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FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1971 May 4 DOC NMA053 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION NYT - Coats with Asbestos in Fabrics Termed Hazardous By HERBERT KOSHETZ New York Times Currentfile May 4 1971 ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times 1851 - 2002 pg Coats With Asbestos in Fabrics Termed Hazardous By HERBERT KOSHETZ Consumers and workers havel been exposed to a serious health including the possibility of lung cancer- from women's coats made with cloth containing asbestos fiber an officer of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union said yesterday More than 100,000 of these coats were manufactured last fall and winter from a blend of wool nylon and asbestos said Henoch Mendelsund a vice president of the union and some of the cloth with 8 per cent asbestos is still available An order has gone out to union members not to cut or sew cloth containing asbestos Mr. Mendelsund said There is only a remote chance however of calling back the coats he said because of their widespread distribution throughout the country to women who may not be aware of the hazard Physician Cites Danger At a news conference at the headquarters of the Joint Board of Cloak Suit Skirt and Reefer Makers Unions Mr. Mendel- sund introduced Dr. Irving J. Selikoff director of the En- vironmental Science Laboratory of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine who brought the as- bestos coat hazard to the atten- tion of the union Dr. Selikoff who also heads the division of environmental medicine at the hospital said that once the asbestos particles are inhaled they were not expelled and they did not dissolve The host may suffer no ill effects for years but the danger of lung cancer or some other asbestos malady remains he said He went on to say that brushing or rubbing a sample coat made of the material pro- duced asbestos levels in the air 10,000 times those normally present The hazard to clothing work- ers dealing with cloth contain- ing asbestos was far greater than those to the wearer he added citing the high level of asbestos tumors and cancer among insulation work- ers Letters of warning were sent last month to the Food and Drug Administration and Mrs. Virginia Knauer Special Assist- ant to the President for Con- sumer Affairs Dr. Selikoff said So far no replies have been re- Spokesmen for the Depart- ment of Consumer Affairs and the Department of Health here said they had no knowledge of the coats and could not comment I Asked what a consumer should do if she discovered she owned such a coat Dr. Selikoff said Bury it Mr. Mendelsund said that while he was confident the un- The New York Tyrone Dukes Henoch Mendelsund of the I.L.G.W.U. discussing coats made with asbestos at news segsion here yesterday At left is Dr. Irving J. Selikoff of Mount Sinal School of Medicine ion could forbid workers from using material containing asbestos government action would be required to halt the use of such materials anywhere His investigation showed that hundreds of thousands of yards of a melton cloth that was made up of 70 per cent wool 22 per cent nylon and 8 per cent asbestos had been imported from Italy One coat manufacturer he said had made and delivered 100,000 coats madoef the materials and four or five others shipped similar coats in lesser amounts Makers Not Named He said he did not want to name the manufacturers be- cause he felt that they were unaware of the health hazard involved and he was sure they would not make additional gar- ments Under the Wool Labeling Act fiber content must be stated for any cloth or garment containing 50 per cent or more of wool This was done on a detachable label on all the coats produced according to Mr. Mendelsund He said that hopes for al lower import duty were the chief motivation for using the asbestos In a case before the Customs Court last fall he said an importer had requested that a 6 per cent duty be set for asbestos material The duty on wood goods is 60 per cent plus 37.5 cents a pound Mr. Mendelsund said the Customs Court had turned lower down the request for the duty on asbestos material If the decision stands he said there wilble no advantage in blending asbestos into apparel fabrics 1 The joint board which has its offices at 22 West 38th Street has jurisdiction over 40,000 women's and children's coat workers in the New York metropolitan area They work under collective agreements with the New York Coat and Suit Association the American Cloak and Suit Manufacturers Association and the Infants and Children's Coat Association Mr. Mendelsund said that he had urged the associations to inform their members of the asbestos danger Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission