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/i cc: L./\. #901*- T. M. Supple L.A. #961 - p. B. Thompson L.A. #961 - D. S. McVicker RECEIVED JUN 1 2 1972 L.A. #961 - Roger Gillette Industrial Safety Precautions - Tape and Joint Compounds June 2, 1972 While attending the State Fire Marshal's fire test program - Proj ect Corridor - I had the occasion to talk with Mr. Robert Gulick of the Drywall Industry Trust Fund. IncLuded in this conversation was Mr. Marvin Smith of the Gypsum Association, and Mr. Howard Waitman of Kaiser Gypsum Research end Development. Mr. Gulick advised that there have been recent discussions brought on by trade unions raising questions about the ill effcctc that could possibly be encountered using joint and tape compound syotem3. Mr. Gulick indicated that documentary evidence han been introduced by medical personnel that indicates over approximately o five year period of time, that workmen subjected to sanding joint systems recorded o high rate of lung cancer attributed possibly to the asbestos content of the fibers used in the various joint compounds. Mr. Gulick was in the process of preparing o letter to alert manu facturera of Joint compound to be prepared for any interrogation that might ensue. Mr. Gulick further odviced that he would send a letter in care of Mr. Smith of the Gypsum Assoc, who, in turn, will relay to all of the gypsum manufacturers. In addition, Mr. Gulick will alco inform the other manufacturers of joint compound systems that are not necessarily members of the Gypsum Acsoc. This memo is being sent for information use only in the attempt to elert the persons concerned of the impending problem. nrci/mj tf"' I y.V r ^ = THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. (r//7^ Perilous Particles -y M\ ' Tiny Asbestos Fibers Pose a Health Threat ) Job-Safety Unit Sets | Tough Rules for '76 t To Workers and Public r On Plants' Asbestos l Long Exposure Can Result i In Lung Disease. Cancer; __________ Ay m Will. Rth*t JnRMA|. *// P ^ Industry Seeks Solutionsj WASHINGTON -- The Occupational lately C3 and Health Administration announced touch ft new curbs on asbestos In plants, but gave em- f ployers four years to comply.. `Tiie Bodies Are in the Sitreet' The new standard wit! 1`rr.Jt coneentisllons of asbestos in tha work place to two fibers J per cubic centimeter of air beginning July 1, 1076. the agency administering the new Fed* i oral Job Safety Law said. \ Until 1976. the asbestos standard will re- . msln five fibers per cubic centimeter. That was the ''emergency** standard imposed by the 5 agency last December under pressure from the 1 A>"L-CIO. The Inhalation of asbestos has been linked , to a number of human diseases. The standards for asbestos rept exeat a time-weighted average over eight hours. Rut, starting July 7. 1972, asbestos concentrations aren't to exceed 10 fibeia per cubic centimeter of air at any tune during the ight*hour period. Tne emergency standard currently in effect hasn't any such upper limit--only the* average of five fibers. Government sources said the four-year delay in effecting the new standard was to per mit employers to design systems to control as bestos. Imposing the new limits more rapidly would have encouraged employers to comply by simply rotating workers during sji eighthour work turn or providing protective breath ing devices, government experts believed. The Environmental Protection Agency last : December banned open-air spraying of asbes{ tns fireproofing and Insulation and required In- (dualrv to use filters to clean any gssex produeed In the mining, milling and manufactur Iing of materials containing aabetio*. II |i By Barry Newman ffig Jte/MWtrr e/ Twr Wux tratrr Joosnau NEW YORK--Af Joseph Manno's gas sta tion on the fringe of Manhattan's Spanish Har lem. the proven method of cleaning an old brake assembly goes like this; Full off the wheel, aim an air hose at the exposed parts and blow the dust ouL A cloud of brown dust invariably flies light Into the mechanics* faces, aays Mr. Marino. But U doesn't bother them. "We got masks and everything." Mr. Marino shrugs. 