were set up to (2) a spo and (3) a.comucopia of new ~overn I A19576 . . . ~-="'i'~-..- - -...:.-' -.... '.__. , " ." ..... '-,2- c::ontr01 maa~~ee'JJ::iiaalls and p~od.ucts that can cause eclisease. !I.et us look at each of thes. factors in ~urn. Fi%fSt. p ~8re is no doubt that the inhalation of aUbstantial amounts of asbestos can lead to increased rates of ~ious types of lung disease, including two forms of c&DC.~. ~ras. are fact. which cannot be c1en1eCl, eVeA if they 40 not apply in all circ=staAces anel under all con41tJ:ons. !he ae4ical liter8t1Ue iJli fUll of solid evi4ence linking Ube.toll . to deliisseeaas In my office, I have Oft ,file more than 2,000 medical papers dealinCJ with 1:he health risks of asbestos and hundreds more are publisped every year. Secondly, the sprea4ing of concern oyer the health _ risks of asbestos has as its prime spokesman.one of the mast talented ~edical publicists of the aqe ---- Dr. Irvinqg J. SelL~off of New Y9rk's Mount sinai Hospital. Not only is Dr. Selikoff capable of arouSing the ire and moral indiqnati!=)n of the most 'conservative reporter or politician with his, 9X'aph~c descriptionsand pndi:e't'.t'OftS' 'of -tbe ,~a"ages ~ ..asbestos". but he has also 8urro~ed himself with a group of similarly talented'asaoci&tes who have carried the Mount Sinai message to the far cornera of t..lte nation. While Or. Selikoff has, in his zeal, unquestionally pai,ntecl a far darker picture than the facts warrent, we should always remember in his defense that the insulation workers he ,A 1,8577 . . . .~.. . 1 ..' .' ~e backgroun4 of industry effor~s to deal with the asbestos-health problem as a national issue goes back n.a~ly . a decade, to Dr. Selikoff's now famous 19"64 m1nar on ubes1:Oa disease a~ the. New York Acade~ of SceieennceeeBsce While thi, aemm!!nnaur 414 much ~ p:ick the !ndU8~ry'S conscience about asbestos and ~ealth, the problem still.remainea one' of limited public and press interest. unt.i1 uound 1961, when the media began beating . the medical bushes sea%ehing for storie. that would graphically poJ:tray Amedean indusUy's suppo.se4 ~8.regard for the ..environment and tor the health and safet.y of its woxkmen and ~be American public. !he asbestos-health problem was found to be "ta!lor~e for such st.ories. As a result; starting with . PaulBrodeurs tn1:amcus New Yorrkkeer article of March 1968, asbestos hbas since qrown into an item Qf major press interest. . . Xn those yeuus., industQ' efforts to combat the spate ecf negative press articles on asbestos were car~ie4 on p~imarlly by the Johns-Manville corporation, which le~ up task force of speCialists in var10us fields to 40 what: it could to portr~Y' the prob'1. . III 1't8 p~cper perspeetlve. While some m1IlnOor: Iluecesses were achieved, it was ~ound that no one company actinq independently could adequately or effectively represent an entire industry in dealinq with the press ar.~ with ~overnmer.t offici~ls. As a result, in late 1970, eight compan1. 9athered in New York City to launch the ASbestos Inforaat1on Association .~ to ..'. -'S Of Borth America. whlgh was pat.ternec!l a!lo1t:eZ' the British Asbestos Informa1:ion CODlD11ttee, which had been .stablished some three yeus eazl1ero In our original concept, ~e As.ociation would l~t i"t~ activities to provi41ng ac:c\U"ate, Ul\I)iuecl information on aasbestos aN! bealth to the press, to .the public an4 ~ i.ntuested S'Olit1eians and other government officials. It mult be r_embered that at this par1:.icula: time, the enormcus problems ~t wol1~d later aevelop with regard to ossA and other Feaeral regulatory agencies were as yet on the dis~t horizon and basiea~ly unrecognizec1 by the industry. ,ortunately _ and properly --- the AassoctiatiieoDn has had the wisdom to alter its original limite4 conceptof its proper functions, and now en4deavors to assume whatever actlvUi.iel usd responaibilities it deems neeesaa:)" to PJ:ctoct the iftterests ." of the Asbestos manufacturi~9 industry in the United States . . . vis-a-vis asbe.tos~h.altho From this rather narrow in:i.tial.public relations eo~C!ept, tbe AssoeiaUDn...baa..grow:t i-a che -l"R-twow yt!t'a'rS in'to an organlzation wlth'prioJ:ities in aight major fields of endeavO~. These are: H.aical Affairs Legal Affairs Environmental Control CUStomer Relations Employee a.e1lAattiioons, Inter-industry Relations Publicity and Public Relations Government Affairs A 1Q58.C .! : ." '", 0; - 6 ... 