Document pKaDx7paQk67Nv3Mjwzpygoa

FILE NAME: US Gypsum (USG) DATE: 1972 DOC#: USG083 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: 1972 Newspaper articles on asbestos rules and health threats V' ,M \^ H ^ ' * Job-Safety Unit Sets J Tough Rules for '76 b On Plants9Asbestos c, ________ ` P * v + Wit f, ftrrr JntfftMAl. Mtmf tt*?rtrr ^ Washington - The oecup*tin*j and Health Administration announced tough f( new curbs on asbestos in plants, but gave tm* c ployera four years to comply.. The new standard wit! limit concent! stlons . of asbestos In the work place to two fibers J per cubic centimeter of air beginning July 1, 19?$. the agency administering the new Fed* ral Job Safety Law said. j Until 1976. the asbestos standard will re- . main five fibers per cubic centimeter. That was the " emergency*' standard imposed by the 1 agency last December under pressure from the ) A i'U C lO . . The inhalation of asbestos has been linked , to a number of human diseases. The standards for beato* rept esent a time-weighted average over eight hours. Rut. starting July *1. 1972. asbestos concentration.* aren't to exceed 10 fibeis per cubic centimeter of air at any tune during the eight-hour penod. Tne emergency standard currently in effect hasn't any such upper limit--only the' average of five fibers. I Government source asid the iour*year deity in effecting the new standard was to per* mu employers to design systems to control as* beatos. Imposing the new Umita more rapidly would have encouraged employers to comply by simply rotslmg workers during an eight, hour work turn or providing protective breath* lng devices, government experts believed. , The Environmental Protection Agency laM December banned open-air spraying of tabes | Ins fireproofing and insulation and required In* . | dustry io use filters to clean any gases pro* duced In the mining, milling and manufactur* in- of material* containing asbestos. tHi li I, |! i! .n 1 i r-: ^ ^ Perilous Particles T in y Asbestos Fibers Pose a Health Threat To Workers, and Public Long Exposure Can Result In Lung Disease, Cancer; Industry Seeks Solutions US `The Bodies Are in the Street' S By Baxxt Ncwvas 1 9MJT R e p o rte r Q f T K T W a lJ . S r a e r t J o o a v i l . NEW YORK--At Joseph M anno'e l as *>tjon on the fringe of M anhattan's Spanish H*rlem th e proven method of cleaning on old b ra k e assem b ly jo e s like this: Pull off the w heel, u r n An Air hose At th e exposed p a rts an d blow the d u st out. A cloud of brown dust Invariably file H rtit Into the mechanics1 faces. says Mr. Marino. But U doesn't bother them. "We tot masks and everythin;." Mr. Marino shrugs. "Tha toy* don't uae tliem. What the hell." What the mechanics don't seem to know-- like thousands of other mechanics--1 thst the brown dust t* dangerous. Brake linings are made of asbestos. And If a mechanic breathes In enourh dust from the worn-out lining It could eventually kill him. The lethal quality of tiny, Indestructible as bestos fibers that lodge In the lunf la well known. Widely publicised studies by Dr. Irving Sellkoff of the Mount Swat School of Medicine lead him to predict that of the roughly 250.000 asbeatos Industry workers today, about 95,000 will die unnecessarily of occupational cancer "In the next 10 to 15 years we will enter the as bestos cancer era." says Dr. Sellkoff. ^''Tliis Is one of the great disasters of our time." lla ia rd t for Others. Too The asbestos Industry Is well sf/sr* of the problem and Is taking action to combat It. though ertucs aav the steps aren't as drastic ss the situation demands. But asbestos Industry workers aren't the only ones who might fill prey to the lung cancers and other diseases caused by the mineral's Irritating fibers. 11 s likely that millions of workers in other indus tries using asbestos fibers could be alfected. as well as ordinary people who haie come Into contact with asbestos In the stmospnerc. Perhaps the most tragic lact is that for those who have already been sulficienliv ex posed, changes tn procedures and standards of a sb e to t use-Include; a new set an-nou-ired yesterday by the Department of Labor-are meaningless. It takes ss many as <(i years oner the first exposure for asbestos-related di seases to surface. Controls Instituted now will indeed have an affect, but not for decades Harry Balley-la one men who isn't likely to find much solace In Uw new auodards. Mr. BaUey Isn't an aabeatoa worker. He's a brick layer In a Mobil Oil Corp. -refinery aloneside the Delaware Itiver In Paulsboro. N.J. He his been working at the plant for M years, and every yesr he has gone to tne company medi cal department for a chest N-ra>. 'They never laid mere wae anyUung wrong with me." etye M-yeor-old Mr. Bsllry. ana In deed he baa thus far developed no oulwaro aymptoma. Bui o lew months ago he and la other workers from the relinerv wenl to Mount Smi! for an examination, and overs one of them proved lo h.ve aearred iu ..g .-a sign of aebtsluni.. a nonmsllgnanl lung disease iMobil hae rr!u*fd lo leleasr hi mrUical rec ords to the Xeiv York dorlors. Mr. B.ulrv ee.r The company declines to comment on the nut- |