4*The guys don't uae them. What the hell." What the mechanic! don't aeem to know-- like thousands of other mechanics--is that the brown dust Is dangerous. Brake linings are made of asbestos. And If a mechanic breathes In enough dust from the worn-out Usings it could eventually kill him. The lethal quality of tiny, indestructible as bestos fibers that lodge in the lung is well known. Widely publicised studies by Dr. Irvtng Sellkoff of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine lead him to predict that of the roughly 230.000 asbestos Industry workers today, about 93,000 will die unnecessarily of occupational cancer. "In the next 10 to 13 years we mill enter the as bestos caneer era," says Dr. Sellkoff. "This is one of the great disasters of our time." lUurdi for Others. Too The asbestos industry is well ar.-are of the problem and Is taking action to combat It. though critics aay tiie steps aren't as drastic as (he situation demands. But asbestos Industry workers aren't the only one* who might fall prey to the lung cancers and oilier diseases caured by the mineral's irritating fibers. It's likely tint millions of workers in other indus tries using asbestos fibers could be affected. $ well as ordinary people who have come into contact with asbestos in the atmosphere. Perhaps the most inpe fact is that for those who have already been sufficiently ex posed. changes in procedures and standards of asbestos use--Induing a sen* sAhouared yesterday by the Department of Labor--are meaningless. It takes as many as so years after the first exposure for asbestos-related di seases to surface. Controls instituted now will indeed have an effect, but not for decades Harry Balley-L one man who isn't likely to find much solace In the new* standard*. Mr. i, Bailey isn't an asbestos worker. He's a brick if layer in a Mobil Oil Corp. refinery alonceide the Delaware River in Paula boro. N-J. He has i li been working at the plant for 33 years, and every year he has gone to the company medi .i ti cal deportment for a chest JC-ray. l| "They never said mere * anything wrong with me," says 31-year-old Mr. Bailey, and in deed he bos thus for developed no outward | symptoms. But lew months *ro he and u other workers from the refinerv wen! to Mount l. Stnst for an examination, and every one of ii them prwvcd to have aearred iui.g*-a sign of iibriib^w a nonnullfnani lung disease. iMobll has refused lo release hi* niedicj! rceerdi to the New York doctors. Mr. Bailee iim The company decline* to comment on the mat ter.i 1 i |l I Perilous Particles: Tiny Fibers , Of Asbestos; Pose a Health Threat (e|*l' __ Hrl &rrrtH(, Then CompHraUun* AjPcjIuaL* begins with X-rsy evidence of urrlrf like that found In Mr. B&iley'f lunp. Aj the dtarMf prvgreasea. the lung* stiffen and breathing becomes dl/ficull. The heart has to work border and eao become enlarged. U1U* meUly. death may be caused by bear! attack or aulJocallon. The ralncraJ ean also cause lung cancer--In fact asbestos can cause cancer past about any* place In ihe body 1/ particle* are somehow lapealed. The ability of the aharp. tiny particles to pcnctraie the lung once breathed In haa pro* duerd a high Incidence of cancer In the mem* brmne aurroundlng the lung, a disease called mesothelioma In the genera) pooulace, It causes one In 10.000 deaths. Of U- asbestos worsen being studied by Dr. Selikoff, 32 have died of U so far. The Mobil refinery, where Mr. Halley works, like all high-heat factories in the oil and chemical Industries, uses asbestos (or insula* uon. Mr. Hailey works with insulation workers inside the furnaces, ripping out soft brick. "There's asbestos and bnck dust and a lot of sulphur, too." be says. "W complained about the dust and dirt. Nothing is done to keep it down. The fans make U worse, and you can't wet u because of the heat in the bricks. The company bought new* respirators, but linder-Uie conditions they clog in Id minutes." In the asbestos cutting rooms, he adds, there aren't any vacuum attachments on Uie power saw*. And when the Insulation workers haw asbestos sheets outside the room, or mix cement in a wheelbarrow, "anybody caa get the dust." Mobil disagrees with the description of woikuig conditions. In response to a query, the rompanv Issued tins statement: "We have no problems at the Paulsboro refinery concerning the use of materials containing asbestos. We use very little of such material, and what we do use is used under strictly controlled condi tions. Recently the Occupations) Safety and Health Administration