Document pejLZBN3N2djD91KxJ2gLooOw

I i / ASBESTOS INFORMATION ASSOCIATION 1746 Mtorton Onto Highway. Oryatol Sgovc 4, Surte 606 Arikigtan, Wpinto 22202 * (70S) 076-1160 A1A/MA Directors To Hear EPA's DeKany At June meeting Regular second quarter meeting of Association's board of directors will be held Wednesday, June 13, at the Ramada Inn Old Town, 901 N. Fairfax St., Alexandria, Va. AIA/NA Executive Committee meets June 12 in the Ramada Inn. John P. DeKany, EPA's Deputy Assistant Administrator for Chemical Control in Office of Toxic Substances, will be luncheon speaker on June 13. DeKany is expected to comment on the ongoing work by OTS in regard to asbestos-containing products (N&N Apr.). As related matter, representatives of Association met with OTS officials on May 30 for general review of issues under consideration by EPA. Report will be presented to directors at meeting. House Hearings Held On Compensation for AisSbest' os Disease The Rouse Education and Labor Subcommittee on Labor Standards held three days of hearings earlier this month on subject of worker compensation for asbestos related disease. The proceeding before the subcommittee, chaired by Edward P. Beard (D-RI), began May 1 with a day of testimony on medical aspects of the condensation issue. Witnesses includedt Rep. Millicent Fenwick (R-NJ); Dr. Anthony Robbins, Director, National institute f Occupational Safety and Health; Dr. David Rail, National Institute of Environmental Health Sci ences; Dr. Leon Cander. Chief of Internal Medicine, Albert Einstein Medical Center; Dr. Hilton CbewXITbOhn, Corporate Medical Director, Raybestos-Manhattant and , Phillip Polakoff, Director, Western Institute of Occupational/ Environmental Science. Testifying the following day was Dr. Hans Weill, Professor of Medicine, Tulane University Meaicai scnoox. Also.providing testimony May 2 were members of the labor community including Sheldon Samuels, Director, Health, Safety and Environment, Industrial Union Department, AFL-CI0; Joseph Cribben. Depart ment of Health and Safety, United Association of Plumbers; and Allan Coats, Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO. P001 1509 HFM - 009568 SCF-ALLF-07670 PRODUCED BY FORD 1 L s,- Page 2 The first witness on May 2 was Rep. George Miller (D-CA). In his testimony, Miller devoted considerable etrort to support his allegation of an industry "cover-up". - . John A. McKinney, Chairman of the Board, Johns-Manville U6rporation> testified on May 8 and responded to allegations previously leveled at industry. He reviewed "what was known when." McKinney said, "The greatest criticism that I have of the material which has been presented to you is the failure to mention the governments role with respect to asbestos and health." Dr. Paul Kotin, senior vice pres ident for health, safety and environment, presented testi mony on the medical aspects of asbestos and asbestos- related disease. ` 4 * Further hearings on asbestos-worker compensation will be held in July in Long Beach, CA, and in Oct. in Providence, RI. Asbestos In Schools Continues As Focus Of Attention The Asbestos School Hazard Detection and Control Act of 1979, H.R. 3282 (1524) has been reported out by the House Education and Labor Committee at its May 1 session (N&N Apr.}. The controversial Sec. 5(e) was deleted, however, a new provision directs the U.S. Attorney General to conduct an investigation and report the results to the .-Congress, within one year of the Act's effective date, to determine whether "the U.S. should or could recover, from any person determined by the Attorney General to be liable for such cost6, the amounts expended by the U.S. to carry out this Act." Lan guage of current bill further directs the Attorney General to then proceed to recover the monies in this manner, if it- is concluded>by*him that^such-action` is appropriate. In. other developments concerning asbestos materials in schools, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) filed suit on May 18 in U.S. District Court for District, of Columbia in effort to force EPA to initiate immediate rulma,:ing for inspection and repair of -asbestos public schools. EDP believes EPA's voluntary program of technical assistance is ineffective. EPA had denied EpF's Dec. '78 petition for immediate rulemaking in a Federal Register notice dated Apr. 4 (NtN Apr.). EDF attorney Jacqueline Warren stated "merely providinq a technical guidance document does not give the EPA program credibility. The 6tates lack leadership and direction, and do not feel compelled to comply with this voluntary effort." 