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FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1973 June 24 DOC NMA076 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION NYT - Duluth Stoically Awaits Tests for Cancer Risk in Its Water Duluth Stoically Awaits Tests for Cancer Risk in Its Water By WILLIAM E. FARRELLSpecial to The New York Times New York Times Current file Jun 24 1973 ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times 1851 - 2002 g 36 Duluth Stoically Awaits Tests for Cancer Risk in Its Water By WILLIAM E. FARRELL Special to The New York Times | DULUTH Minn June 23he 100,600 residents of this ort on Lake Superior who ave prided themselves on the urity of their drinking water re stoically awaiting the reults of scientific tests to de- ermine whether asbestos fi- ers detected in the water reesnt a risk of cancer Last weck the United tates Environmental Protec lon Agency released a report isclosing that high concen rations of asbestos fibers which have been linked to lung- ancer had been found in Lake uperior The lake is the ource for drinking water for Duluth and the neighboring ommunities of Silver Bay Beaver Bay and Two Harbors The Federal agency said here was no conclusive evilence to show that the lake vater was unfit for consump ion but that prudence dic ates that an alternate source of drinking water be found for ery young children Juice and Soft Drinks As a result parents have een buying bottled spring wa- er or using well water or buying quantities of canned uice and soft drinks purest fresh water lake in the exposure to the mineral world : In a telephone interview Dr. Charles Carson a geolo from his New Jersey home Dr. gist who is deputy director of Selikoff said that he had a dozen persons working hour shifts around the clock at Edward Schmid assistant Mount Sinai analyzing the tissue samples and that he hoped theto have some findings within weeks Dr. Selikoff and other re- the president of Reserve Min ing said thishad It is unfortunate that thishad unfounded charge has beencer made public without testing itsand have asbestos previously found that asbestos workers thishad high death rates from canbeencer of the lung the stomach itsand the colon In addition the two New York doctors are analyzing data about smoking habits of Duluth residents that were compiled since 1959 by the American Cancer Society While there is obvious con- theycern basic among attitude residents their as summed up by one elderly taxi driver is Let's wait and see what this doctor comes up with ing water supplies due to tail ings Robert E. Ball an insurance Getting Tissue Samples Dr. Carson in an interview responded Reserve's attitude is that it's just another darn trick There are plenty of as- bestos fibers in the water and the air The question that remains - this as serious underwriter said All my friends have been drinking it for 20 years and they say What am I going to do without water A switch to bottle water wouldn't do much good now Fountains Shut Off But Mrs. Orval Chatfield a housewife took a harsher is saying This bad for the tourists and to think it's pol luting what was once the freshest body of water That Reserve plant - should be done something Community At the Copeland Community Center where 60 income youngsters are enrolled in day care programs run by the county welfare department James Anderson said that the water fountains had been shut off and that the children were drinking water from another county or another apple juice In response to pleas by area Congressmen the White House has appointed Russell E. Train chairman of the Federal Council on Environmental Quality to coordinate all Federal ef- forts to resolve the water crisis Several teams came here to study the water supplies and to seek alternative water sup- plies for the area In addition the Army Corps of Engineers began to experiment with erdlators used de- vices that had been used to purify water for troops in Viet- sophisticasophtistiecatedd to see if they were sophisticated enough to delete the tiny asbestos fibers from the lake waters Meantime the waiting goes on Mayor Ben Boo lauding his constituents attitude to date siad There's no reason to be confident Let's get some more facts I think the public has accepted that . THE FRESH AIR FUND 300 W. 43rd Street The Minnesota Pollution as Selikoff thinks it is If it is Control Agency the state's en- it's no paper tiger ironmental arm attributes the Dr. Carson was referring to presence of the microscopic Dr. Irving J. Selikoff the head isbestos fibers to the dis- of the Environmental Sciences harge of taconite tailings into he lake by the Reserve Mining Company of Silver Bay The ailings are grains of ore from which magnetic particles of Laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City an international expert on environ- mentally caused cancern Dr. Selikoff came to Duluth on ron have been extracted Monday night with Dr. E. The company has been em- Cuyler Hammond biostatician roiled with the Federal Gov for the American Cancer So- rnment and with environmen ciety Their mission is to obalists several years because tain tissue samples of deceased of its discharges into the lake Duluth residents taken during t dumps 67,000 tons of tailings autopsies to compare them . day into Lake Superior the with those of asbestos workers argest and thought to be the land of persons with no known Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission