Document q3kwv1r07dLxEzn36Q93dBoKM

FILE NAME: PPG (PPG) DATE: 1964 Oct 19 DOC#: PPG002 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo RE Asbestos Exposure at Pittsburgh Corning Corp. .) ~ SUBJECT: DATE: Asbestos Exposure at Pittsburgh Corning Corporation . * October 19 j 1961: ^57 nil . 1) On this date, Mr. Byrl Stout, Manager of Manufacturing, Pittsburgh Corning Corporation, was* brought to my of."ice by Mi*. Clyde ' Ruddick. Mr. Stout came to the General Office on 1 September from Port Allegany where he v/as the plant manager. He replaced a gentle man who died of. a coronary. . 2) An article in a New York paper on the 12th of October, Subject: "A Rare Carcinoma Believed on the Rise-- A Study of Asbestos Workers Shows a high Incidence." (A copy of this is attached.) This is t/hat prompted his visit to this office. 3) Potential asbestos exposure occurs at two plants, Port Allegany, Pennsylvania and Tyler, Texas. There are about 10 employees at each plant assumed to be exposed. The exposure occurs during the cutting of unibestos which is a pipe insulating material made by com bining ground asbestos which has been received from Africa in burlap . bags in the unground state with a filler composed of clay and diato ' '-maceous earth and a binder of water glass. The approximate percent ages of each of the finished products are 75$ asbestos; 20jS filler and $% binder. _ . lj) The unibestos process and plants we re acqidred from UNARCO in mid 1962. The dust control procedures were very poor. This is of importance only at the Tyler plant is concerned because these employees had worked for UNARCO. Port Allegany plant was a new plant opened in February of 1961;. * 5) The Kettering Laboratory, University of Cincinnati, per formed environmental studies at the Tyler, Texas plant. A copy of this study is attached. . 6) The Pittsburgh Corning Corporation consists of three plants. The Tyler plant with 60 employees-- produces only unibestos; the Port Allegany plant with lj?0 employees-- produces unibestos, glass block and a couple of other products; the Sedalia plant in Missouri located about 100 miles from Crystal City-- produces.foam glass products and has 200 employees. The Pittsburgh Corning Research Center is lo cated just north of Pittsburgh in Plum Borough. t ---------------- 7^-- Various factors associated with both asbostosis--and------mesothelioma were discussed. It was suggested, assuming that dust control procedures were adequate, no asbestos potential exists at Port Allegany. .However, since the Tyler employees had been exposed to asbestos under less favorable conditions, there is a potential of future disability in this group. It was furtlicr suggested that periodic surveys of the workers environment be made, i.e., every two years would s / SUBJECT: AsbcstoV'lix'posurc at P-C Corporation \ i - 2- p L ^ SirablC-f?r ,nodica1' lc^nl Purposes. If insignificant dust i4U iBa,0r and Tylcr> U can bc aasumed that deyell3S> 11 had resulted from previous exposures. iniur^funri^nT;' ? f?Ctpr in detennininC utilization of second injury fund in Workmen's Compensation. ' St?Ut invitcd me to visit all three of the Pittsburgh Corning plants. I advised that I would work out with v i s i t ^ h ^ K Stil(:dale ui^h the Coatings and Resins and Glass plants b -n detern* ned* He further suggested that I make arrange ments for environmental surveys with either the Industrial Hygiene g Foundation or Kettering.Laboratory for some time after 1 January 1965. .A RARE CARCINOMA , BELIEVED ON RISE % __ _ __ . Study of Asbcstos.Workcrs Show* a High Incidence i _ _ ------ -------- ! B y H A llO I.l) M. SCHMKC'IC J r Occupational exposure to as bcslos may be making an ex tremely ^rare fnrin of cancer much mure - common, ntcordInc to a report yesterday to the annual meeting of the American' public I IonIIII Association. The cancer is called incsothc-| jlonia. H affects the inner lining of the abdomen or of the chest `and. in either case, tt is fatal. In the general population it is extremely rare, but studies in A frica, where asbestos Is mined, and more recent studies of ' construction workers exposed to asbestos dust in the New \ork C ity area snow It to be Xar more common among those ex posed occupationally. The specialists who gave the yj*iort expressed worry that the danger might not be entirely restricted to a limited occupa-j lion group, but that it might] ' be more general and possibly o.| considerable importance. There is no direct dvidcnce to sub stantiate this.- they su'd, but some of the available findings hint that this may be the ease. The report wax given by Dr. liv in g J . Sclikoff and Dr. Jacob Churg of Mount Sinai Hospital and Dr. E . Cuyler Hammond. :... -.. / -.ir.'*-' ' ' V- ' 0j* *:;<;** : w / } . ' '. \*,"`kI l i : t.: ss k !/? li v W . V l 1.1 f-.Vv :v ' 'Vw J T . ./ r ./ r I-- t - t ' 7 : vi In n>t Ytflwn ' Dr. 1C. Cuyler lliiinnioml -director of statistical research for the American Cancer So- - CMe`solhelioma Is so rare in the general population that lL l_s ` fenaratcly coded among causes ofPdcath. Y et a study four years , uo in an African nsbestn., min . * region found 33 cases, the rCH cavyIUcxpoiurc to ashes]os! i,S dust has in the past bcc" ti-iih some ` increased i.slt c T e e r. Dr. Sclikoff and Dr. Hammond said a l a...nE'!,u conference before their lal \\ the mesothelioma is another '"T h fe ro u p rursued the |ucstion by stuil.es in the United States. One of these was a study of deaths among inembeis f two New York area locals of a construction trade union whose 'members drain. ^ V n ^ 3 0 7 ` Insulation. Of a total of 307. deaths occurring in ll' ,s Irestnclcd group ovci 20 v a t . T913 to 1001-- 10 were found to be caused by mesothelioma. . The report called this aa extraordinarily high Incident^ for a tumor generally sn rnre. , .In contrast, they current hu -h! study by the American Cancer. Society on Ihe rp.ccts *>. ciivirn.u mental factors on li'-alth " "``d that among 31.GR2 deaths in he general pcipulalion unly lu.ee were due to mesothelioma. * ' A further sliicly of many e of mesolhehoma colh eted over aForlotensg Ipnesrtiiotdutebyof ` ^l.mith'bnjvn-,.yy, showed that one-fourth - i ^ specimens that could w? tested had evidence of the presence of asbTelisctosw. orrisom. e f. c.a.ti.nc. rD\rr. Hammond and Dr. '- ,1''.. I Is the cvidriuc Unit asbesto.,. once taken into the body, stays there. Thus even u m.4\>. exposure could conivi ably P"*` duce a earner after a nt .period of 20 years or more. th ^ **Tils idea, for which they said there is some expel unrnlnl as Well *S cpiocimologiral evidence, .could expand the risii from sim ply those occupalionallv lX|>o:.l\l to virtually anyone who might only occasionally encuimtcr as-j bestos dust. The seveiily of exposure nee- Ojsury to pHHlut'o *.i'*h a x-*nous effect Is not known, the two physician:; Slild. I It 0 J A /. , ^T t