Document peNyemRYKrVw0YG2zyo5K3XYd

FILE NAME: Newspaper & Magazine Articles (NMA) DATE: 1964 Oct 7 DOC#: NMA041 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Newspaper Article - A Rare Carcinoma Believed on Rise JMMMKOM! BELIETOI OH RISE Study of Asbestos Workers Shows a High Incfctenoe a f HAROLD M. 8CEDIBCK Jr. Occupational xpouire to u bastes may bo making an ex tremely n r* form of cancer much more common, accord' log to a report yesterday to the annual maeUng at the American Pub Health Association. The cancer is catted mesothe lioma, I t affect) the inner lining of the abdomen or of -the chest and, la either case, it is fatal In the general population it Is extremely rare, but studies in Airies, where asbestos is mined, and more recant todies of coastructlon workers exposed to asbestos dust in the New York a ty area boor it to be far more common among those ex posed occupationally, The ipedahstrwko gave the report expressed worry that the. danger might not be entirely restricted to a limited occupa tion group, but that K might be mors general and possibly of considerable Importance. There is no direct evidence to sub stantiate this, they said, but loot of the available findings hint that this may he the easo, The report was gtven by Dr. Irving J. BeUkoff and Dr, Jacob Ghurg of Mount Sinai Hospital and Dr. S . Cuyler Hammond, director of statistical research for the American Cancer So ciety. Mesothelioma is so rare in the general papulation that it is not separately coded among causes of death. Yet a study four years ago in an African asbestos min ing region found 33 case, the report said. Heavy exposure to asbestos dust baa in the past boon linked with some increased risk of lung eanoer, Dr. Sotlkoff end Dr. Hammond said at a news conference before their talk, but the mesothelioma la another uiattor. The group pursued the ques tion by studies In the United States. One of these was study of deaths among members of two Now York area locals of a construction trade union whose! members dcatth with asbestos: fosutation, Of a tots! of 307! deaths occurring in this fairly} restricted group over 20 years-* 1943 to 1911--10 were found to be caused by mesothelioma. The report called this "an extraordinarily high Incidence for a tumor generally so rare" In contrast, they current hugh study by the American Cancer Society on the effects of environ mental factors on health showed that among 31,653 deaths in the general population only three wore due to mesothelioma. A further study of many cases of mesothelioma collected over a long period by, the Armed Forces institute of Pathology showed that one-fourth of those specimens that could be tasted had evidence of the presence of. asbestos. '! The worrisome foalure, Dr. Hammond and Dr. SoUkoff sald,i Is the evidence that sbeatos, once taken into the body, stays] there. Thus even a single heavy exposure could conceivably pro duce a canosr after a latent period of 30 years or more, they said. ; This idea, for which they said them is some experimental as Well as epidemiological vtdmtce, could expand the risk from sim ply those occunaUonally exoosed to virtually anyone who might only occasionally encounter as bestos dust The severity of exposure nec essary to produce such a seri ous effect la not known, the two physicians said. ffcpal>crtmpMiMcno<rwnrt)ijh||iMii. l\iw>*poducflnpcNMMwlt)cul(aMMcn.