Document vy1N1625YrJwxX6qZbpwzeVjZ

FILE NAME: Union Carbide (UC) DATE: 1973 Apr 30 DOC#: UC116 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letter to Union Carbide Australia Ltd. RE Addressing Concerns About Asbestos April 30, 1973 Z^ l uOc Siw s - TH E DISCOVERY COMPANY o W w . ______ AGARA FALLS, N. Y. 14302 _______ TEL: 716-278-3376 Mr. P. C. Weeks Union Carbide A u stralia Ltd. 167-187 Kent Street Sydney, N.S.W., A u stralia Ai-uu. ' ' V 7 -r - ju u A < , Dear P h il: Mr. P o rter's fears of asbestos are not unusual but a man of his 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 y in g h is fears. Molten metal w ill burn you jrf you touch it , maleic anhydride w ill poison you j_f_ you swa I low it , styrene fumes w ill suffocate you j_f you breathe too much, s i I tea can cause s ilic o s is if you inhale excess q uantities. Asbestos can cause lung damage rf 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. Ju st as Degussa says that Aerosii 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 r t ic le of 1968 I have chosen not to make s p e c ific comments on it . Most of the information is based on insulation workers exposed prim arily to c ro c id o lite and amosite asbestos in a period of poor housekeeping practices. This is ju s t no 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 H atrick 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 by the UK experience. I am sure that most of the objections you receive are based on newspaper a r tic le s . Most of these are not written o bjectively and tend to sensationalize and A U C C 007425 Mr. P. C. Weeks -2 Apr!I 30, 1973 u n fa irly extrapolate data and studies. The newspaper w ill not accept any "good" information about asbestos but we are slowly getting favorable coverage in some technical jo u rn als, per the attached items. ''PU-S+'cs 7Vcivu.(o$- " "Tke New'TM*''* ^C/V"c "f '/ilttcA'iMt. 'D c.SfjK 1' } S ilic a is one of the fiv e target health hazards announced by OSHA and the c r it e r ia for new standards are being prepared. The current U.S. threshold lim it value (TLV) for amorphous s ilic a is 20 m illio n p a rtic le s per cubic foot (Mppcf) or 80 mg/M^. If you can see s ilic a dust the level is very near the TLV. The H atrlck people should have a Reichhold R&D report No. 75 by G. Hicks on the use of RG-244. It was mailed out on March 9 and is very complimentary. This should indicate RC I' s acceptance of RG-244 and we hope to get a further m ailing from Mr. H. R. H elbig, Vice-President of RCMs International D ivisio n . We have monitored R C I's Azusa plant and found dust levels well below the 1976 OSHA Standards. No material can "conform to OSHA Sp e cificatio n s" as they are not written in th is manner or for th is purpose. We have made numerous dust counts at various polyester producing plants and find n levels in excess of the OSHA Standards. When dust levels are not exceeded there are no extensive or expensive OSHA requirements. . With regard 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 gone to f ul l seven days per week operation. How is your p ricin g compared to Aerosi I ? Do you have any problems competing on price or performance? I have rambled quite a b it on RG-244, do you have any s p e c ific questions? Have you contacted Mr. McConchie of the A ustralian Paper Manufacturers? Hope th is information is valuable to you - please let me know if we can be of further assistance. Very tru ly yours, rrL. M yers^ keting Manager Enclosures: SPE-RETEC CIBA/GEIGY-UK Health WHO Report Safe Use of RG-244 Dr. Wright Test and Dr. McDonald Test NAS Summary QAMA Sampling Equipment List EncIosures /ds U C C 007426