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MIOSH Notes FINDINGS OF JOINT NIOSH/OSHA WORK GROUP CONCERNING HEALTH EFFECTS OF ASBESTOS Al a newsbriefing in Washingtonon April 17. 1980, the findings of a joint NIOSH/OSHA Work Group were an nounced concerning the Group's re view of recent scientific ir-.s. about the health effects of asbestos. Present for the briefing were Or. Anthony Robbins. Director of HEW's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Dr, Eula Bingham, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health; Dr. Bailus Walker. Jr., Director of Health Standards for OSHA; and two NIOSH scientists. Mr. Richard Lemen and Mr. John Dement. Dr. Robbins said the Group had reconfirmed that; There is no safe exposure limit . for asbestos. All commercial and several non commercial .dorms of asbestos cause disease. On the basis of the Work Group's findings and recommendations, which we endorse, we are today recomunending to the Department of Labor that it promulgate a safer standard for workers exposed to asbestos and that it eliminate from the workplace all exposure from new non-essential uses of asbestos. We have asked that the new stan dard set a maximum workplace expo sure limit of 100 000 fibers per cubic meter of air, the lowest level which can be accurately measured. The present level, set in 1972. is two million fibers per cubic meter of air. Asbestos poses a grave danger in the workplace. At least 1.4 million workers are exposed to asbestos in the United States, fn conducting a National Occupational Hazard Survey Irom 1972-74, NIOSH found that 45 per cent of the occupations observed involve exposure to the substance. Nearly three quarters of a million tons are used annually in this country in 9 wide range of products including floor tiles, cements, acoustical products, brake linings, and roof coalings. Be tween 8 and 11 million workers have been exposed to asbestos since World War II. Asbestos is ubiquitous and its effects, measured in disease and death, are staggering. Asbestos causes a very serious form of lung fibrosis known as asbestosis. It also causes lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the membrane that lines the chest and abdominal cavities. exposure to asbestos has also been related to significant increases in lung, laryngeal, and gastrointestinal can cers. The AAOHN pin is jvaiUble to all AAOHN members. The cost of the pin is S7.00 which includes mailing and handling charges. Orders may be placed for individuals or groups. .... Send check or money order to: American Association ol Occupational Health Nurses. Inc 575 Lexington Avenue New Ypik. New York 10022 Name _______________________________ Address ___________________________ City State In 1972. OSHA promulgated a work place asbestos standard setting the maximum exposure level at 2.000,000 fibers per cubic meter of air. Since then both NIOSH and OSHA have monitored asbestos health effects re search and the development of asbes tos substitutes. In 1975. OSHA pro posed lowering the standard to 500.000 fibers per cubic meter of air. In 1976, NIOSH recommended lower ing the standard to 100.000 fibers. NIOSH and OSHA established an Asbestos Work Group in the fall ol 1979. Its charge was to review all health effects data since the 1976 NIOSH recommended standard was transmitted to OSHA and to deter mine whether any changes to that recom mendation were warranted. Was there health damage occurring at the level of the current standard? The Work Group consisted of four experts from NIOSH and three from OSHA. The Work Group has completed its / report and'NIOSH has formally recommended that OSHA adopt the Work f Group's findings. The Group reconfirmed that there is no safe exposure level for asbestos. Although data suggest that lower exposures result in lower risks of developing cancer, there is no known level below which asbestos-related diseases do not occur. The Group reconfirmed that all commercial and several non-commer cial forms of asbestos cause disease. There has at times been debate over which types of asbestos fibers cause disease. The Group found strong evi dence that all forms are dangerous, inctuding chrysotile; crocidolite; and fibrous cummingtonite-grunerite in cluding amosile fibrous tremolite. fibrous actinolile, and fibrous anthophyllite. The Work Group found no basis for regulating one type of fiber and not another....................................... With these two premises in mind, let me enumerate some of the specific findings of (he Work Group; Optical microscopy continues to be the most reliable and eco nomically feasible method for delermining airborne levels ol asbestos. Its lowest reliable de tection limit is 100.000 fibers per cubic meter. Substitutes for asbestos should be used whenever possible so that non-essential uses of the 48 i DANA-0326.70 VPD-143-0000242