earned out an extensive and thorough inspection of the entire Pautsooro refinery. No violations were found in the plant s handling of asbestos materials." Mr. bailey* union, the OH. Oiemical and Atomic Workers, is protesting that inspection. Sieven Uod*a. a union health and safely apeclalisi. says hole attention was paid to health Motationv And he complains that after a week of accompanying the inspectors, the company inexplicably "had me kicked out of the plant." Mobil decline* comment on Mr. Wodka'a charge. Oil refineries are by no means the only places where asbesios turns up. The versatile tuaaiance u a fireproof binder and insulator in thousands of product*, including such things as plasUcs. shingles, paper and pipes, in most of PUajg Turn (o Page 10, Column l \S' I Continued Prom Ptrst Pag* years, and there a nothing wrong with them." these, the asbesios U hsrmless to users. But. When working In clo*ed quarters, he says. hJ* depending on how It s added to the products, men uae drop cloths and fans, but they don't asbestos can pose a Uireat to workera In the wear respirators because "they're too hot wnd factotie* where the products are made. they don't work." 1 Until six months ago, for Instance, asbestos Nevertheless, the federal Environmental was being used as an anulcak ingredient In Protection Agency Is preparing regulations * peeled to be announced this summer that Prestons anUIreeie. made by Union Carbide would attempt to impose controls on sir pollu Corp. At a Carteret. N.J., plant, nin for Union tion from demolition operations Thrae could Carbide by General American Transportation. Include requirements for welting down the Via aitestos would arrive in psper sacks. Workers would cut the bags open with knives and fee 1 the powdery white asbesios Into tanks of anti/reete, says James Irving, a fire and work areas or the removal of all asbesios be fore a building la toppled. The technical prob lem of measuring dust levels, however, "could loss out the demolition regulation entirely." aa/ety engineer who baa worked ia the plant ays James Xrowder. an engineer with the for 22 yean. EPA's hazardous pollutants branch. 'They'd wear face masks, but no protertive Setting a atandard for asbesios ronrrnirw- clothing." Mr. Irvisg asyi. "and the blowers in tions at work aiie* has been similarly difficult the room where they worked would send the for the fledgling Occupation Safety and Health dust out to where others were working. Tnen Administration, a year-old Department of they'd pile up the bags outside the building and Labor unit. The reason: Nobody knows bow a crew would pick them up and throw them much asbesios Is dangerous. The asbestos in onto the truck, raising a big cloud of dust." dustry. led by Johns-Manville Corp.. the lat Asbestos was removed from the Freefone est in the field, has fought for a standard allow- formula late last year. Mr. Irving says the tng five asbestos libers per cubic cenUmeier of change took place after the Oil, Chemical and air In the factories. But the doctors at Mount Atom c Workers made an issue of It. Union Smai and elsewhere aigue that the only true Carb>de denies that. The decision, says Herbert safe level of asbestos poUuUon would be zrro. J. Hanmgan, the company's technical manager The government's decision yeMerday was in of auto products, was based on marketing con impose a five-fiber average, with a maximum siderations and "bad nothing to do with concentration in the work area of JO Tiber* per healLi." cubic cenUmenler at any time. In 1874. the new* Asbestos also can pose hazards to the ulti* regulations call for a more stringent two-fiber mats consumer* of certain products. Bits of as limit, with the four-year delay Intended to pve bestos used In filters for beverage making have the industry a chance to control the problem. . been found In wine and beer, for instance, and The industry says even a twro-fiber limit could be dangerous If swallowed. The use of could hurt ll economically. J. B. Jobe. Johne- such filters In beverage making seems to have Manvllle'a executive vice president, said at *beea curtailed, but knowledge of the hasted ep- hearing* in March that it would b "socisiiv ir .pears to have had little effect elsewhere, even responsible'* to adopt aucb stringent regula In medical circles. Asbesios, says