Document jBmqKd4Z5pZxvRe1yNO161pOQ

Asbestos: A legacy of costly litigation The public health problem of asbestosrelated disease is unprecedented. It is estimated that 1877 of all cancer cases expected for the next 25 years in the L'. S. mil be linked to asbestos exposure. "No matter what we do now, we have this iron, irreversible legacy," says Dr. Irving J. Selikoff. director of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine's Environmental Sciences Laboratory in New York. Former workers and their families and neighbors who are diseased, or who may become so. are filing lawsuits by the thousands. Johns-Manville Corp.. the nation's largest manufacturer of asbes tos products, has been the target of about 2.800 legal actions involving more than 4.000 people. Some 490 cases al ready have been processed, many being settled by payments to workers. Other companies involved in litigation include Pittsburgh-Coming, Owens-Corning Fibergias. L'narco Industries. Cap, and Raybestos-Manhattan. But the workers hold the government equally responsible. More than 400 workers or former workers in asbestos manufacturing plants have filed suits against the Health, Education & Wel fare Dept, and the Navy, which super vised workers handling asbestos in ship yards during World War II. Heavy tettlemente. A few cases have been settled, including a #20 million payment by i'pr, Industries Inc.. Corning Glass Works, the federal government, and oth ers to 445 former workers in Tyler, Tex. The nrst of several cases against eight suppliers to Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. was settled for about #230.000 According to Dennis J. Markusson. associate general counsel for health, safety, and environment at Johns-Manville. the few settlements in volving that company have averaged #16.000 each. The crux of the cases is who knew what and when about asbestos-related hazards. The key question is who was -esjionsibic for warning workers about the dangers. Attorneys for the workers have charged that asbestos company of ficials exchanged correspondence during the 1930s in an attempt to keep asbestos Or. Selikoff: "No matter wttat we do now. we nave this iron, irreversible legacy." hazards from appearing in the press or professional journals. Johns-Manville's Markusson denies that there was any cover-up. The compa ny's position, he says, is that it warned workers when any hazard was "reason ably foreseeable." Johns-Manville has progressively lowered its dust levels for its own asbestos workers since the 1940s. but it did not put warning labels on its insulation products, such as those used in shipyards, until Selikoff published the first study of insulation workers in 1964. Asbestos may cause any of three dis eases, which may appear 15 to 40 years after a person is exposed. These include: asbestosis. a chronic, debilitating lung disease that reduces the lung's capacity to exchange carbon monoxide for oxy gen: lung cancer, exacerbated when as bestos exposure is combined with smok ing: and two types of mesothelioma, a cancer that affects the membrane lin ings of the chest and abdomen. High ditassa rsts. While worker exposure to asbestos is believed to have decreased in recent years, researchers agree that past exposures were h:gh. A 197- studv of 17,500 asbestos insulation w oncers lone by Selikoff ana E. Cuvier Ham mond. special research consultant for :he American Cancer Society, snows that 20`S died of lung cancer. 6G to 7~ of pleura) or peritoneal mesothelioma, and a significant percentage from sto mach and colon-rectum cancer --all higher than would be expected in a normal population sample. in addition, there are disturbing early results from a study being conducted by the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler, Tex., among 864 people who formerly worked at a Pit-.sburgh-Corning insulation manufacturing operation which operated near Tyler from 1954 to 1972. Jerry W. McLarty, chief of epide miology and biomathematics at the cen ter. reports that 19 lung cancer deaths have already occurred instead of the 5 he says would have been expected in a control group. Of the participants still living, 12 are known to have cancer and 37 are suspected of having the disease. The findings about asbestos-related disease are qualified by the lack of infor mation on workers' smoking habits. Seli koff and Hammond even suggest that lung cancer is uncommon among non smoking workers, although there is still a risk of death from asbestosis. JohnsManville has recognized this link and refuses to hire smokers. Mere legislation. By ail indications, in dustry and the government have not seen the last of lawsuits. The #20 million settlement in the Tyler case is being followed by "Tyler II." in which nearly 3.000 people, from former workers to short-time visitors to the Tyler factory, are filing a range of claims. The asbestos industry has endorsed current congres sional attempts to create a workers' compensation fund for asbestos-exposed workers. The bills, however, are moving slowly. While the legislation and litigation grind on. the government continues to try to track down the potential victims of past exposure, and to pinpoint those who may come down with cancer. "Over the next three decades," says Dr. David P. Rail, director of the National institute for Environmental Health beiences. "we're talking about hundreds of thou sands of people." us nactang material, which serves a.- a onise and heat shield while providing additional strength. "We are working . ery hard to come up with a materia! to -I'piace ' tnis iaei bit of asliestos. say> I'kanes M Brunhofer. director of engi"v-ring for Hertdix t'orp N Friction Mu -a.s ! >'. n '-:.Kos the-! - - the curved sha(>e that such brake linings -etiuire. But Rucxweil International 1 'orp.. w nich maxes i'7 of the brakes useoTn heavy trucks, savs it has a major development etfon unaer way. "We wiii tx in a [losition to market non-asbestos orases :r a rea.-oCaNe amount of time." _..m> l.-'san: r Bu.klanu. director of .. _nt. ;.