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Government Bows in $ 100 Million Case UC-1941 Asbestos Suit Burns U. S. Tyler. Toma -- (AP)--The Federal Government bu agreed to pay 13.73 million to aettle its (hare of a multiroillion-dollar suit filed by 443 asbestos workers who said they were unknow ingly exposed to cancer-causing mate rials. The action, announced yesterday by U.S. District Judge William Sieger, tattles a 1100 million lawsuit filed by tbs 443 workers. It was the largest personal injury suit ever Hied against the Federal Government. Judge Steger said settlement offers from private defendants in the ssuit would bring the tout amount paid to the asbestos workers to CO million. Last December, ia a memorandum, attorneys for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare warned that if the asbestos workers won their suit, a precedent would be set which could make the government liable for damages "anytime a work place that was inspected by federal of ficials -- or should have been inspect ed --proved unsafe A Justice Department spokesman said in Washington last night that the settlement in no way implies that the 20% of Cancer Deaths Tied to Jobs Washington -- (AP) -- Exposure to cancer-causing chemicals in the American workplace may causa at least 10 percent of cancer deaths each year -- or nearly 00,000 fatalities -- with aiheatoa the No. 1 chemical killer, government scientists say. The new estimates are sharply higher then pest figures, which placed the cancer toll from occupational ex posure at 1-3 percent, said Jowph A. Calltano Jr., secretary of health, edu cation and welfare. Asbestos may account for 17 per cent of alt cancer deaths annually. Other chemical culprits include arsen ic, Iwnmne and vinyl chloride. The study listed t dozen occupations in which It said the workers showed annlvs cancer rates that have not been traced to any single chemical.' The jobs Included coal miners, chem ists, foundry and textile workers, printing pressmen, metal miners, coke byproduct workers, cadmium production workers and lead, rubber, wood and Isather workers. Scientists from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences said 30 percent was a "conservative" esti mate of the cancer toll, which could run as high as 3S percent. The National Cancer Institute says 390,000 Americans die from cancer annually. The new 20 percent mini mum estimate would mean 73,000 deaths. The number of new cancer cases diagnosed each year is 700,000. The scientists based their findings not on new medical research, but on new statistical analyses of the number of workers exposed to cancer-causing chemicals and their risk of developing cancer. The study singles out ssbestos, the fire-resistant chemical used in a host of fields from construction to auto brake linings, as the worst offender. HEW began a campaign in April to alert the estimated 8 million to 11 mil lion Americans who have been ex pired to asbestos since World War II about Its long-tarm effects. The HEW study said at least 2 IS million of those workers will die from asbestos-related diseases, or 67,000 a year for the next 30 to 33 years. It blamed asbestos for 17 percent of all cancer cases. The study says 3.8 million workers were potentially exposed to arsenic, benzene, vinyl chloride, coal tar pitch and coke oven emissions, which could cause 1-3 percent of all cancers each year. Some 7.3 million workers potential ly were exposed to four other sub stances, chromium, iron oxide, nickel and petroleum distillates, which could cause 3-19 percent uf the cancers, the government admits any negligence on the part of federal safety Inspectors. The workers sued the government and several private firm* on grounds that their negligence resulted in onthe-job exposure to a type of asbestos called amosite, which has been shown to cause lung cancer in humans. The suit wu filed in 1974 on behalf of asbestos workers at a Tyler plant which was co-owned by PPG Indus tries and Corning Glass Works. Tbs plant was shut down in 1171. The plant manufactured asbestos pipe insulation, some of which was used in navy vessels. The U.S. govern ment wu sued became tbs wwfcdfc argued it had a responsibility to e9 sure safe working conditions at tha facility. Although the legal tangle hu been unsnarled, the human problems are hist beginning. Officials of the Tens Chest Founda tion, m charge of a medical diagnostic program for the plant's termor work ers, said the outlook is bleak for the 1,000 people who worked at the plant at various times. One study said even short exposures to asbestos carried "a significant risk" of asbestosis. gas trointestinal malignancies, lung can cer and mesothelioma -- all forms of cancer or lung disease. study added. Callfano told an A FUG10 confer- ence on occupational safety and health about the new estimate and released a five-page draft summary of the study yesterday. HEW sdentfstt are putting the study Into final form to submit to the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration by Friday. OSHA Is preparing new standards for regulating hundreds of known or suspected cancer-ciusing agents at workplaces in hopes of accelerating federal action to ban or restrict them. Critics of the plan have said it could cost Industry billions of dollars, and some have said the standards are not needed because the Incidence of occu pations! cancer was low. BRG 0473