Document ppd1DVgqYDgRkx0KJGzvpr7Gk

FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1973 June 16 DOC NMA074 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Newspaper Article - Asbestos Found in Duluth Water ASBESTOS FOUND IN DULUTH WATER E.P.A. Links Fibers in Lake to Industrial Discharg^' BY JANE E. BRODY The The Environmental Protection Agency disclosed yesterday that high concentrations of poten- tlally dangerous asbestos fibers had been found in the drinking water of Duluth and surround- June June June ing Minnesota communities that juse Lake Superior for their water supply The source of the fibers the agency said is believed to be the discharge of waste from the Reserve Mining Company a taconite processing plant that has been embroiled in an anti- pollution sult for several years The company whose plant in Silver Bay Minn miles northeast of Duluth has been dumping 67,000 tons of taconite 16tailings into the lake daily for years called the charges un- founded and said there was no indication that the tallings pre- sented any hazard to the drink- Ing water While there is no health ef fect known to be associated with the ingestion of asbestos fibers the Federal agency recommended that communities using Lake Superior water find alternative sources of drinking water for very young children In studies over the last two decades Dr. Irving J. Selikoff an expert on environmental medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital here showed that the inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause a chronic lung disease called asbestosis and cancer of the lungs stomach and colon In an interview yesterday Dr. Selikoff said his laboratory had identified the asbestos fibers In the Duluth water as being the same type amosite that has been implicated in half the deaths among workers in a Paterson N.J. asbestos plant These workers experienced three times the expected death rate from cancer of the gastrointestinal tract It can be assumed that anyone who inhales asbestos fibers also ingests them but there have been no pure studies of the effects of ingestion in humans Dr. Selikoff said Dr. Lawrence Plumlee a physician on the staff of E.P.A. sald that limited studies in ani- mals have indicated that when asbestos is placed in the stomach it rapidly enters the blood stream distributed to out the body and is widely tissues through average The agency said it had the Reserve Mining Company iDnr. 6S0elidkaoyfsf ttohdeetermined with company is the only ma mulation of asbestos fibelgindustry fibelgindustry fibelgindustry dumping anything the tissues of residents onthelake onthelake Superior whose wa- Da uluu tht aatro eaanp aUuss tionpgy sytissuDtr.ehne tissuten Dr.he have long been regarded pristine pristine Duluth Duluth colleagues Dr.he most koff and his Mount Sinai will Dr.he compangiraat Lakes Besides Duluth bestos accumulation in communities in Minnesota dents with that of asbestes workers persons and persons belegan use the thought the persistent mineral fiberstremely pure water of the Dr. Selikoff and Dr. E. lake drinking purposes ler Hammond of the Americhe E.P.A. said it was trying Cancer Society have already termine whether the reside develop treatment methods thewould rid the drinking wa- the Duluth area might halter ready shown evidence of related health effects But even if no definitaverage definitaverage concentration of fibers potential health effect cant about 100 billion per liter asbestos defined the asbestos is expected methods know how supply finding fater finding fater particles in the nightlive to streng don't we don't these methods will the Government's case against Reproducent with petraittiod of the copyright owner Further reproduction prohibited vithout permission