8001 1516 HFM- 009569 ppnnT rrrn rv pnpn fpl I*' I Page 3 EPA Administrator Douglas M. Costle. responding to a sim ilar request for agency regulation to control sprayed asb estos., stated "Regulations to control asbestos contamination in buildings cannot be developed until there is sufficient evidence to establish that the asbestos materials present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment."., f To the reguest for regulation, from New Jersey Governor Brendan T. Byrne, Costle further stated that "the regula tions could not be issued until after EPA had conducted a thorough assessment of all the ramifications of the problem, including the risk, benefits of and substitutes for asbestos and the economic consequences of asbestos controls." r Dryers and Follow-On SBESTOS-r.ONTAINlNG PRODUCTS Consumer Product Safety Commission has accepted corrective action proposals from eleven firms manufacturing hand held hair dryers. These firms were initially served with a Special Order in Mar. and a file opening letter of Apr. 20 which asked the firms to take certain corrective actions to protect the public (N&N Apr.). ' All the firms have instituted programs involving the repair, replacement of, and/or refund for asbestos-containing hand held hair dryers. The firms have stopped the sale and dis tribution of these dryers and are retrofitting their inven tories. CPSC staff is again researching the possibility of hazards from asbestos in domsumer products other than hair dryers. In a May 17 briefing, of^the^Comn^f/iion,: a staff-memorandum was presented which discussed several ways for CPSC to identi fy hazardous products. Two options for obtaining information from industry were covered. The first is the Advance Notice^c^roposal Rule making, a voluntary means. The Commission coild also U6e compulsory process, with either Special Oi.ruers to named persons or General Orders to classes of persons. Either of these actions, or a combination of them, could'be taken. Although the Commission has not taken any action on the staff memorandum as yet, AIA/NA has been advised that some such initiative is likely. Meanwhile, the staffs information gathering process on asbestos in consumer products continues with emphasis on paper segment of industry. Boni ml) HFM - 009570 PPOnTTpor* nv rrvpr* t Page 4 eeting Of OSHA's Advisory .Committee SM CONSTUCTION SAFETY AND HEALTH 0 Harvey, IL,vas location of OSHA* Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health.meeting on May 16-17. Agenda included general discussion of standards develop ment and enforcement activities, as well as problems . associated with asbestos medical surveillanoe in the con v . struction industry. The committee passed a resolution calling for a separate vertical poke oven emission standard for the construction ' industry, to serve as a model for application of other OSRA health standards to the industry. Resolution wbb passed despite warning by John Martonik, OSHA industrial hygienist, "if the committee decides-that medical surveillance isn't an important part of - a -construction -ondostry -standard ; I don't think OSHA will believe them." Regarding problem of recordkeeping, Basil Whiting, Jr., deputy asst, secretary of labor (OSHA), said difficulties have to resolved by industry and labor and that "Health standards apply across the board. We have an extreme reluctance to impose different health standards on construction." For benefit of committee, Richard L. Trachtman, Esc., AIA/NA staff, gave presentation on Association's work to elate in development of an alternative for an asbestos standard $n the construction industry using the work practices concept. Trachtman emphasized that the unique characteristics of the construction industry require special consideration for application of health standards. It should be noted that, notwithstanding remarks of Basil Whiting above, OSHA recognized need for a separate standard for occupational exposure to asbestos in the construction industry by excluding it from the proposed revision to the present asbestos standard which was issued Oct, 1975. r. Bingham Responds To AIA/NA ;equest For Retraction In letter dated Mar. 22, AIA/NA Pres? dcr.t-^r^r. Dougherty called upon Assistant Secretary of labor (OSHA) Tr. Eula Bingham to retract "with appropriate Explanation11 a Labor Press release which included misleading and scientifically unsupportable statements regarding asbestos health risks (N&N Mar.). On May 7, Dr. Bingham responded with the following statement: While I do not believe that a retraction would be appropriate, we will take your comments into account in preparing future information materials on asbestos." *001 1516 HFM - 009571 PPOTMtr'Pr* pv A1HC Urges Consideration Of Cost-Benefit