Document n90nwRrL81Jk5Nj5QrBJq8rqz

T. Mahnor Page 253 1 A. Right.. 2 Q. Would-you-agree .with me. that this 3 was -- in at least one respect -- a lobbying 4 group foe the asbestos industry? 5 ; A.*. Absolutely. !> 6 Q; i,`Was thatiits-main function? , , 7 A. Again, main ishard.: Did it have ` 8 that function-? Yes;?Is it an important part 9 -of their activities? Yes; - >: 10 Q. < What position do lobbyinggroups. 11 such as; the AM,- have.-in creating what you call 12 the attentive public? . . 13 A. -. They are the spe'arheaders of the' . 14 claims made on one side against the claims made 15 on the other.vThey make sure that these claims . 16 are brought to the attention to the people in 17 the Congress, to the media.: So you should - 18 expeefrto'haveduels between-lobbying parties 19 on-bothsides of American politics when.lt-. 20 involves lab'or andmanagement,not necessarily 21 in all-areas becausd-saihetim.es-one-side Istnot - v 22 organized.-: But in this case, it's a typical .' ? v--; 23 exampleof AIA-onl ones side,. AFL*GIO- ontbe-:i 24 other. .>?- ..5-- 25 Youcanseethisintheline-ups Page 255 1 in front of the Department of Labor.and 2 actually the Department of Labor went along 3 with it, which is not the same thing as AIA. 4 So it's not a possible which is only in AIA. 5 It has to do with these concerns about alarm 6 and refusals to use anything with asbestos. 7 What you can say for sure is-that 8 it wasn't -- they did not wantto use that form 9 of mobilization of the-public about asbestos 10 safety because they feared the:consequences of 11 it. 12 Q. So you-can say for sure that the 13 AIA did not want to use that form, being danger 14 and cancer, on asbestos containing products^ 15 because they feared the consequences which 16 would be economic repercussions? j 17 A. Not only economic repercussions*. 18 They feared the consequences'-for this whole19 industry. If there was this form of fearful 20 advertising and that was agreed-to-by the 21 Department of Labor. 22 There was a reasonable judgment 23 at the time and the reason it was a reasonable 24 judgment at the time is hot:nfecessarily::the 25 same one that we would come to now,-but because Page 254 1 at the hearings.-It is dominated-by - 2 representatives of Industry on the one.-side?and : 3 representativesof labor-organizations bn the 4 other. .. -.: . 5 Q. So the AIA>would be on the- 6 opposite end of the spectrum in this dehate 7 from union organizations? <. 8 A. Certainly. For purposes of - 9 arguing abotitJegtilafion notion eyery issue. 10 Q-; : * If in 1972 the AIA.lpbbied -for > 11 keeping: the-words "danger" and "cancer" outof 12 the required warning labels, the:federal .: > 13 regulation required w arning labels,-would they 14 be helping tolmake-the public more-attentive or- 15 less tothe admittedlycancer causing risks .of- 16 asbestos exposure? :: 17 .Av ; Well, let^nie get back: to^my Swn 18 themes here. There are a lot of contested - 19 views here and this is not whether they're ; 20 helping or hurting-. Do you understand? This 21 is whether or not the consequences-of using 22 those terms would be out distanced by the 23 negative ones, that is the fearfulness as : 24 opposed to the possibilities of control. 25 That was a position argued about Page 256 1 of the particularly scary element.of cancer at 2 that time. 3 Q. Because if they put the .words .. 4 danger and cancer on the products.people would 5 stop using them; people would refuse.to. work 6 with them? 7 A. Concerns about -- like.that-were 8 part of the fears what they regarded as 9 alarmist language, which was theiriargument. 10 Q. Which would threaten the economic 11 survival of these firms? 12 A. Not all of them and not > : 13 immediately. It would be problematic for the 14 industry for sure they thought. 15 Q. When you and your four research : 16 assistants did your review of the literature of 17 the last ten months, did you look 3t articles 18 in the Wall Street Journal? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Did you find the Wall Street 21 Journal to give a distorted picture of-the22 facts regarding the first.OSHA regulations? 23 A. I don't recall immediately that 24 particular Wall Street.Journal article. If 25 there is one, I can judge it by looking at it. 64 (Pages 253 to 256) POHLMAN REPORTING COMPANY (314)421-0099