-,.uue: :-.arming for . '[ g-: Braxv I>a \sbestos still is used in shingles ana :n roofing feit. a component of so-caiied "built-up" r'gmng for fiat roots. The National Roofing Contractors \s=n. .K'A. estimates that anout |o ; ndusiriai and commercial fiat roofs con tain asbestos. But the trade g'-oup notes ha: such Use of asbestos is de. "rung In ;H7'' asliestos felt was u-eu a- ,, r.repriHinng agent :n in" of -om- a im m 98 H DUP I 130577 DU 056973 from the 24% recorded the previous four ..attacked by the cement because of its years. There are a number of acceptable alkalinity, but there is promise in fiber substitutes for asbestos in built-up roof glass specially formulated to be alkali ing, including fiber glass and organic felt, which consists of treated rags and newspapers. srca's general manager, William A. Good, admits that awareness of the envi ronmental problems that may be created by asbestos in buildings is part of the reason its use is falling. A major use of asbestos from World War II through the early 1970s, insulation, has been almost completely eliminated. resistant. One such fiber, called Cemfil ar, was developed years ago under li cense from Britain's National Research & Development Corp., a self-financing public corporation, and has been sold commercially worldwide since 1971 by Pilltington Bros Ltd. Both fatter and longer than asbestos fibers, Cemfil ar has proved to be a strong reinforcement And it has not shown any of asbestos' Asbestos has been al most completely re placed for that use by such substances as cal cium silicate, cellular glass, mineral wool, fi ber glass, and expanded perlite. In addition, the epa has prohibited since 1978 the spraying of as bestos on the walls or ceilings of buildings. The agency's original concern wee the expo sure of workers end others to the fibers dur ing the spraying pro cess, but the problem of duced Preox. a heat-resistant fabric made of stabilized polyacrylonitrile. The fiber, called Celiox and developed by Celanese Corp., has a high carbon con tent that enables it to resist heat. Pro tective garments of this sort are worn by firemen and by iron and steel workers to protect them from the splash of molten metal. Eugene Alexandroff, general manager of the Gentex Textile Div., is interested in other applications, too. The company is exploring the possibility of entering the ship construction and main tenance markets, where asbestos is still used to wrap pipes. Partial substitutes. In Bangor, Mich., Ameri can Filler & Abrasives Inc. has been marketing an asbestos substitute called Ksy-O-Cel since April. It is made of cel lulose and clay wastes and other materials and is being tested in braka linings. Company Presi dent Edwin F. Neckermann claims that the product is price-com petitive with asbestos and should posa no health problems. "All sprayed asbestos, it turns out, is not that the materials in Kay-OCel themselves are rec ephemeral. The Envi ognized as being safe," ronmental Defense he says. Fund recently sued the Earlier this year, 3M epa to force it to take Sisslworkef wearing Preox: mgr-oarocr 'me' ar asses:;; Co. moved to expand action to protect school marketing of its substi children attending classes in aging harmful effects, although its inventor, tute, Nextel--a cloth made of ceramic buildings where asbestos insulation waa A. J. Majumdar, reports "minor skin fiber that can withstand heat up to flaking off the wails and ceilings. The complaints." 2.600F. The company turned over sub epa now intends to males mandatory its Oweni-Corning Fibsrgias Corp., a stantial sales rights to equipment build existing voluntary program, which re U. S. licenses for tbs technology, is siso er Babcock & Wilcox Co., which serves quires school districts to seal in or working hsrd on glass as s substitute. "I the steel, glass, and utility industries. replace asbestoe in such structures. Tht don't think any one material will univer "We are seeing many companies, often agency estimates that 10% to 15% of all sally replace asbestos," says Robert C. with full-time corporate engineers work school buildings contain asbestos. Dobsn, senior vice-president for science ing on the problem, coming to us asking However, other construction users of and technology. But he is optimistic if Nextel can be used ts an asbestos asbestoe insist that the substance is safe about glass' potentiaL substitute," says Arlen J. Rivard, sales in their applications. Manufacturers of Part of the problem with giaaa is its and marketing manager in 3M's ceramic asbestos cement pipe, for instance, claim that their products do not pose a rltncsr to the public because the ssfaestos is embedded in cement sad thi pipe is A propound CPA ban goods shivers through tho Isrgsly Canadian producers fibers project Nextel can be used as high-temperature insulation in and around furnaces, but its relatively high price--$25 a lb. vs. $2 a lb. for fiber glass buried 4 ft to 12 ft underground. "We and less than $2 a lb. for asbestos- think our applicstioo of asbestos ... is tendency to soften at high temperatures; makes it an unlikely replacement for safe and that the government feels basi asbestoe remains rigid until it reaches asbestoe in that application. cally the same way," says William A. its melting point. Therefore, glass could Despite the surge in substitute devel Krivsky, senior vice-president of piping not easily be substituted for the asbestos opment it could be a long time before an products at CertainTead Corp. But in that is still used to reinforce the concrete effective alternative is found for asbes fact, epa officials are worried that the sprayed on steelwork in most build tos in ail uses. And Johns-Manville, the asbestos fibers may become loosened by ings--a measure taken to prevent the industry leader, is relying on that while years of rushing water. stoei from buckling from heat in case of the era begins its studies. "If the era Trylnf gisee. While CertainTead, with fire. ban on asbestos goes into effect that $100 million in asbestos cement pipe Smaller companies also are vying for a would put us out of the asbestos busi sales, appears optimistic that any epa corner of the asbestoa-subetitute mar ness." says a jm source. "But there are restrictions will not affect its operations, ket. Gentex Corp., of Carbondale, Pa., enough essential uses of asbestos, and the company is busily studying possible which manufactures metal-coated fabric the scientific and medical research do substitutes. Glass fibers normally are for protective garments, recently intro not justify a ban." Ml aeo'mied from 8uflineeW#fc. Qecemoer 3 i9'9 cooy'iqnt *979 McGfaw*Hai me a fights 'served **0' ns wa> orge-ec Sv ;4",n5 5-a "esswve* Oeo'"'' SC? JA6 - ' C m|DUP * I 130578 DU 056974