'to take these activities one at a time, lei: \18 s1:art with medical affairs. I~ is an obvious fact that if a~ or9anizat1on is to speak authoritatively oODn a medical matter, it must nc~ only be .eepea in the literature of that particular medical sUbject, " but it must also keep itself constantly informed of new 41~cover1el and developments. This we have accomplished in a number of wayB~ Por example, by sending representatives ~ important _cUeal l.I8eting's, sUch as the 1972 Lyon,. France international conference oODn. the bloloqical effect.s of aabEt.to., which was sponsored by th. World Health organization. , We also meet. OAft an irregu1ar basis with various medical experta in the field, both from the United St.ates and abroad, ~ review and discu.ss recent developmen~s and cu'scover!es. Our literature research is eased considerably by xeceivinq the monthly medical paper distribution of the . 'Institute of Occupational and EnVironmental Health in Montreal, o which is funded by the Quebec Asbestos M1ninq ASSOCiation. 'r:his year, foX' the first time, the AlA has elected to sponsor medical realarch of its own. CUrrently underway i. a cOJIlpletely AIA/NA funded study of chest sounds, which is ba1nq condue~ed by Dr. Raymond Murphy of the Harvard School of Public Health. The purpose of t:he st.udy is to find a new met:hod ~f .d.t.~ninq an individual's . potential susceptibili~y to asbestos disease. , . r A19581 " ~e Association has also recen~ly decided to contribute to some very exciting research into a possible cure for mesothelioma through electromotive treatment. This study is being conducted at Somerset Hospital in New Jersey. In the legal affairs area, the Association participa~ed iD an amicus curiae capacity' in the law suit brouqht by the 'Industrial Union Department of the ~LICIO aqainst the Occupational Safety and Hea~th Administration on the asbestos s1:andards, lIn our brief the Association supported oOSs!fnA. against the IUD, somewhat of a unique position tor an ,industry to ~ina ~tself in vis-a-vis a governmental regulatory aqency: oral . argument on the case was held April 4 in Washington. While a decision has yet to be handed down by the Court of Appeals t we are confident that the case will be decided inour favorc .' The Association has retained the services of a spec1al technical consultant on environmental control affairs. At the present time, he is working with the AIA/NA Environmental Control SUb-Co~ittee on the develop~~nt of a saeries of five Association -oomp lwnoe ..atiluual:s -on the -oEHU. -st;-emdarcis. Last year, because of the well established unrelliability of the membrane filter method as a monitorinq tool in the asbestos indust~, th~ AIA ~r.dertook the G~on3ership of a stu~y at a research laborato~y in California to determine the effect of certain variables on the overall accuracy of the method. A1958~ ______________________________________________________________. __ i '. '. - 8- 'l'he ~.aQlt. of 'the study shoWed an error factor cof plus or minus 50 per cent uncle; the most favorable of measuril\CJ conditions. !f'tbaessee results were SB8aQni: to both OSRHA and to the National Institute fo~ Occupational Safety and Health. A number of the recommendations contained' in the study for improving ~he accuracy of the method have been incorporated in~o a soon-tobe-releasea revised NIOSHS..ooperations manual on fiber counting. In the customer relations ~ea, the total affect of negative pres. pUblicity ~d government regulations' oOnD industry customers is still today rather pQ9rly defineo. Some member. , of the Association have reported serious problems in-this area, while others have experienced few or no difficulties ~us far. Where customer pro})lems do exist, they nOrJM.lly fall into one of five categories irs~, ~. customear has thorouqhly investiqated his' . si1:uation and has found that he can no lonqer a~for4 to continue asinq .asbestos or asbestos-containing produa~s, .either because the cost of con~rol is too hi9h or because he would have to z.o.aise ,t:he ~c ce e .of...his ,product. to a 1evel that. would. make it non-competitive wltb non-asbestos con~ining SUbB~itutes. second, the.custo~r bas not throughly inveat19at.ed his situation and only thinks that be Can no longer afford to con~inue using asbe.tos. 1\19583 _.......... --.. . ... .. .. -, - Third ~ the customeJ: has xead one or more n_egativea aurtt..iieellaes on asbestos in the pU):)llc press and ha. maade the snap aecision that "we OU9ht. i:O' get that danqerous stuff OoUu~ of our plant.