Relationship Regulatory reform legislation should require that benefits of an agency regulation bear a reasonable relationship to compliance costs, the American Industrial Health Council recommended to Senate's Governmental Affairs Committee on May IS. , / Referring to OSHA1s rulemaking proceeding on a generic cancer policy, Jackson Browning, corporate director of industrial health and environmental affairs. Union Carbide Corporation, said the agency did not estimate the benefits - ....of the regulation, costs to .industry or impact on the economy. Browning Is . .specific preqpnunendations to the congressional committee includedt" * . . Benefits of a regulation should be reasonably related to economic and societal costs. . The regulatory analysis should be subject to review by the courts. . Objective and scientifically valid health risk determinations should be required. Related to above are comments by Dr. Bula Bingham, assistant secretary of labor (OSHA), at a May $ seminar onmanagement of toxic substances in the workplace in New Brunswick, N.J. Regarding growing demand for cost analyses of regulations, she said, "He are not obligated, and are in fact restrained by our (OSH) Act, from saying a person's life is worth so much and that a regulation will cost so much." 'CCUPATIDNALPhYS1C1ANS HEAR uggestions To Improve Image At American Occupational Health Conference--=rrr-.Aiu'heim, CA, held May 1-3, occupational physicians were__VJrgfd to increase their influence through better communications with corporate management, news media, general medical community and em ployees. . J* Dr. Anthony Robbins, director of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, called on physicians to recognize their "missionary role," stressing that they should put more emphasis on epidemiology, informing work ers of risks, and control technology. Occupational physicians "are caught in a situation where they cannot seem to live up to their^ responsibility to their *00i 1513 PPnr>TTr>CT> pv /cnpr* f l V -.v patients," Robbins told the group. While he 6aid he is not sure whether the occupational physician ought to be blamed for the situation, he noted the possibility of the phy sician's divided loyalty between the patient/exoployee and the corporation. Perhaps, Robbins suggested, the situation results from an "institutional failure" and he asked the physicians to think about whether there is a need for a "new hind of independence* in the field. Dr. Paul Kotin, senior vice president, health, safety and en' vironment, Johns-Manville Corporation, Denver, Colo., told `' the group of his concern for the adverse atmosphere in which current safety and health regulations are adopted. He sug gested the formation of a Health, Safety, and Environmental Quality Arbitration Panel, composed of members who could use their expertise to evaluate the scientific, economic, and legal issues surrounding regulation in those areas. Kotin ....... told the group that .such,a..panel .could.clarify, issues and he suggested that the physicians look at the administrative as well as scientific and health aspects of the standards with which they must insure compliance. In addition, Kotin scored the media for compounding the already difficult task of evaluating data with sometimes "garbled or unforgiveably wrong" information in a effort to have terse and provocative copy. And he also took issue with the "big is bad" attitude and suggested that more thought and attention be paid to the small employer who can least afford a safety and health program. Meetings Of Interest '. . . Biological Effects of Mineral Fibers and Particulates June 7 -6, Wilson Hall, Bldg. 1, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, sponsored by HEW Subcommittee to Coordinate Asbestos/"Asbestiform" Research. Agenda includes series of asbestos-related scientific presentations. (Honda , NXEHS_ Box 12233,..Research--Trianqle Park, N.C. 2T755T iu ). 541-3506). . . . OSHA Practice and Procedure - June 13 - 15, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C..s^y56 includes safe ty and health standards- development., enforcenent and lia bilities of non-compliance. Feet 0325 :^TL>i'ie Brown, Georgetown .University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001). . . . Safety Expo/79 - June 26 - 28, New York Hilton, New York City, sponsored by Occupational Hazards in cooperation with NAM. Program includes seminars/workshops, exhibits and presentations. Among speakers are Ronald Lang, AIHC and OSHA and NIOSH heads, Drs. Bingham and Robbins. Fee $90. (Safety Exoo/79, 614 Superior Ave., West, Cleveland, OH 44113). - *001 15U HFM- 009573 PPfYPiT irm v T?ra>T>