Document rxMXG8avjKazdn6vmKEEMNXeG

FILE NAME: Z//E DATE: DOC#: /E DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION:ZZZZZD ^Z for almost all their ; December 1976 (in an JS and alternative ma>quite likely ~hat many stos can contmue to be to health.' F:ngineer April 1977, material', wrote: 'Over has been considerable aspects of using asbesorating asbestos. Much rmed, often of a con, given rise to anxiety, olic, who are often the )me or in theirvehiclcs.' 77, 'Do we sriil need : research can be safelv )anies, who are working emen ts ... the economic os is a strong one.' d Design June 1977 1.sal' : 'Tl1e position has' sed ... fears have largely l news features.' away from the 'profes~et even worse. Thus were treated to a retzards of asbestos in an Smither - Cape's own its search for profit the .e a good job of cover,e health hazards of its ctions of a responsible iines m asbestos, Dr R.S.J. : Department of Mines, 1ting!y high' levels of ~s. By August 1977 he itions in the asbestos are under effective .. .~.,~:,,/.:_. . ' -- p,- ~,~-,i~,.,.~~,,-];~~3,' "~,!-~~~f(l'~~~. Conditions in asbestos m:nes in 1949 were des cribed by a US doctor, G.W.H. Schepers5 During 1949 I made the first official governmental radiological and clinical e;u rvey of the asbestos industry in the North Eastern Transvaal. At that time, industrial hygiene 1n one of these mines and asbestos works was simply deplorable. Exposures were crude and 11nchecked. I found young children, completely included within large shipping bogs, trampling down fiu ffy Arnosite asbestos, \fvrl1ch all day came cascading over a hefty whip. I believe these children to have the ul ti ma rn dust exposure. X-rays revealed several to have radiological control'.6 But figures he released of dust analysis done by his department as late as 1976 sho\ved that the dust level in the mines varied from 1 to 9 fibres per ml (over 4 times the safe level allowed in the UK - see p.119). As the Annual Report of the South African Government l Department of Mines for 1973 commented: 'Current concentrations (of asbestos dust in the air) still represent a health hazard and further . improvements must be brought about'. In 1975 Rodney Cowton, a journalist with The Tirnes, r approached the two major British asbestos \ companies with mines in South Africa - Turner ! and Newall and Cape Industries - asking what /: they were doing. Both companies claimed it was their policy to bring their operations throughout \ the world to British standards. 'Both claimed to !' be making some progress in this direction but neither would give a target date for the fulfil- J bmluenet aosfbetshtaots,poulnicdye,r' ahevroelpuonrttaerdy.7bManeabnywhtihlee / asbestos industry in the UK because of its dangerous nature, is being mined more than ever by Cape's in South Africa. One law for the white and another for the black? ilsbestosis with Corpulrnonale - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (failure of the right side of 5 Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol 132, the heart) before the age of 1965 ' P- 246 12. Why Dr SI uis-C rem?-----76:;_--:7',:::''h"L"ee'-':tTt.=e:r-imt=o-esB"",S""2S'"R'0"S"1,'"'aAn.:u..ug:.;ua:M.i:.ry=1199..7.;77;.:.:.5.:..._..:..:._-, did not see them 10 ye'&(s ___.,., iater is fairly evident. There was probably not one ot them still alive ... To gain a true perspective he should have seen those mines 1n 1949. In the valley where the mill was located asbestos dust rolled through like the morning rn ist, and I had a hard ti me keeping my staff in work 1ng trim uecause of itching skins caused by asbestos adhering to our clothe'.,. Even the food at the i'JCi:l! hotel Wi:lS gritty with dust. Playing next to an African asbestos mine. 63