- Often" decisions of tbl. natU%e a%e forced oOnD top aan&~ement by ill-informed mediea~ advisors or safety and health directQrs~ Fourth, the customer hbas neither &. control problem nor 'il he particularly afraid of usillg asbestos in his own pl.aJl~o Bowevoz:-, he is fearful that 'those of his oOl\pet.1t:ors whose , . finished prOducts do not contain asbestos wil~ ~tress the aav~s& health effects of a,bestos in trying to take bus1nesa away fr9r h.i.m. cu.stozaer fears aot this nature are essentially -gut" reactions and are hense ext~emely difficult to deal With. Fifth, the eust:omer has none of these pJ:obl._ or fears i' but he has been advised by a 90veJ:nmen~ pffi~ial or inspector , , I" [ ~t he would be Qetter off if.- he quit U!ling asgestos or asbest:.os- ' I containlnc; produo'ts in his plant. While this problem does not appear to be widespread, we have learned of a nW1lbeJ: of situat,ions whet:e it has occ:~~ec1. Actions of t1tis nature 'by ~ZJnDeS\-t offl~1als are totally uncalled f~~ ana should be dealt with pzomptly and d.clsivelyo T.be best solution is to obtain complete aetails on the incident and then to reqiater & formal complaint .ith the offending official's immed1ate superior or with the government aqency involved. Ai0584 .. .. - 10 - .. ~a Association's fl:.~ reac~1on to the overall cDUU88ttaamer relat10As problem was to approve funn44a. fo~ a saerieas of four Z'eqional seminars at which j.nc:iu~try customers would ~ f1ven a number of basic presentaeleanas oODn the various Aspects ot ~e asbe~tos-health. problem. 1'h8 semina:. were teJl1:aUvely of 8ch04uled for the Spring of 1973. However, the experiences of' a number oar meraber companies sbowed that goenearal "cattcchhaall1l- t.ype aem.iJsars of the type o~19inally contemplated wou14 not be ~~~ecetive.1n dealing With the majority of c:ustomH rela1:ions probl... %1'1 order to do the job properly, it was found that customer presentatiopa bav~ to be tailored to the needs and problems of' tbe ln~1vidual customer. As & result, the Association cancelled lta scbeduled .eries of seminars ana instead elected to develop a number of packAged slide presentations on sucb topics as -The Facts About Asbestos and Health, and nUn4o~s~andinq the OSHA Requlationa u , L which could be used by member companies as part of a tailored. p~esenta~on to individual customers. As with customer relations, the Association feel. tbat employee relations 1iss a probl~ best handled by the lndivi~u&l member camp4Diea. ~us far, the ALA's sole contribution in thbja area of industry concern has been to --:.~;7' prepare the draft Of. an Employee Safety and Health 'Guide on Mbe.tas-Health. i'he draft was lllade avai;Lable ta the .~. "-.o.j .' .. I .. . . ! , "O0w - 11 - compasUes for their own US8 anel at least one has produced it 1ft booklet form for distribution to all its employee I personallY,believe that the employee relations' aspect of ~he asbestos-health problem ia one that hal. been sorely aegleeted by moat companies withi~ the industrY, and that it oGoOuu114 develop into a major problem area in the near future aDdd that steps should be taken now to ,deal with it. We know that various organized l.abor groups are planning ill full scale campaign to'~ring ~heir interp~etation of the asbestos-health problem to the attention of asbestos industry ~l~yees throughout ~ nation. If the industry permits this inte~pr~tation to bet " I I!II I"~; I;~I .~I ~, n ; ~~~!!.I ~! I!!:~ , . ~11 fl ~ I1I 11111. IIIU lt . 11 I ~~ fCeB!!I'.I. ..... I I 111111I1I1I1I1ii I I 1111111 ~ I 1I11.h.... I~1 111111111. , tl I!IIIIIIII.uU .. gmfl!lI&I.1 j~. I." .. IImll!IIR~@~ MMIIIIIIIII III' .u-La~G A~ 'I~r~mI.I~!I ~~~!~~~ml~tl~ IItml~11 ~~I I ~t d w IIII It l411 , indeed. Inter-industry relations are best defined as kpinq the industry informed about important new developments on the ...'.. . '. - 12 - Nextto government affairs, our public ~ealat1on8 aDd publicity activities constitute the" single larqest consumer of time, effort and money within the Association.. '!'hose of you who are familiar with the treatment that asbestos hbas been receivinq in the public prre... over the years can. reaell1y an<1erstand why this activity raDlts so high on our priority U.st., What you may not understand are the reasons why our . extensive efforts in dealing- with" the nation's press have been 80 unsuccessful to.elate in producing the theoretical -ba1&ncedM 0: eopositive~ story on asbastos "and health. tthe simple fact 1lss that from the standpo1nt of today's fcunq actiVist reporter r industry is the bad quy, and nothin, we do, say or achieve can ever allange this impression; .If we spend $100 million dollars on environmental cont:rol, the prea~ either says we ought to have donea it ten years ago or that we ahould ha~e spant$200 million. If we sponsor ~dical research, . 