Document oDMNd4krj5kK8v9oOvp95JGXD

FILE NAME: Union Carbide (UC) DATE: 1966 Oct 30 DOC#: UC074 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Newspaper Article - Dockers Fear Health Peril from Asbestos 3 o Oc-io K jby Jwr Aurea oyrne: 5| Medical Correspondent ; V; -i ;::, ^ W - i i s i:Sis^.'?ICiiiS.3!ii] D 0 p T 0 R S and d o c k tr| employed by the Port of London Authority are in sharp disagree ment over the health hazard In volved in the unloading of asbestos cargoes at London Docks. The dockers' believe tdiat; presi ent, working conditions are un- aafei-a view upheld by reports: liji tire Sunday Times that a "new" and |deadly tumour of tie plepra can result many years afW apparently brief exposure to asibestos dtust. , Dr A. U, Lawrence-Smlth, Prin cipal Medical Officer of the P|IiA , has however made a controversial attem pt to assuage their fears; In a signed statement circulated among the men he says that the Ministry, of labour arranged iicientific; investigations which ex cluded, .otho. lung : disease of " asbestosis " as a risk to. dock: labour; that the development1of the tumour associated with asbes tvo^so---y--kknown asmesothel"ioma--re- quuies sim ilar circumstancesbto those causing lasbestosis; and t^iat the tumour occurs only, where a particular variety and grade; of dust, not found in commercial cargo, i's 1r'eleased....i.n..t.o..".t.h...e....a.r.i.r..p.'' - f tls - i i s * -s! t He has, he* says, anvossurance protect dockers unload ng bags, of asbestos from H M Medina! Inspectorate that the gangs run:: no risk: of mes itheiioma or asbestosis! on Several! critical dockers said they ijvere u really handling such cargoes. I points. E^eniephenoral exposure frightened "j over the risk ' from appears capable of causing meso the dust, and would much ooner! -.spokesman of the ' Ministry thelioma. People have got it feel safe than get extra njioney.j ofi Labour, however, referred m 1 F ni I/ II nr t t l, JiM,li u A / . many ye^rs I after! playing on They compl unfed--End pnbabfy] toa a leittearm , on thea findings of the [asbestos ftps! it}: childhood. As fairly-pthat when a ----- - Insp sent etcstos-re-a-v-t-ee-r,-aIl: winhtiecrhestehda!'sp a rbt1fieesn.' 'King .Ed\yard!|VII culosis: ` If preven said1pf tu table Iwhy ber not charged the may involve dust :___. , , men not concerned It [reports th^'t thnppcentrtjjdn prevent?'j Crocidolitej (blue with the unloading. | It m ai also of air-borne dust was found' to asbestos) seetrs-to be mainly res settle on packages of foods going exceed the upper limits, of:safety ponsible and ! t may ,be| feasible, to grocers' shops tvhen tmllned hesiian bags of to; dispense with it/entirely." What they unloaded was blue- asbestos; are. unloaded at the nor a! rat of working, and agrees [When asked tolcomment on his asbestos in unlined hessian bags m report, Dr Lawrence-Smith infl labelled " G E F C O CenbeStos!" that in such case's 'respirators ated- that he did not [wish: to One bag had burst and its con-: should be worn. ' I ' : :. ' . d'ebate the matter on the phone. tents were [distributed over the i:' |rjie P L A ih a s . in; fact, b ien' . Through its areas officers, the others.: Asbestos yvas g iping supplying . the men' with mi sks Transport! and General, Workers through holes in many :nor.e, and! overalls for lise when . t Uhion has advised members not made by the hooks Kvhich some loading asbestos and.payifig them an, e'xtra 2s. an hb u r' for their t(.h andle cargojof asbestos where dockers insijst on using. Some of! trouble. ! " if! is imported in permeable bags. the men wore nol respirator; Sjn.ce that policy ;has been en others did no intermittently, A ; A;'- world . authority on- mese- ;forced at Southampton, safer, bags scientist who has tested tlje thlioma, questioned by phone in ve become the rule. 6ne ship masks personally says 'it is hardly Tokyo, where: he was attending a Cancer congress, considered that s turned away: unloaded from practicable to work in them for ndon Docks because the men ore'than half-an-hour. more than one of the P L A 's pro fused to handle' the (asbestos . The .solution is not mer ly a nouncements on this subject idid !ig.oard, and I; understand,that a not!;accord with the "'published ! a of lightermen will not handle matter! methods of masks] j but 6afer of packing! and loading, facts, . . j . , : . : estos at all. . , ; ' | ^That aspect of the | problem is - l! 'I;: : Dr. Robert Murray, medical adviser to the Trades L'nion Con On the West India Docks, last n: ow e-x"er"c,iJ. ing the | Ingenuity of ednesday, waiting : to! unload doctors, .scie ntists, and industrial- gress, said; " This is a misleading ; e City of Exeter, out of Durhan ista ffhi-nncrVo u t 1: t h k I w n r lr l i