Document vN8pBKBo5q8wd294608xxkjR

FILE NAME Corning OC DATE 1968 Aug 19 DOC OC221 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Position Paper - Asbestos and the General Public with Cover Letter and Handwritten Note nakasete a eae aa H COMPANI COMPANI COMPANI LUNNESPUNDENCE : AUG 20 20 1968 - wy ve MEDICAL SERVICES | SERVICES DEPT / From Dr. J. L. Konzen Scheuerle S. H. Thomas John Vyverberg - New York Date CC August 19 1968 . F. 1. Edwards - Toledo Subject Asbestos and the General Public J. E. Murphy - " As promised attached is an article on Manville and also a position paper on Asbestos and the General Public You may use this for background information in helping you to handle the current complaints in and out of the Berlin plant However this position paper is not to be reprinted or released JV Attach Jeto Kvirtars . YVros = . ASBESTOS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC the as General People of virtually every nation in the world benefit from the many uses of the mineral asbestos Asbestos helps to build safety and durability into schools houses ships aircraft and public buildings ~ With the increasing use of this mineral fiber the question has been raised as to whether asbestos especially as dust in the air poses any health risk to the general public The same question is being asked about many other materials in general use in our modern society Medical and scientific research is being conducted to find answers For asbestos many of the C answers are already in . 1 general Research date shows no health risk to the public ; from the various uses of asbestos To't the extent that any asbestos fibers are in the general air -- and there are literally hundreds of different animal vegetable and mineral fibers in the dust of the air -- there is nothing to show that these are a health hazard for the public To see why this is so requires understanding of how and why asbestos is used of some of the scientific research that has been conducted and of the meaning of this research with regard specifically to those with occupational exposures and to the general public . ~<) 0 oe oe . ome oe Creme ve The peculiar properties of asbestos have been fascinating people ever since the mineral was discovered more than 4,500 years ago Although asbestos in the raw state as as dense and compact as the rock which encases it the ore can be separated into light silky fibers These fibers have many uses They can be woven into combustible fabrics for such things as fire curtains for theaters or protective garments for firefighters They can be added to other materials to produce floor and ceiling tile roofing shingles siding asbestopis pe and many other useful products The earliest known use of asbestos goes back 45 centuries ~ Objects unearthed by archeologists in Finland indicate that it was used to hold together pieces of pottery before the clay was baked The word asbestos is from the Greek it means unquenched or incombustible Ancient peoples used asbestos as a shroud for kings so mourners could recover the ashes of the illustrious dead from the cinders of funeral pyres It is referred to by the ancient historian Pliny as linum vivum -- the funeral dress of kings C ey In the twentieth century asbestos has become an increasingly essential material of an expanding industrial economy Asbestos has many vital functions in construction transportation and industrial o- & processes It provides built protection against fire and deterioration in scores of common products in daily use + Through the years it has saved countless lives and billions of dollars in property damage by preventing or checking the spread of fires Electrical installations are safer because of asbestos insulation When used as packings and gaskets asbestos promotes the efficient operation of industrial machines and pumps In transportation the brakes on vehicles -- cars trucks aa buses and trains -~ are dependable because asbestos is a chief . component in brake linings . No other material stands up so durably under the high temperatures created by friction when brakes are applied OCCUPATIONAL RISKS AND STEPS TO PROTECT WORKERS To meet the increasing demand for this invaluable fiber a worldwide asbestos mining and processing industry came into being - As in many other mineral and materials industries the need . developed to protect employees against occupational health hazards It was found that some workers exposed to excessive asbestos dust over a period of years developed a malignant lung disease called asbestosis As with many similar conditions asbestosis is dose related -- that is it develops only after inhalation of excessive concentrations of asbestos dust over an " average period of 15 to 20 years Some medical studies have reported an association between asbestosis and an increased risk of a certain type of lung cancer bronchogenic Even though the number of lung cancer cases among asbestos workers is only a small fraction of the total employed the industry considers the problem serious It is the subject of considerable scientific research through statistical clinical and pathological studies of exposed workers through experimental "_ with laboratory animals and through studies of the studies and chemical nature of asbestos and associated minerals physical _ The asbestos industry has invested millions of dollars in equipment and techniques to prevent the inhalation of ~ ~ dust by workers in the mining and milling of asbestos asbestos and in of containing products the manufacture A program of and training is conducted for asbestos fabricators and education applicators to provide them a thorough understanding of potential risks and to encourage general adherence to sound industrial hygiene practices 410 NO RISKS TO GENERAL PUBLIC PUBLIC SHOWN IN STUDIES asbestos some writers pollution have raised who the are concerned about question of whether general air there is asbestos no evidence of any health hazard to use of finished asbestos products the general public from the Asbestosis does not occur among the general population it occurs only among those with long heavy occupational exposures There is no evidence that anyone has ever contracted any disease from exposurteo the wearing or weathering of brake linings floor tile roofing or other products containing asbestos ne: ' Brake linings in particular were the subject of a 1968 States United e Public Health Service . report the National Center for Urban and Industrial Jeremiah Lynch of Health U. S. Public Health Service conducted the asbestos that might come from tests He concluded that brake lining wear was an any o C ( Cy study provided scientific evidence refuting much recent unsupported . speculation that the wear of brake linings might be releasing many asbestos fibers into the air " Except only a in all but very small the most fraction extreme driving conditions of the 30 to 50 asbestos ( oO result of brake lining wear proportion of the total they represent a very small of brakes asbestos used in the manufacture Many sources of respirable fibers not associated with asbestos products have been and the free fibers from brake identified be an inconsequential health lining wear appear to factor in urban air pollution Other medical and scientific reports show that the occupational health