'they say" we are trying' t:o buy favorable res.uutlttss. If we are opJ)osec! to ridiculousl,y stringent standards, they.say we are in favor of letting our employees die. A television executive in Minneapolis described this ~ew breed of reporter a~ being so intent on demolishing the establishment thae ehey would blindly destroy the credibility of the media in the bargain. Another TV executive, this tillle 1n Chicago, stated -they want to make ,moral and political and social judqments on their assignments and then take sides . Never mind getting the facts str&ight. etill " " " ...." . ' . 13 - As ,result of thisindustry is a monster" philosophy, asbestos 'will remain a hot news item only so long as the news lis bad. Tbhe wgood_ that asbestos does in protecting llives and p:roperqr is of no concern to the presas. Likewise, industry .fforts to protect workman and the general public from asbestol .. exposure will alwa.ys be C]liven minimal coverage, since such information .is directly contrary t.o the Polltrait of an irresponsihle indusuy producing Ili "killer- product.-. that. lis the sole . element. of new. s worthinesa in the asbe.tos story. . Tbe press relations batele will therefore be WOft, not when the ~dia starts to print positive or balanced articles about. asbestos, .but when the press ceases to print anything about asbestos at all. As long as negative news on asbestos-hea.lth continues to be generated, the media will continue to eat it up. The media will only cease to carry such stories when the "generation of negative news ceases. It is as stmple as that~ Positiv~ or balanced stories are a chimera, since they are, by 4efinition, not newsWorthy. Let me give you a very specific example of this last principle in action. As most of you already know, the Association 1. curren~ly engaged in an extensive campaign to intearest the trade press in articles on the ben.fits of asbestos and on . industry accomplishments in the environmental control area The ~ade press, unlike ~~e national or public media, is much AlQ588 '. '. 14\ .- 1IlOre receptive. to articles of this nat~e and we expect to be elng a number of positive storie. in the trade press 1n the next few monthso In allY case, we alao frQOID. taJIIe to time put. ouwt: press ~.leases on various subjeots relating to asbestos-health. A few weeks .ago, we issued a release on the report of the ac1v:l.sory , ' CQIIIldtt:ee OonA a.sbestos cancers of the WOrld Health organization. IDn brief, the report concluded that 'the general public is not iD ddaunggeer from asbestos in the environm.eftt. Thus ffaur, we have received nearly two dozen press clippings from trade publications that caurrriieeae the story. TO the best of our knowledge, not a , single newspaper, Dews ma9'a~ine, radio or TV sifation, or any other segment: of the public media ran the story, with the solitary exception of a French lanquaqe paper in Toronto. As 1 .a14 before, if the news is goed, the press simply isn~ interested. ,Nonetheless, the Association hbas no intention of ~an4oning our efforts viS-A-vis the nationa~ media. We will . continue to issue appropriate press releases, cooperate with feature writers doing stories on asbestos, write letters to the editor when those stories appear, and in short, do all we can to present eBe press with a balanced view ot the asbestos-health situation.. Ouz moet recent effort in this regard has been the preparation and printing of an Asbestos and Health Information '. - 15 - . File, which wa bave 1I&11eo. to soma 3,000 newspapers, ma;ilz1ne8~ trade publications, J:'acU,Q and '1!V stations, secienee w::iters et.ec::o 4C:I:'088 the On1~e4 St&tea. Basically, the file contains copies of five industry posit.ion papers on as:bastos and as~esto.-heali:.h, as well as a number of tmportant medical. papers and a pair of photogl:apha illustrating the benefits o~ asbestos and industry effor~. at eDvirozunental control. Wh1le we don't expect our information file to change the whole attitude of the ~ess towar4 asbeatosu we are hoping that the media will make use of it to ~ecurat.ly r~port the industry's position When doing storie~ on the sUbjL~t. And nowI having beard. the baa. atae of the "public ~elaeions problem, it's ti~e for same good newsc And the good news is that despite all 'the negative articles on aabe.ssttaass--health that have appeared in the preass over the past half-dozen years, very few people have been .Plying at~ent1on. Let _ explain. In Pebruary, the Association unde:l:'took a personal interview research s~vey of the American pUblic to determine its attitude ~oward asbestos and its awareness of the health iiBsBsuuaa. The survey was conducted by the Opinion aRaesse.arrcch Coxporati.on during March anc1 Ap~il. More ~an 2,000 demographically seleote~ Americans were interviewed. Without going into enormou. dcSeettaaiill, the results show that only 22 per cent ~f the American 'public are aware of ~e A195GC '. ' - 1& - health hazards of as}:)esto8, an4 that 80 per cent of these consider it hazard only to tho who a:e occupationally exposed. A me.