a soon-to-be* tions. published study, is being used In some hospi The company operates the largest asbestos tals as a filter for Intravenously fed liquids, factory in the country at Manville. N.J.. where, giving the particles an entree Into Ihe blood according to a recent Mount Sinai siudv. stream. of the W'orker* die of MbfUAi-relaird rsnrer Tbe use of asbestos In fireproof textiles Is Corrective steps being taken already Johns- common. Once In a while, asbestos fiber even Manville maintains, are sdquale to deal wuh finds its way into ordinary fabrics. Dr.William the problem without causing a rutbsrk in ih* Nicholson, an associate of Dr. Srhkoff at Mount Smai. has a girls charcoal-colored winter coat plant's production the lifeblood of *.h New jersey town of lb.bOO. At least one abeuo* fac with red tram hanging tn one of his laborato tory. run by a PPG industries and Coming ries. H's one of more than 200.000 imported Glass Works joint venture in Tvter. T*\s*. rioted lat February because of - coals msde with *'r asoejtos fiber sold two and concern over safety." s spokesmen . years ago. Some of them aie presumably still Actually, the curbing of asbesios roiuamir.s- being wont. "Give that coat a shake." says Dr. tion ls more an exercise in good houe*enr.t Nicholson, "and you get dust leveLs as high ss in an asbestos factory " than capital expenditure. Vvnile toe com of slopping pollution at a power plant or eme.ier Asbesios workers tn the construction indus might run Into Ihe hundred* of million.*. th* try ate perhaps the most sensitive of sll work- coal of cleaning up an osbefio* operation wo-j.d era to the asbestos hazard. U was the construc be closer In a JOih of that magnitude, senyo- tion industry, which uses two-thirds of all u- ing to dngiors. engineers and union official* bulu produets, that wi the target of the firs* Some of the staple* of soej an al wave of antiaabestoa publicity more than lour ready m use in many plants, are compara years ago. At least four cities--New* York. Bos tively inexpensive closed plastic bags for mix ton, Chicago and Philadelphia -- hav* banned ing cement, vacuum attachments on power Ihe spraying of asbestos fireproofing mstrrial aw*. drop rlolhs. dust-suppressanl ehrmi.*l* altogether. Substitute materials are being dr and baitery-pow*ered respiraiois that blow Tit velopedf though there's some question being tered air into the usei fare to rae di*vm- raised about their safety, too lort Among ronstmehon workers oulMde the as Tne new Labor Depsrimeni standard* v* bestos trades--virtually all of whom are rv- indeed, call for manv of |hee voi -!* ime pvrd to asbesios whether they soil with it di rule*, Bui white they are urQuf-i*fwt s rectly or not--concern remain* relatively lew. needed step loused siriri conirn* fh S* Jacob Novak, businer* manarrr of the Asbes xavx. he a>*o mv* he remain* r**-'* ' tos Workera Union local in New Yoik. aavs he "Tne potential lor sunrihan# r iuih .r haa tried without aucreas. for instance, to in ssvs. because of the sintl. undei u**an. ed duct a group of plasterers to have checkup* lafts of federal and stale in.-jwrinr* A *# "Some of these people don t warn to fare a free reventiv completed si Mount 5ira or *.** X-ray because the v re afraid of what they besios workers around If* roiirtr.. fnr in- might hear." save Mr. .Novak a 41 year vet sumr. rnuucd mat in n)0 and 1971 mere %* eran ol llii hibfAibi trade*. who tad nonmn* Ohlv one du-t i uwt<l Ukrn in ait* lot Jtgnani tumor removed from * |gnr last winter. every ?0.000 man-oav* woiked Anxiety In the demolition indmtrv alo And while he save he apprerlale* the s*he*. seems minimal "We ibeil have a dust proh tox induslrv s epie**e4 in>eie-i n m>U i*c lh Ir.T. In demolition." eava Leonard Kapy. v)ee pn.blrm lie Selikoff I* MC pir-"'* *o r* president of Wrecking Corp of America, erne of plain Ihe ronitmung afathv smnng mam wotk- the largest drmolltion companies in the eoun- er* and manager*. "This hnl piM soine*^M Iry. "Some people tnroh von ran lake dnn a rare " he iv* "Some people want in ee iheB building without du-t." he ai wuh a laugh bvliM in the irret before ine bet ume con Aa foe asbestos. Mr Kapv nn'l worried: "I eerned Unfnnunatel). tn tht* Cssr. Ilie hodifH know fellas who pve laid pipe for mie in Ihe eireet *' PLAINTIF EXHIBf 1611 (3!