Document v13w9J3oXO6yeyQXkkqwxYK5Y

FILE NAME: Union Carbide (UC) DATE: 1973 Apr 30 DOC#: UC376 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Internal Report - Letter to Union Carbide Australia from Calidria RE Dangers of Asbestos UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION MINING METALS DIVISION CC / u ) c T. / 5 THE DISCOVERT COMPANY P.O. BOX 179 NIAGARA PALLS, N. Y. 14302 TEL: 716-27.3376 A p rii 30, 1973 Mr. P. C. Weeks Union Carbide A u stra lia Ltd. 167-187 Kent Street Sydney, N.S.W., A u stra lia 3 lw v - nUau. M*. Wy" /,(, Id&fCwJ yAA) ' V f yin**, Dea r P h il: Mr. P o rte r's fears of asbestos are not unusual but a man of h is stature would be expected to have an open mind in such matters. The following points and the enclosed information should a s s is t you In a lla yin g h is fears. Molten metal w ill burn you j[f you touch it , maleic anhydride wi fI poison you j f you swallow it , styrene fumes wi 11 suffocate you j_f you breathe too much, s i l i c a can cause s i l i c o s i s if you inhaie excess quantities. Asbestos can cause lung damage Tf you inhale large quantities for many years. CHRYSOTILE asbestos can cause 'lung cancer after many years of exposure to high concentrations. RG-244 is CHRYSOTILE asbestos and can be used safely without endangering the health of workers. Just as Degussa says that Aerosll is not a sig n ific a n t hazard, we say that RG-244 is not a s ig n ific a n t hazard. Since there has been so much published a fte r the "New Yorker" a rtic le of |968 1 have chosen not to make sp e cific comments on it. Most of the information is based on in su la tion workers exposed p rim arily to cro cid o lite and amosite asbestos in a period of poor housekeeping practices. This is ju st not relevant to the use of RG-244. ' Enclosed is a packet containing several pieces of information which you can read for background and/or pass on to Hatrick or Monsanto. A ll of the information can be copied so I am sending only one copy. The paper I presented at the SPE meeting summarizes most of the information and is supplemented bv the UK experience. 1 I am sure that most of the objections you receive are based on newspaper a rtic le s Pl0St of these are not written objectively and tend to sensationalize and ' ` Mr. P .'C . Weeks -2- April 30, 973 u n fa irly extrapolate data and studies. The newspaper w ill not accept any S ilic a is one of the fiv e target health hazards announced by OSHA and the c r it e r ia fo r new standards are being prepared. The current U.S. threshold lim it value CTLV) for amorphous s i l i c a is 20 m illio n p a rtic le s per cubic foot (Mppcf) or 80 mg/M3 . If you can see s il ic a dust the level is very near the TLV. The H atrick people should have a Refchhold RAD report No. 75 by G. Hicks on the use of RG-244. I t was mailed out on March 9 and is very complimentary. T h is should indicate R C l's acceptance of RG-244 and we hope, to get a further n a ilin g from Mr, H. R. Helbig, Vice-President of R C l's International D ivisio n . We have monitored R C l's Azusa plant and found dust levels well below the 1976 OSHA Standards. No material can "conform to OSHA Sp e c ific a tio n s" as they are not written in t h is manner or for th is purpose. We have made numerous dust counts at various polyester producing plants and find no levels in excess of the OSHA Standards. When dust levels are not exceeded there are no extensive or expensive OSHA requirements. . With reo3rd to laborers, we have -found that most workers prefer to handle RG-244 because" i t is much less dusty and the bags are easier to handle. The many advantages of RG-244 have caused our sales to increase very rapidly and ste a d ily as noted in the attached chart. I have omitted the scale of sales value, for obvious reasons, so you can show th is to your customers to demonstrate the acceptance of RG-244. The top of the scale, for your information, is over one m illio n d o lla rs. We are now planning a major expansion of our RG-244 production f a c ilit y and have ju st recently one to fu ll sever, days per week operation. How is your p ricin g compared to A e ro sll? Do you have any problems competing on price or performance? I have rambled quite a b it on RG-244, do you have any sp e c ific questions? Have you contacted Mr. McConchie of the A u stra lia n Paper Manufacturers? hope This information is valuable to, you - please let me know if we can be of further assistance. ' Very tru ly yours, JohtrL. M y e rs^ Marketing Manager Enclosures: SPE-RETEC CiBA/GEIGY-UK Health WHO Report Safe Use of RG-244 Dr. Wright Test and Dr. NAS Summary AMA Sampling Equipment L ist McDonald Test Enclosures /cs ri / I