&-e tbJ:ee percent. of those intarviewec:t stated that they considereda . asbestos a health hazard to the genenl public, an4 18 t.bu one qQut~r of' ()M pel'cent.cona!4ere4 it the mcs-t cluveroWli utezoial on the list they were ,giivvaaJl to choose from. SurpJ:ising-ly, the co1.~.ge age youths of 1tmU1c:a ue no more aware of the haau4a of .sbtc?.t than their! puaents ud ~u.dpuUerlts. basa ];esu,lts should be reassuring to those inc1ustr,y customers who tear that the general public will stop buyil19 theiJ: products beca.use they cont.ain asbestos. a . Before going on to describe our activLties in the 90v.~nt: relations area, t ~iftk i~ mig~t. be interesting at this point to take a very brief look at the manner in which Dr~ Selikoff and his supporte~s have used his research results '. ~ to dramatize and exagqerate the seriousness of the asb.sto.~health problem. I have two c:hbaarrta which point this ,out: 2:ai:her cOl\clusivelYa 'r!he fi.rst chart shows the actual results of Dr. Selikoff's four mortality studies of asbestos workers. The numbers in parenthesis beside the figures for total number of workers indicate thOse who have so far died from all causes. The percentage figures alonqside the total number of deaths from asbestosis, lung ca~cer and mesothelioma are basseeda. on the ,total number of deaths from all causes, not on t:he number of workers in the studYe A19SDl '. , __..- ....._...... ..J, .... . .0 .... e ~ = . . o. (iii ._ ... .E CRAft HUMBER I ~.. I. J. SELl:1CQFP - - - BBBAaaI DA'tA NO. OF WOR1C&l\S MORrALIft S'l'UDY CQIl' '1'WO LOCALS OF DI~nOH IIOltDRS UHIOHR 625 (423) HORrALITY STUDY OF ALL MEMBBERS OF INStJUiiOit WORKERS UNION 17,800' (1092) HORrALITI STUDY Ci' woa:d'as IINI A WOiILD WAR II MiMooddnIBft INSllLA1'IOif PI.Mf'l' 933 (484) C01. . IK)Rl'ALI'I'Y STUDY' OF woRK$RS A'1' JQIlNS-IWmu." MARHVILIJ.B. N..JJ..,,Ppt:AANNTT * 689 (1.99' DESCRl:P'1'ION 01' COlHlOOMR"r THOSB WITlI A MINIMUM OF 2~O0 YEARS SXPPOoSsVURB ALL WORKERS OHR ROLLS 1/1/61 'IVl'AL DBA'l'IIS PIOI ASBESTOSIS, LUHG CIHC&ll r. MBSOIHBLXOMA 149 (lS') 369. (341\) DPOSRD ONLY fJO AMOSl'lB ASBS1J.'08 107 (22.1') T~OSB wrm A MIlNltDDIUM QOV' 20 YEARS Dl'OSUIUI 66 (33" .. 340 CW 'ftIBSB DU'ftlB WBRB lONG '.nNIB s5,,U utt BHPJA)DBS '!1!H G'NWWffBBaa.,. 2200''IIIIUS IBIXIOIVD *_ UMPUBLISIIBD DA'IA 'l'AkBtI IfRCM AR'l'XCU: DXlJi 'IllS KBW yORK POft, HAY 1972 -l> C!) 0'1 (,;) I'J .... .'... ; ... ." ... ~ -~-----------------------------------------------------------------------~---------------------------------------------------------~~- '" - 18 - -- The most impo:E'tant st.udy of the qgro:up is the lecond frOlll the top, sbowinq the deaths from asbestos-related disease among ill1 m~eri of the insulatio~ workers union, regardless of. length of exposure. You will note thA~ 34 pe::cent ot those- workers who have cUed thus far ha'VB diad from one of the three asbestos-related diseaseso These, then, are tbh''s. facts Dr. Selikoff works fX'olll~ This is what he knows from his own inv8stiqations. Now let us take a loOk at What he has done with these figures ~n order , to dramat~ze the problem. , Cbaxt number II shows Dr. Selikoffls pr.di-~ions about asbestos-related deaths in the' United States. W1~out going into details, Dr. Selikoff has arrived at his projections by the -simple procedure of multiplying the percentaqe of deaths from asbestos-ralated disease ~ng his insulation workerE "by the total number of employees in the entire industry. You will also note that he has ~aised-his projected 4eath e.~ima~e to enor.mous beiqhta over the past year by a~ply .LDCr-e&Si~ ~e "se ~.t9W='-e .of -e:mploy.ees .expoaed., .1Cb.i.l.e .sti lJ. retaininq the percentaqe multiplier of 34 percent beinq experienced by the insulation workers. A105DJ ( J_> . C) (J'\ Cl -I!"- - '--_.__. - ~-~.-. __ s; .. ~ ......... _ " . _ " - r " CDHARM!' IftImBR .1II1 DR. 1. 