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FILE NAME: Foseco (FOS) DATE: 1972 Apr 4 DOC#: FOS021 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo 'FO G E C Q , iW C. 1 ,N T E b -c o h p a h y a n d i n t e r .d e p a r t m e n t a l c o r r e s p o n d e n c e t o -. R. C. P h o e n i x from: E . J. Jago OATS: SUBJECT! A p r i l ' i f , 1972 T O X IC IT Y of p r o f a x ,- p r o f l e x . FERRUX INGREDIENTS * ' Introduction \ R e c e n t l y much has been w r i t t e n in v a r i o u s memoranda about the p o t e n t i a l danger o f asbestos and the n e c e ssity o f removing it from our insulator formu l a t i o n s . ! do not b e l i e v e , however, that anyone who has been i nv ol v ed has r e a l l y r e a l i z e d the magnitude o f the problems cr ea te d by O .H .S.A. (1970) and the E.P.A . f o r i t is not simply asbestos that is the problem but p o ssib ly every i n g r e d i e n t t h a t we c u r r e n t l y employ in our P r o f a x , P r o f l e x and Ferrux formu l a t i o n s . For any d u s t o r fume p r od uc i n g m a t e r i a l a re now suspect and every chemical s u b s t a n c e a f e u l t i m a t e l y to be c o n t r o l l e d . Problem Of immediate c o n c e r n to th e SMPD D i v i s i o n a re the f e d e r a l r e g u l a t i o n s r e c e n t l y i s su ed g o v e r n i n g a s b e s t o s ( s t a t e laws a l r e a d y e x i s t in New York) and 'which co u l d o u t l a w p r o d u c t s c o n t a i n i n g more than 5% a s b e s t o s a f t e r 1 June 72. A l s o o f immediate c o n c e r n a r e t h e r u l e s now b e i n g p r o p o s e d f o r s i l i c a w h i c h are p r o p o s e d to become e f f e c t i v e I n December 1972. T h e s e two i n g r e d i e n t s make up 80 to 90% of the m aterial c u r r e n t l y formulated into Profax and Proflex. Of ] e s s i mme d i at e c o n c e r n a r e r e g u l a t o r s c o n t r o l l i n g d u s t and. fume e m i s s i o n w h i c h c o u l d make F e r r u x a s c u r r e n t l y f o r m u l a t e d o b s o l e t e w i t h i n the next 12 months. A s th e P r o f a x , P r o f l e x , F e r r u x head in g p r o d u c t s make up a t o t a l of $12,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 o f Fo s e c o s a l e s i t o b v i o u s l y i s im p e r a t iv e to get ac tio n on a l t e r n a tive materials immediately. Actions U n f o r t u n a t e ly , the s t a f f a v a i l a b l e in the U.S.A . has been almost e n t i r e l y engaged in p u ttin g out f i r e s in the manufacture of s a t is f a c t o r y Proflex for many months and no major e f f o r t has been devoted to the t o x i c i t y problem. R e c e n t l y a r e - s h u f f l e o f the s t a f f made i t p o s s i b l e to reopen a F e r r u x program and a p o r t i o n o f t h i s w i l l be concerned w i t h the development and e x p l o i t a t i o n o f low fume, low t o x i c i t y m a t e r i a l s . In t h i s w o r k we are l e a n i n g h e a v i l y on F . I . L . and t h e F . P . D i v i s i o n and we expect to have the i n i t i a l p r o d u c t s o u t f o r f i e l d t e s t d u r i n g A p r i l . However, s.at i s f a c t o r y c o n - V /locnlx L 1972 Page 2 s ton of such / s time to the a p ro je c t cannot be hoped for u n le s s p r o j e c t 'f o r at least 6 months. one man con devote 100/j of The problem of a s b e s t o s In P ro f le x and P rofax was tackled a year o r so ago before the labor c r i s i s developed and the rudiments of a P r o f l e x formulatio n ( c o n t a i n s 1% o f a s b e s t o s ) were developed. Many d i f f i c u l t i e s remain to be overcome, however, as the pro d u cts lack green s t r e n g t h , tend to have a low f le x u ra l strength and have a lower heat re s is t a n c e . In addition, the formulations s t i l l c o n t a in s i l i c a . No a d d i t i o n a l work can be p e r f o r m e d o n t h i s p r o j e c t on a c o n t i n u i n g b a s i s u n t i l a t l e a s t one man can be employed. * A s the ma g n i t ud e o!1 the p r o j e c t i s enormous i t r e a l l y r e q u i r e s 1 - 1/ 2 o r 2 men d e v o t i n g to i t i f the d e a d l i n e o f December 1972 f o r an a s b e s t o s and s i l i c a f r e e p r od u ct i s to bereached. A i d has been s o l i c i t e d f rom F . i . L . and ( F . S . ) Lt d. on t h e P r o f a x p r o j e c t but as yet nothing of v a lu e has m aterialized . At t h i s stage, it looks as t h o ug h the w o r k w i l l u l t i m a t e l y have to be done i n o u r own l a b o r a t o r y by workers adding to the data obtained from overseas. Proposed l . To in c re a se l a b o r a t o r y e f fo r t immediately by 1 la b ora tory technic-ian ( a l r e a d y b e i n g p r o c e s s e d ) and 1 ch emi st ( t h i s man w ou l d be c h o s e n so t h a t in a y e a r o r so he c o u ld be moved elsewhere). 2. Send D . S u t l e r to U.K. as soon.as p o s s i b l e to work with Mellows, etc., f o r 3 weeks to a s s i m i l a t e f o r m u 1a t i o r ^ / a t a . 3. To c o n t i n u e a l l o u t e f f o r t on F e r r u x u s i n g R .B . R . and the new la b or a to ry technician. h. To push f o r non a s b e s t o s ' a n d s i l i c a f r e e p r o d u c t s u s i n g D. 8 .B . and the new ch e mi st . EJJ/btb c c : W. C. ' S u t h e r l a n d E. J. Jago