Document kDxQ23G1Gjq1qoxL8yLaLQJbJ

V V r *. ^Armstrong ____COM COV***** Mt f.(t | *w l n'MM torch 21, 1975 1 RES^DrMf PCmtco ' 6430 Mr. Harold A. Scrimshaw, Product Manager Acoustical and Insulation Board Products Gold Bond Building Products Division of National Gypsum Company * 325 Delaware Avenue Buffalo, NY 14202 . Dear Mr. Scrimshaw: This will reply to your letter of March 11, 1975 to our Mr. H. R. Hess concerning your standard statement of notice and caution imprinted on cartons of asbestos products. It is agreed that the statement meets OSKA requirements. r Although the notice gives warning to users, I question whether it provides Q adequate warning of the risk. Your company, as well as ours, has been involved in certain liability suits involving asbestos containing products. The typical situation involved is where the contractor's employee, while working with an asbestos containing product, contracts asbestosis or cancer. The contractor's liability is covered under workmen's compensation, but a liability suit against the manufacturer is not precluded. It is with the third party suits where the greatest exposure to liability occurs. In the Borel case, whieh was decided last year, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stated that the users must be specifically warned of the _ dangers involved in handling products presenting a risk to the user. If the danger involved is contracting asbestosis or eanccr, the worker should be warned of that fact. It is for this reason that we believe the following warning should be placed on the label for asbestos containing products shipped under our name: ' CAUTION CONTAINS AS:. "S'Ktt KIJIKRS AVOID CKKAi'INO DUST luuvaiuin: Azucnns dust may cause Aur.irnvcis, CAIJCKR OR OTHER ' V.I0U3 BODILY HARM > r iir uarold A, Scrimshaw 2 torch 1, 1975 I concur with the placement cf "amine on the carton flaps on top of the . carton in full view of.'the r.cc: r.-.ir: opening the cartons. If the notice vans of the specific dancers invcl nd. tren 1 do not believe that a user will be in a position to contend that he did not receive proper notice* In licht of the forc/joing, it fill be appreciated if you will reconsider a revision of the warning that currently appears on the carton* . Very truly yours, A. Sari Mays Lccal Department Secretary's Office MFR QtnSSTICMS 5148 . % ?age 4 12. You have stated that lung cancer can develop from lover levels of exposure than asbestosis, yet most eases of lung cancer occur among workers who already have asbestosis. How is this explained? 13* What percentage of the lung cancer deaths in the ` insulation workers whora you have studied occur among ' those workers who don't have asbestosis?