Document reDqYKngdN4g0r90pnGXeVwxa

>>' ;tj'.''.>w B-2 i THE TIMES UNION v .............. ......... ~ Albany, N.Y., Monday, August 14, 1989 ""' ................... Lung cancer survey rated inconclusive i. Green Island asbestos check ;; i '- By Phil Brown A Bendix spokesman said the Health - - Staff writer .l' .... - . Department survey -- an update of an GREEN ISLAND - ViUage resi dents contracted lung cancer more often than expected over an 11-year period, but the excess in cases was not statistically significant, according to a state study. ; The state. Department of Health conducted the study in response to concerns about the Bendix Friction Materials plant, which emits thousands of pounds of asbestos each year. Asbestos fibers can cause lung cancer. "Based on the analysis we did here, we don't feel anything unusual's going on," Martin Mahoney, director of the department's Cancer Surveillance Pro gram, said Friday. Another Health Department official warned, however, that the study is too limited to dismiss the risk to villagers. "It provides some reassurance, but it doesn't prove that there's no problem," said James Melius, head of the Divi sion of Occupational Health and Envi ronmental Epidemiology. For example, he said, if the plant caused a few extra cases of lung cancer, the study would not reveal that. earlier four-year study - backs up the / company's position that the emissions -' are safe Bendix estimates it discharged 7,400 pounds of asbestos into the air last \ year and 9,000 pounds the previous . year. The plant plans to phase out its ' - asbestos emissions over the next four years.. _. . Last week, the state Department of ,, Environmental Conservation issued \ Bendix permits to continue discharg- . ing asbestos, according to Craig Lar- , son, the plant's manager for health, safety and environmental affairs. He ' said Bendix agreed to conduct tests to determine the type and amount of asbestos fibers coming from stacks. Melius, who is a physician, said the data from the stack tests will help the state determine whether the emissions are dangerous. ' ' - "We'll have a much better sense of whether there is a problem or there has been a problem and what the health risk is," he said. Bendix, located across the street from residential neighborhoods, has been discharging asbestos since the 1930s. The survey found 29 village resi dents contracted lung cancer between 1976 and 1986. Although that's seven more cases than normal, Mahoney said the excess is small enough that it could have been caused by chance. Last week, a report by the National Wildlife Federation ranked the brake-, lining plant No. 327 among the nation's '1 top polluters. However, most of the ' Bendix waste was in the form of asbestos pellets -- nearly four million ' Mahoney, who holds a doctorate in pounds worth -- that went to commer- - epidemiology, said "at least several cial landfills. more cases of lung cancer" would have been necessary to add up to a statistically significant finding. Asbestos is dangerous only if in haled. Some researchers suggest the . fibers might also cause cancer of the The study did conclude that three larynx and gastrointestinal tract, but ' men probably contracted lung cancer Mahoney said the survey did not find from exposure to asbestos on the job, an abnormal incidence of these types but Mahoney would not say where they of cancers. worked. There were 15 cancers of stomach, ` Bendix studies have found that the liver or pancreas -- five more than rate of lung-cancer deaths among its expected -- but the excess was deemed employees is normal. statistically meaningless. HWBUI0005291