Document ggwpKM2Rq7dbdo9zK6yB9XyJ

FILE NAME: Z/ZZZ/Ed DATE: DOC#: /Ed DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION:/EdZZdEZ ZZ' EZDZZZZZ Z ... DODD DDl.i 3 1325 ASBESTOS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION (Limhnl bjl Ouilran!tt) TlePI"'""' 01-'1l6 ~I<> Telcp=1 Int>g L<lMn T~b- ~ll L'\'TA G Mr. Horst Kutsch, Wirtschaftsverl>and Asbe$t:ement e.V, narve11rehuee r Weg 111, 2000 llmburg n, W. <l<u:lllany. also to: Dipl. Kim Harald Nerke1, Martin Herkel K.G., Po11tfach 91 02 60, 2102 Ha~burg 93. AIA/l/1'01 ll July 19!'1 Orsanis.ation o Associations At our AlA Executive C0111lllittee Meeting on July 7/8 the recanc eveoLs io Gen!!any Yero considered and very great concern was expressed at the l.mpli.:atl..;,.., fu G.;~1111ut)' and, f0Uo11ing fl:'OCI this, for us all. H was thit Lauer con11ideration with all iu grave implications which l.rd the Executive Cecait;tee to feel that they sb01Jld COUllllUt>il:ate with ooth WVA mu! WVAZ to adviH them earnestly to consider foi::mLng one Nniomtl German Association to deal t!l!Clusivcly vitl1 the asbestos and hulth i&lllil imd quirn separate from cQl!IZercial or scientific dr&anisations. The advsntases are clear;- {a) Concentration and identity of 1ie.wp-0int and thus of reprei>entations to Coverrunem::. Unions, Mt>dia and the Public, so avoiding rnnflicdng action. (bl A stronger voice because of speaking for a larger orgattintion. A method of achieving 11 !tingle Ge\llldn AnbHtos Anodation for thh pntict>lnr purp<:>se witl1out: \oll!.JSt ing predooa t i11e 111i&ht be 111 follows:~ (a) Those people in WVA and WVAZ "'l:JQ ;ire concerned with ~sbes to& and beal th and its i:npact on Goven1ment/Unions/Media/the Public shoutd be join!ld intQ 4 @111411 grQup and fo:rm the new Association, leaving the other two Assoeiati~ns with responsibility for just their cOl!lllercial ac&ivities. (b) A heat;lquarters to be set up in the most convenient faciliLies which exist. A responsible official should be available at all times. (c) To preserve an identity for this OO!'W Asi;ocia~ion which would be $Gparate fr!l!ll any ~xisling Association, company or organisation, a neutral acldren should b.., Uliied. t Sir Neville Stack cc for information: Executive Coll!Clittee DODD 0063 1326 ( TURNER & NEWALL LIMITED rAC!M H.0 .S. HARDIE TO ~. R. K. OAV, 'TAC CM 1.td, 'WI July 1981 CONFIOENTIAt ASBESTOS DEVELOPMENTS IN Gi:R/llANY At yesterday's meeting of tne E~ecut1~e Conm1ttee of t~e AIA, Mr. Schermer (Gennan ternit), who was standing in for Or. Sch1<.1<1r1. gave a brief and pessimistic acco~nt of developments in Genuany and 1 thought that you wooid be interested to receive rny swooary of toose c~nt->. The present position appears to be that the Federal Goverrment nviroll!llenta1 Protection Agency is prparlng a cata1ogue of pro~ucts which can be used in place of asbesto5-cement. The EPA e11phasis is on product substitution as they appear to recognise that there is no substitute for asbestos for tne reinforcement catalogue is scheduled for publication by 1st of Ce'1Tlent. This September alllci will be widely publicised particularly ill the trade press. Geman Eternit underst;rnds that there will be extensive quotation of the Califano figures on cancer risks in the United States. Although the attitudes of the Federal Ministries of labour and fl<lusin9 at present sugge~t that asbestos-cement creates no health risk to the general publ1c or in the envir'(>1111lent, the Ministry of EcOllO!llic Affairs appears to be l~ss tllan optimistic that those tllo departlllents will be able to withstand pos~ible political pressure which could be exerted on them to change their view. It seems probable that a cour-t action w111 he brought against the Gennan EPA by Eternit or by the WVAZ. This development has been complicated by a press release three days ago by the Wirtschaftsverband Asbest which criticises the EPA. the lofVA and the WVAZ very ruely seo eye-to-eye: At a conference of State Min1sters of the Environment on 8th May the Srernen Minister suggested ttlat all States should follow the Bremen lead.1n banning totally the use of asDestos within their States by 1st Apr11 1983. The Bremen decision, which was taken on 25th June, pl"oduced a vote on strictly party )ines and intens1ve lobbying is 001 taking place to try to get this re,.dn!led. It appear"S fr0tt1 the 8th May meeting that two other States indicated that they might follow ti1t? Bremen approach. However, tho next meeting of State 1111n1sters on 1st November is likely to confine discussion to the replacement of 11Sbestos~i::et00nt based on the catalogue whkh 1s to be produced by U1e PA. DODD 006 3 I 3c'1 - 2Herr Ehrenberg, the federal labour Mirister, is proposing to hold a conference on substitutes for asbestos in 1982. The present indications are that this may take place abJut mid~summer. German Eter11it are clearly in near par.ic from the present Position and have set up a task force freed fnim all other management responsibilities. This consists of Schwar2, Bornemann and Scher111er and reports direct to Dr. Reicher who is giving not less than 33~ of his time to the po1itica1 side of asbestos and health developments. The task force is collecting data and is undertaking political lobbying at Federal and State level and is contacting all its customers. We have sugge:>ted that tte tast: force should cover the whole of the industry and not be seen to be just an Eternit initiatire. H.D.S. HARDIE