3. SELIKOPP - PRBDIC'l'IONS !BOO. OF WOJUCBRSS, DESCRIPTION OF COHORT FpAALt DBA'l'IIS I'ROJI MBES'!'OSIS, LOHG CMtCBa , MESOTHELIOMA. ARrICLB III MALL STRBBr JO~ -- 6/8/72 S'1'UDUS 8Y DR. IRvtllG SBLIlCOIT LEAD HIM 'to PREDICT .," 250.,000 ALL IfORKBRS CIJItIIIlfrLY BBMMPPLLOOYYEEDD IINN ''11''IIffBB 1' I ASBES'l'OS ItmUS'lRf 85,000 " ARTICLE IN '1lI'IIIBB NSW TYOBlUIt TIMBES -~~ 6/13/72 (1I'I1VVB DAYYSS LII..'t1UU ItII' OUR BXPERIENCBES ADU A GUIDE 5OO,0~ At.L WORlCBRS CUltlUSftLY ABO PREVIOUSLY DRDY1'BDI) III ftB ASBES'lOS DmOfftt'K! 170,000 'J'ESTIMOlflr AT TOXIC SUBS1MICES HBAIURG - 2/21/13 "OUR S'l'UDIBS XNDIca'l'Bo 0 " 1,000,000 ALL WOIUCBRS ClJRRRII!tft'L. PRBVlOOUUSSLLYY". AND WHO WILL BaBs BMPIDYBD IN 'NnIB ASBlSTQS IHDIiS'J'llf xtII 'rillS CER'fURY 340,000 liP S'l'OIlY CIN ~IC 8U8S'rrARCBS IlBAaUItIG 1,.,000000,,0000 (AS ABOVE) 1,000,000 (~, g AC'lVAL QUJ'I'BD ,aDlC'IIOIf MWASS 95,,00000Q 11ft 'l'IIIIISS IHIlCCLLUIIDDED DDDB.A." FROM GI CAHNCD, _01 I fl:AVB SUB'rR1.c'1'BD nFRoOlIiI 'rBB t'O'l"ALo ... . --.- . . ."I, , ,- ....", :- .' ." .. ", - 20 ... I miqh~ point ~u~ that this tactic, however . decepti.ve, hbas been an enormous success since each raisiDg of the estimate has earned Dr. Selikoff correspondingly qreater coverage by the media. No finer example exists of the ~otal gullibility of the press than the manner in which i~ allowed its prejudices tao be manipulated and played upon in this situation. please don' t qet me wrong 0 I have no c!oubt that the iDsula~ion workers are in fact dying as rapidly as Dr. Selikoff .ays they are. 'the problem is that he has translated their . mortality experience to the rest of the entire industry, ~ch ; is completely erroneous. IDn the first place, the estimated number a employees in the industry is too high --- five times too hiqb to be p~ecise. Even more important, accordlnq to an analysis by the Assooiation of more than a dozen mortality studies, including those of Dr.Selikoff, our.. p.rediction is that approxl.maUly 25~000 past and present employees in the asbestos industry have died or will eventualJ3 die of asbestos-related disease. This' is less than one-thirteenth of Dr. Se~1koff's most recent estimate. In addition, our figures show that 20 of the 25,000 deaths --- 0: 80 percent --- will oodeur among those in the insulationtrades~ While these estimates should be reassuring to those in the mining and manufacturing areas of the industry, we shOUld not forget ~at 5,000 of our workmen ~e still 90inq to die of asbestos-related disease and ~hat, all things. considered, there A1959b  . .. .. .. 21 - :is absolutely nothing t:hat we can dO to prevent i t. ~. Only thing we can 40 1s to clean up our plants to a~8ure that thos. Aterin9 the industry in the futUZ'e will not. have the same experience. Within the past yeil%- and at. half, the main thrust of Association effort hbas shifted to ~e government affair. f~ont. !he principal agencies in washington with whichwe have been dealing are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, , ~e Environmental Protection Agency, the Pood and Drug-Adminis- tration; the Bureau of Mines; and. to a lesser degree, the National Institute of Occupational safety and Health, and the Rational Institutes of Health, both of which are mai~ly involved in research efforts. In addition,' a few weeks aqo we were contacted by the Federal ~rade Commission, which had received a petition from "the Center fer Science in the Public Interest requesting an - investigation of consumer ~8es of as~estos for' the purpose of .datemi 1D'1ii aq ..wh.et:her ..ced:e.Ln pr.oduet:s..cau<Jbt ~ -be le.bel:ed as l hazardous ana whether warnings should be required on all advertisements for those products. on the basis of a preliminary meetinq withb an investigator from the FTC it woula appear that we have 11t.tle to worry about in this particular area. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration hal. been of enormous concern to the. industry over the past 18 months.- As most of you already know, the Association expended -- . _A "I ;U('\50':"-J - 22 _. tremendoul efforts during tile six month period leading to the promulgation of last June' s OSHSA st:andards on asbestos. t think it i . a gauge of the effectiveness of the total 1nd~try involve""' meni: in this most crucial matte.r that of eleven main requirements in ~ standards, the industry pOSition was accepted totally by OSHSA on Dine of the elave~, ahout fifty percent: on a tenth, anc1 totally rejected on. only one. COSRHA is now planning to redo the standard package and w.e are working cloself with them Oft this project. The first step will be the formation of a 15 man advisory committee to ,aview the current standa~ds and any additional medical and technical aa'ta