Document ogbj71p8JM0eX7aYooQ4JDQw

INTRA-ORGANIZATION $ MEMORANDUM (UxIlcoXjj^J RS-7 from Julius Uemeth________ Voug Wood TO________ DATE_. July 19, 19 77 Always provide address to which reply is to he sent SUBJECT______ !___________________________________ ------- Please use a separate sheet for each subject treated VeaT Voug: Attached, hereto, Is the latent In paint Information I've seen on the Subject of a ban on asbestos products. Although It appear* In July 1917 Issue of Modern Paint & Coatings magazine-, I don't really know how current It Is because It may be an Item just picked up a* a "news Itej/A' by the magazine. 1 certainly would like to believe the first paragraph a* being the "latest thing" which Indicates that It would not require any .repurchase of the products. I guess we won't really know until a final determination Is made and the details are published In the federal Register. In the meantime, you might get me an update as to where we stand on remaining stocks of asbestos containing products -- In other words, how much have we moved out -percentage of the total since the last tally.. Thanks. Cordially yours. JKN/jlj Alt. Julius PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT BON-01234 r news of the industry Lehman Bros. Holds Open House r Six-Month Standard issued for Benzene The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) on benzene that limits employee expo sure to benzene to one part per mil lion (one ppm) of air per eight-hour time weighted average concentration, with a ceiling level of five ppm for any 15-minute period during an eighthour day. The standard, which went into ef fect on May 21, is based on a recom mendation from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The Institute cited prelimi nary conclusions of a new epidemio logical study showing an incidence of leukemia.in workers exposed to ben zene at five times the expected level. The ETS requires employers to no tify OSHA of the location of work places in which benzene is used and to describe the conditions of use and protective measures in effect. Engi neering controls, work practices, res piratory protection, medical surveil lance and recordkeeping are mandatory to comply with the on^ ppm emergency standard. According to OSHA, the ETS does not apply to retail automotive service stations or to "operations which use liquid mixtures containing one per cent or iess of benzene." These oper ations are subject to the present OSHA benzene standard of an eighthour time weighted average of ten ppm with an acceptable ceiling con centration of 25 ppm. The present standard also allows excursions above the ceiling to a maximum peak con centration not exceeding 50 ppm of benzene, if the exposure occurs for no more than ten minutes in any eighthour work period. A public hearing on the ETS-- which serves as a proposal for a per Herman Singer, president of Lehman Bros. Corp., Jersey City, N.J., explains the mechanism of a filling, closing and embossing machine connected to thinning tanks on the left during a tour of the plant. The tour was a part of the firm's' open house held in April to mark the completion of its seventh major expansion program since World War It. The expansion included the purchase of a 17,500 square foot building adjoining the original plant and the addition of two large stainless steel slurry tanks and a production mill. manent rule, and will be superseded by a permanent standard within six months--will be held on July 12 at 9:30 a.m. in the New Department of Labor Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Persons desiring to participate in the hearing were required to submit a notice of intent in quadruplicate be fore June 20 with the OSHA Com mittee Management Office. Comments on the ETS were also required to be postmtarked on or before June 20. rCpP.cSC Plans to Ban Asbestos Products The Consumer Product Safety Com mission has announced that it plans to ban consumer patching (spackling) compounds containing asbestos or asbestiform tremolite. The ban on the compounds, to be published within the next few months in the Federal Register, would not require manufac turers to repurchase the products. The Commission's action was taken as a result of a petition filed on July 25, 1976, by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Consumers Union. In a follow-up letter on the petition filed on April 27, the NRDC stated that "patching compounds con taining asbestos present an imminen hazard to the public health." In addition to patching compounds, NRDC cited the use of asbestos in "textured and other paints." NRDC requested that the compounds b banned under Section 15 of the Feder al Hazardous Substances Act, which1 provides for the repurchase of prod ucts by the manufacturer at the full purchase price. CPSC's action follows regulatory actions previously taken by the Envi ronmental Protection Agency, Occupa tional Safety and Health Adminis tration and the Food and Drug Administration to limit asbestos expo Xsure in working and other situations. AP to Expand Plant Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., is expanding and modernizing its poly vinyl chloride plant at Calvert City, Ky,, to increase the plant's capacity to 210 million pounds per year. The ex pansion, which will be completed in late 1978, will also give the plant flex ibility to produce a wide range of homopolymer and vinyl acetate co polymer resins. The plant will in corporate large reactors and computer process control. 52 MODERN PAINT AND COATINGS, JULY 1977