risks from asbestos dust exposure do not extend to the public - aee a wee . oy cee soe e . - ~ 1967 In ; _. Drs P. E. Enterling and M. A. Knedrick reported on the reduction of asbestosis among workers in asbestos fabricat- ing industries where protective measures have been taken They pointed out that the small amount of asbestos to which people in general may be exposed is of little importance Tdhuest question of the effects of low levels of asbestos exposure on disease is important Some effects detectable in the asbestos are industry where building products apparently over exposures are minimal sriis: . It seems likely however that these exposures are greatly in excess of those in urban communitites and if very low- level exposures of populations to asbestos dust play any part in the pathogenesis development of disease it must be very small Asbestos dust at levels to which , general populations exposed probably is of little - imporatance in the etiology causation of disease CALLED ASBESTOS BODIES NOT RELATED TO DISEASE - In the 1960's the question of public exposure was discussed in studies that reported finding called asbestos bodies in the autopsied lungs of city dwellers not known to have been exposed to asbestos dust The authors of one such study Drs J. G. Thomson and W. M. Graves reported that these called asbestos bodies had no relation with either the cause of death or with any history or symptoms of pulmonary disease er er . -e a s^' . ' ' = . +e . ~ ~~ They --- also noted that it would have taken a tremendous increase in the number of asbestos bodies found in the autopsied lungs to constitute even a minimal case of asbestosis 1 said in their 1966 report @ They It should be stressed that in spite of frequent asbestos bodies in the lung bases none of this group had pulmonary codisability and all died from other causes convert the scanty or very scanty bodies which we have demonstrated pre tos bee prn eset nt in so many urban dwellers to the frequency present in a minimal basal asbestosis would require an increase by hundredfolds and to get a more diffuse classical asbestosis with pulmonary disability the multiplying factor , might well be in many millions - 1112 0 . CO C In similar study the same year Drs L. Anjilvel and W. M. . : . ey, . Thurlbeck noted that there no risk cancer to the general population asbestos exposure These researchers said In our series there seemed to be no particular association between malignanacnyd the presence of asbestos bodies asbestos bodies are not more common in patients with malignant disease in the autopsy populations we have studied and thus casual exposure to asbestos is not an important cause of malignancy in the general population These and similar findings have raised the question of the real identity of these called asbestos bodies The term has for years been applied loosely to describe a tiny body of tissue in the lung containinga core of some inhaled particle -~ asbestos talc made textile fiber or certain other common , -~ substances The name asbestos body is misleading if the core substance has not been positively identified Thus it is * not necessarily so that the finding of such bodies in city dwellers lungs means that these people inhaled asbestos Some specialists now are oe insisting that these be called ferruginous like bodies because the growth tissue contains some identifiable iron and because the cores do not always contain asbestos _ \ Dr. J. M. G. Davis in 1967 deplored the current furor over asbestos bodies recently appeared in the professional literature and was widely reported in the news media with varying degrees of sensationalism He commented specifically ~ " . ; Cc . : the basic assumption that only be produced from asbestos bodics can this casts asbesots considerable has proved incorrect and the chief basis of doubt on the theory that has the asbestos scare been '. the particles that may be the core of these bodies It has been shown that a number of substances can cause bodies in both humans and experimental animals L. J. Cralley and associates in the U. S. Public Health Service have discussed great number of substances which might produce bodies in - the human lungs Publishing in 1968 they said C C | ceramic fiberass well as a wide and emerging organic range of established types used in textiles fillers containers filaments structural materials etc. have Whatever their origin not been connected with the any bodies disease that have been reported or with the cause of death in the subjects studied Even if the variety of dusts in the general air some asbestos is among there is no evidence that it has any health significance ne . SUMMARY 'P eople throughout the world benefit from the many uses of asbestos schools houses theaters ships aircraft offices and other public buildings furnances boilers firefighting - equipment and in a myriad of everyday products With the 20th century growth in the use of asbestos has come recognition of the need to cope with occupational hazards associated with excessive inhalation of asbestos dust Much progress has been and is being made in protecting workers who handle asbestos fibers - . building and isulation in mines trades mills factories and in some . - Medical scientists . studying the : bahd occupational health hazards of asbestos see no evidence that asbestos poses any risk to the general public Asbestos dust is not presenitn the general air in amounts of any significance to human health PERSPECTIVE It is important to view in its proper perspective the expressed concern of some writers that asbestos in the ambient air is a health risk to the general public Asbestoiss by no means alone in having the finger pointed toward it as a possible health hazard Literally hundreds of substances -= as common and everyday as fuel oil charcoal broiled steaks iron rust and egg yolks know or suspected of being cancer causing agents under certain experimental conditions * The point is that nearly everything we use and create in our increasingly complex society has been suspected by someone of being a potential hazard To forego the many benefits of these products of modern technology -- simply on the basis of suspicions that are un- oo. supported by medical evidence would be a great and unwarranted ... disservice to the American public REFERENCES e Anjilvel L. and Thurlbeck W. M. The Incidence of Asbestos Bodies in the Lungs at Random Necropsies in Montreal - CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL December 3 1966. * Cralley L. J. Keenan R. G. Lynch J. R. and Lainhart W. S. Source and Indentification of Respirable Fibers - AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL HYGINE JOURNAL March - April 1968 Davis J. M. G. Asbestos Bodies and Bioeffects -- A Detective Story Presented at the meeting of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation Pittsburgh Pa October 1967 Enterline P. E. and Kendrick M. at Vai ous Levels and Mortality HEALTH August 1967 A. Asbestos Dust Exposures ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL . . sal Lynch J. Brake Lining Decomposition Products American Louis Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists St. fe May 1968 -Thomas J. G. _ Contaminant and Graves W. M. Asbestos ARCHIVES OF PATHOLOGY May as an 1966 Urban Air ~*