that has become available in the year s1nce the- 1S1:&n4ards were promulgated. Working in cooperation with nine other tra4e associations we have selected four individuals as industry-wide recommendations t~ OSHSA o,r the four so-called ." employer" spots on the advisory q o m m i t t e e .. In alsc11S.s.inIg ..the t'oatlacLon ~f the tdvi'SO%l' comml1:~ee with John 0' Neill of the OSHA Standards Development SeCtion, we vexa asked to add a couple of names to the list so that OSHSA would have more of a .election to choose from. This we have agreed 1:0 dOD . ~. commlt~ee will be given up to nine months to complete its deLiberations and prepare for OSHA a revised s'tandard package. This will be followed by public hearinqs, approxtmately a year ~rom now. We ~o not expect to see a new stand. aArd1p9r5om0u7lqated before the Pall of 1974. .. - 23 - ..~t 1& .of c:ow:ae impos.ible w cleteftdM at. this time what the new standards will look like, howevu, I would venture - to say t.hat they will certainly 11Ot: be less strict than the one. we have today, althQuqh they will probably be less contusing' &aDDd leave less ~com for employer interpretation. Somethinq will Uftquestionably be done to improve .the current difficulties with the monitoring requirements. . '!he main function of the National Instltute.. for ~upational Safety and Ilealfib. is to conduct re.ea~c:h and 'to prepare so~oalla4 Criteria Packages, which are essentially ~ecommendations to OSHA for .t~ndarQ8 on various materials, I chemicals and activities. Such a packaqe on asbestos was prepared by HNXOSH at the time of the OSHA" proceedings last y.~r. mOSH will not b~ preparing a new or revised criteria packaqe for tnne. upccooming- review of the asbestos st:andard~. I do not.believe it would be unfair tOo,,say thbaattoo!f . all th~ agencies in WalShin~on dealing' wiieth asbestos b Or., Selikoff h~5 ha4a bis greatest influence on the yOQDg i4eal1stio Icientlsts and. doctors at NIOSSHS.. CQJlSeq.ueatly...J,~U".~ La .waak. .~ in th.is agency. It was mOSH, after all, that made the original :ecommendation for a ~wo fiber atan4ard in the United States asbestos industry. Next to COSeHBA, the Environmental Protection Agency has tba greatest pOtential of any federal ,qenecy fo: adversely aff~tinv the future of the albestos industry in this c:ountry. A19508 I .. .a - 24 '- Hot only 11 the IEPPAA responsible for developing and'enfOrciDg aa.UU and water pollution standards, But the 'T.rooxxice SUbs1:ances Control Act, DOW pending in COngress, will a1la8o0 become aD REPAA function after p&asassaag;e. J'or t.h.ia reason, II am pleased to be able to say that the a.~.stos industry haas. an excellent relationship with the li'A.. No finer proof of this eanastas than the fact that thue waas not a slni,l. major iinndustry recommendation mmaacdle. to the EPA at the public hearings OD the proposed asbestes emission .' regulations that was not. accepptteecdl either in toto or itn principle I in the final. standards, Which were' published in early April of . 1:his year .. , We are presently working ~th the EPA on the d.velo~ne of waste water effluen~ standards for asbestos manufacturinq planntta.a We certainly " hope that these standards will turn ,out to be as reasonable as the. air poUution regulations. The proposed effluent standards ,are scheduled to be published in the flederal Re.sister s~time this Summer., to be fo.llo1.l.ed by puh.l.ic hearings, with the final stanl!ards beinq promulgated in the Fall" pSJ:haps as eU'ly as Octobu. We are also planning, in the near fu.ture, to Met in Washington with representatives from the standards development and enforcement branches of the. ~A to discuss with them questions of i~terpretation &Dd compliance policy with regard to the new air pollution regulations. Ai950J ,, , " ..... - 25 - We have already resolved one intar.pretation question that is of special interest to ~be asbestos textile industry. Approximately two weeks ago I was asked by a member company of 'the Asasoeeiiaao'tionft. to !i21c! out whethe:r the sBPPA was planning to require the manufacturers of asbestos safety clothinq to r_g:l.ster as potential emission sources under the law. In discussing t~e situation over the phone with EPA compliance officials, I argued tha1: the proc5lu,cers of asbestos safety clothing woZz-'ea not manufacturers ~s defined in the regulations but wera instead on~y fabricators of an ~sbestoa product, ana as such, should not-have to register as pctentia~ emission sources. After our phone conversation ended, a brief meetini was held among the EPA compliance