Document qdybGKnVr1XG2ovMVZ63JaBOK

I warn** omumi GXZBOUS&.PA.1MI MONDAY. MARCH. U, T White House Aides Endangered By Asbestos, Too 117*, n*Lc*Atotlmnmt$ WASHINGTON - When Charles Poole started chugging up thoee five flights of stair* oral? nontax is the New Execu tive Office Building -- when sassy White Houm aides wort-- he taoeght it would make him healthier. But mob he began to worry about the itrangs-looking, thick, peynetenel that hung like most (root the ueirwell ceilings. A public health speeialiat by prcfeslion, Poole isipectea im mediately thit it wu asbestos, huirdoui lubtUnee known to ceuee lung eeseer end other terioui respiratory dieeeeee. And he wu afraid that the stairways of the prestigious gov ernment building -- which bouses, among other ageneiei. the Council on Environmental Quality -- were nddied with it. Poole turned out to be right. A former employee of the council who now worka for the Environmental Protection Agen cy (EPA1. he recently went back to the building and took a sample A lab analysis confirmed hit wont lean: Not only wu the lubitanee ubeitoa. but iti con test wu SO times higher this current EPA regulations permit Technically, so law* an beisg violated, became the buUdtag wu eoaatructad is IMS, several yean before EPA passed rulu that (evenly curtailed asbestos uses! insulation, sad ss afire sad noise retardant Butthen ia a certain irony that the buiiding'ieaployeea--mine of whom are charged wits monitoring the public environ ment -- art facing potential danger ia their own. "I tun wouldn't go up asd down those stain again," Poole said. "I would adviie all thoee people then to stay away." "This finding suggests then ia a real hatan hen," Nathaa Kirch, the environmental coun cil's acting aenior staff member for toxic substances and environ mental health. "It makes all the policy implications of using isautos all the more real when it's close to home. I'd like to urge the EPA and the Occupational Health snd Safety AdmuiatnUob !OSRA) to start taking a closer look at office buildings especially this one." The dangtrfrom asbestos com es from inhaling the tinyflben.H the ubestM ia seeled waste*, the danger deenaaae. Ia ttta Budget, the Council os Wise aad Pries Stability, aad the OSes of Science aad Technology Pottey ai wort - the ubestoe is aot bonded or seeled m any way. But officials atEPAandOSHA, who share some of the authority in regulating ubutot, say they have higher priorities this office buildings -- although they do acknowledge tbs likelihoodmata widespread problem exists. "The probleat ia much bigger than that pertieular bunding--I would say the problem ia quite extensive," said Steven D. JdHack. EPA'i uautaat adminis trator for toxic subataneea. "We just don't know how many puhlie buildings around the country have this problem. But we do know that many school buildings and public buildiagi constructed between IMS aad 1973 were sprayed with it." EPA ia now preperiag a aetof voluntary giudeliaei to help school dlstneti identify aibestoa probiesna. DUP 1110920 DU 054914