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FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1972 July 16 DOC NMA067 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION NYT Article - Asbestos Detected in Test of Drugs Asbestos Detected in Test of Drugs By JANE E. BRODY New York Times Currentfile Jul 16 1972 ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York York Times 1851 - 200 Pg 29 Asbestos Detected in Test of Drugs By BREO . D BROY DY been particles of asbestos a mineral that has been linked to the de- velopment of cancer and other in man Contamination with the par- ticles often exceeding levels found in other parts of the en- vironment was detected in two studies by a research team at Mount Sinal School of Medicine The researchers showed that third of the tested samples of 17 popular drugs contained the harmful particles All the drugs tested which included many common antibiotics are administeredadministered only by intraven- ous or intramuscular injection under medical supervision We have no idea how seri- ous this contamination is since we don't know what happens to humans injected with asbes- tos said Dr. Irving J. Selikoff who directs the asbestos re- search at Mount Sinal 1 i But he added at higher doses than we found in the drugs asbestos can produce cancer when injected into lab- oratory animals In view of the possibility that it could cancer at lower doses in man we consider it prudent to get rid of this mineral in drugs especially since its presence is In response to an Inquiry the Food and Drug Administration it was about to embark on said its own study of asbestos con- tamination of drugs in an ef fort to corroborate the Mount Sinal findings lished in which were pub current issue of the journal Science Results of the first study done in 1969 were reported to the F.D.A. in October of that mmeenntt thtehe Federal aagdevinscey- but no action was taken then samples The second study on gathered in 1970 and 1971 showed that the drugs still con- significant tained asbestos fibers amounts of The Mount Sinal team Drs William J. Nicholson and Carl J. Maggiore and Dr. Selikoff all experts in environmental medicine suspect that asbestos fil- are ters used in manufacturing the drugs the sou of r theccoe n- tamination Dr. Armond Casola chief chemist of the F.D.A.'s Bureau of Drugs said that if such fil- ters were found to be a source of the asbestos fibers he would recommend their discontinu- ance He added that adequate substitutes are available The finding of asbestos particles in drugs is one in a long list of environmental sources of the mineral fibers The air breathed by most urbanites contains such fibers which are used lining in fireproofing building conditioning ducts and in brake linings among many other uses Dr. Selikoff and his col- leagues have demonstrated that chronic exposure to asbestos found fibers can present serious health hazards He has that among asbestos workers deaths from a variety of can- including cancer of the lung and of the gastrointestinal are far more common than among the general popu- lation diseases Asbestos - related diseases have also been found to occur more people exposed exposedxpected among among with people to the by virtue of having lived an asbestos worker or lived in the vicinity of asbestos operations Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited without permission