people. I was then called back and informed that they agreed with me that the safety clothing producers should not be required to registero While this rather minor problem took approximately an hour and a half and t~ or three phone calls to resolve, it is indicative of the type of day-toa-day services that the Aassociation provides 'for ita member companies. OVar the past year the Food and Druq Administration has shown an increasing interest in asbestos as a possible hazardous contaminant in various foods, beveraqes and drugs. Late in 1972 they set up an asbestos task force to review the situation and to propose regulations and guidelines where appropriate. Ai960C- , . . c ~ '4 ....." ' .' - 26 Thus far they have concentrated their efforts in two areas --- on the use of asbestol-contaminated talc in food packaging and in cosmetics, and aeeondly, on the use of asbestos eelulose filter pads in the beverage and drug industries. In our first meeting with the lFDDA task force las~ November on the filter problem, they demonstrated and admitted - ' to an appalling ignorance-about the health hazards of aasbestos. Since then, they have gotten one heck of a lot smarter, due at least in part to the tremendous amountof data and information whic~ the Association has been supplying to them. A~ a Consequence, ~ PFDA is today less panicky about asbestos and therefore leds likely to propose foolish, unsupportable regulations: Spokesmen f~om the PrnnA have, in fac~, defended the filter industry against eDVironmentalist attacks in the Press and elsewhere 1lnn recent t months. This is, quite obviously, a healthy sign. i 'OUr activities in the area of Conqressional relations have been quite minim41 to date, although we are preparing for the upcominqg struggle in Congress over workmen's compensation reform, at which time asb~stos is unquestionably gOing to be 'racked over the coals by Dr. Selikof!f! and by representatives of organized labor. Unfortunately, the Association has neither the manpower nor the time to embark on a full-scale legislative informatioD program. We have aet on occasion wit~ the legislative and ", AAll9966001' , . . .:.. " '. ... , 2.1 - leqal as.istants to various Senators who have attacked asbestos, however much more needs to be done in this area and I am afraid iluUvlclual member companies a&rre CJoing to have to be the prime ~all carriers and Dot the Association. 'For essentially the same ~eason, our government aativities at the it&atta. and local level have declined to essentially zero over the, past year and a bal~. This has DO~ ti..been too serious a cdleeffiicciieenncy aas 1IlOst of the authority of the aa1itie. and statas in asbestos control has been usurped by 'nlriOU8 Federal regulatory aqencieso Nonetheless, mora individual B oompany activity is required at ehesa lavels of government. " In conclusion, I th1nk we can all be dustif.iably pleased with what we have been able to accompliSh 1n the past I few years in resolvingq'ehe cornucopia of interrelated problems that constitute the ~abestoa-h.alth situation. Our plant~ are cleaner and our workmen better protected. \ ~e general public has been shown to be in no danger fr~ asbestos:" . if it ever waS D While we have been regulated extensively, for the most part the standards tha~ bave been developed have not bean as bad as we feeAureedd they mqhi: be, aftd ift aome cases t:hey, turned out far "better 1:han we ever dared hope. In addition, wh11e we are still taking our lumps in the public press, the net effect of all this adverse publicity haas been shown to be aurprisingly small. ...".A.! 9"0 0"," - 28 - Ife have aweatec1 & lot and. we have qroaned," lot, but we are a~1l1 starJ4ding' and we are still viable. I sense 1:o4ay within the industry a qreater tf Ung of confidence iAll the futu:e than at. any time in the past few years. But we must ACt rest con1:entedo We muat remember that k .SeU.kof! has to 4&t .been far le.. succe.sful ~an o~ industry has 1iD influencll19 the 4801.iofts of the varloua governmental :regulatoxy agene1e ftiea will make JWn try harder. heat last 'week 1 saww a spee~ .s o~ hi. in which he m1aint:erpret:ed some aeattaa by a British scientist 80 to prove' that even two distinguished flbeis is not, a sufficiently safe level for occ:upaUonal expo~. to ..sheatoa. '1r'hhe struggle is far from over. We must not only t L f(' continue but indeed expand our activities in the vcu:ious areas ( i of concern if we are ~o assure the future wall-being of the asbestos 'industry in the United Statea. 41.19603 --.---..- --.. .. ..... ...-"" ~ -.' ....-.....,