Document v6k7L1eLL0N8z49K6zg8rVEjY

FILE NAME Packings and Gaskets PAG DATE 1972 DOC PAG025 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Newspaper Article - Asbestos Rulings Held Inadequate ASBESTOS RULINGS HELD INADEQUATE Cancer Authority Says Many Workers Face Death By FELIX BELAIR Jr. at Spediti to The New Times authority WASHINGTON June An authority on asbestos cancer said today that tens of thousands of workers exposed to asbestos would die because of inadequate regulations issued resently by the Government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration The prediction was made by Dr. Irving Selikoff of Mount inaiHospital in New York in report to a meeting of the industrial union department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations at the organization's headquarters here Dr. Selikoff said that if the Federal agency showed the same disregard for essential safeguards and precautions in setting standards for other toxic substances as it demon- strated in the ashestos regula- tions we face an unparalleled disaster to the working people in our country The regulations speak bland- ly of five fibers per milliliter as standard but neglect to add that a working man inhales from four to eight million milliliters in an eight day he said A milliliter or cubic centimeter holds about a thimbleful of air In a direct reference to As- sistant Secretary of Labor George C. Guenther who heads the safety agency Dr. Selikolf said Mr. Guenther orders that workers exposed to as- bestos quired ditions in any trade are reto work under con- which permit them to inhale 20 million or even 30 million fibers in a working day Mr. Guenther made of this statement after hearing of the doctor's charges Dr. Selikoff has chosen to overdramatize the matter There is no question that exposure to asbestos is most hazardous We believe he said that the new standards will provide substantial and real protection for exposed workers and that they provide for reductions in levels of aghestos exposure are reasonelde and in our judgment based on tests from many quarters Precautions Seen Ignored Dr. Sellkoff who has long been engaged in research on the producing effects of asbestos and the incidence of cancer of the lungs abdomen and colon said Almost every essential precaution that could have been taken has been ignored or discarded in many instances against the recommyndations given to the Department of Labor by the Public Health Service's National stitute for Occupational Safety and Health a branch of the Department of Health Education and Welfare or by its own advisory committee on 7 | asbestos dust The asbestos standard issued by the Labor Department agency last week provided for an exposure limit of 2 fibers per cubic centimeter of air but said the present emergency standard of 5 fibers would con- tinue until July 1976. It also provided a maximum exposure limit of 10 fibers per cubic centimeter for an eight day The institute hat recommended a maximum daily exposure of 5 fibers , 72 Deaths From Cancer Dr. Selikoff cited a study of 689 asbestos production and textile workers from January 1 1959 to December 31 1971 He said that it showed 72 deaths from all types of cancer compared with an expected rate of 27.8 for the population as a whole From cancer of the lungs pleura trachea and bronchus there were 35 deaths compared with an expected rate of 8.4 for the population generally - In addition to the 72 cancer deaths there were 24 fatali- ties traceable to scarring of the lung This malady is found only among asbestos workers There are now about 500,000 Americans currently or pre- viously employed on regular asbestos work If our exeriences of the past several years are a guide 100,000 will die of lung cancer 35,000 of abdominal or chest cancer known as mesothelioma and 35,000 of asbestosis scarring of the lung as well as many thousands more of other cancers such as those of the colon rectura and stomach Dr. Selikoff said