Document wy3qwZzV3d0Gor7LqZ4gZNNB

%PUBLISHED BY (.'ASSOCIATION DES MINES D'AMIANTE DU QUEBEC APR./MAY/JUNE 1981 VOL. 5 NO. 2 j &. 4 ^ WORLD SYMPOSIUM ON ASBESTOS TO BE HELD IN MAY 1982 Sponsored by the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec and the Commission of the European Communities A World Symposium on Asbestos is to be held in Montreal on May 25, 26 and 27, 1982. Organized around the theme: "Asbestos, Health and Society", the Symposium will take place under the auspices of the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec and the Commission of.-4he European Communities who took this initiative jointly, with a view to drawing up as objective and complete an analysis as possible of the asbestos situation with in the context of the many controver sies revolving around this mineral. International experts in various dis ciplines will be called on to discuss the major issues which form the core preoccupation of those who, each in their own right, have an interest in asbestos. Objectives Whether the state of scientific and medical research, technological progress, the health and safety of the workers and the public, product safety, environmental protection or the socio economic impact, no aspect of the asbestos issue will be ignored at this unprecedented international gath ering. Introducing the latest data, the Sym posium is intended as both a forum for the free expression of the differing views currently held on the asbestos Issue and an opportunity for dialogue and the exchange of information among the representatives of govern ment, labour, scientific and medical circles and industry. The Symposium organizers are hop ing that this meeting will yield an exhaustive evaluation of the negative and positive aspects of asbestos, so that the international community will be better equipped to determine, with full knowledge of the facts, the limits and possibilities of reconciling, as regards asbestos, economic and com mercial interests with social preoc cupations, including the quality of life. In short, the Symposium is an attempt to provide as full and objective an answer as possible for those who are wondering whether society can live with asbestos and, especially, whether it needs do without it. Participation The participants in the Symposium will.be representing each of the groups which, in their own sphere of opera tion, are directly concerned with the asbestos issue: the heads of govern ment regulatory agencies on the environment and on occupational health and safety, the heads of con sumer protection organizations, senior public servants in the health, labour and social affairs sectors, international organizations in the fields of science. health and labour, scientists, doctors and researchers renowned for their work and their knowledge on asbestos, delegations of national and interna tional labour federations and deleg ates of the mining and manufacturing industry. Balanced representation To ensure adequate and balanced representation of all interest grbups and all viewpoints, as well as an appropriate distribution according to the geographical regions of the world, participation in the Symposium will be by invitation. The guest list will be drawn up by the Steering Committee which is itself made up of representa tives of the principal sectors in ques tion, namely the governments, the scientific community, the labour move ment and the industry. The Steering Committee estimates that the number of invited guests will have to be limited to approximately 600, given the space available at the site of the Symposium. The Symposium is, in fact, to be held in the General Assembly hall of the International Civil Aviation Organiza tion (ICAO), a United Nations agency having its headquarters in Montreal and whose facilities are particularly suited to an international conference of this nature. HWBUI0005274 THE SYMPOSIUM; ..... -\ Structure and Organization Managing, coordinating and super .Program Committee and the Budget vising the organization of the World Committee. Symposium.on Asbestos is the respon Finally, the Steering Committee has sibility of a Steering Committee, made assigned the Program Committee, up of one representative of each of the whose members it appointed, the fask sponsoring bodies, the Government of of planning the entire program for the Canada, the Government of Quebec Symposium, of defining the themes and the Commission of European Com and topics for discussion and suggest munities, a representative of the labour ing possible candidates for session movement, a delegate of the interna chairmen, speakers and panelists. tional asbestos industry and a deleg ate of the Canadian asbestos mining The Steering Committee j industry. Georges Dahmen, of the Ministere de The representatives of the three l'nergie et des Ressources du | sponsoring bodies are co-chairing the Quebec, Co-Chairman; Steering Committee and alternately preside at each meeting, where Com mittee members may be accompanied by observers: Gary Nash, of Industry, Trade and > Commerce, Government of Canada, Co-Chairman; -j Dr. Heinrich Ott, of General j Organization j Directorate XII of the Commission of the European Communities, Co- The planning, material organization Chairman; and communications for the con ference have been entrusted to the tnstitut de Recherche et de Developpement sur I'Amiante (IRDA) whose Director is acting as Secretary General dean Gerin-Lajoie, of the United Steelworkers of America; Sir Neville Stack, of the Asbestos International Association (AIA); representing the Institut de Medecine du Travail et de I'Environnement and the AMAQ; Dr. Jacques Dunnigan, of the Institut de Recherche et de Developpement sur I'Arrifante and Secretary General of the Committee. The Program Committee Dr. Gabriel Plaa, Professor, Faculte des Etudes Superieures of L'Universite de Montreal, Chairman; Dr. Heinrich Ott, of General Directorate XII of the Commission of European Communities; Mr. Clement Godbout, of the United Steelworkers of America; Dr. David C.F. Muir, of the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Centre; Mr. Dennis Browne, of Industry, Trade and Commerce, Government of Canada; Dr. Richard Gaze, of the Asbestos International Association; Mr. Jean-Charles Meranger, of Natibnal Health and Welfare, Government of Canada; Dr. George Wright, of ('Institut de Medecine du Travail et de f'Environnement; Mr. Lionel Piuze, of ('Association des mines d'amiante du Quebec. The Secretariat General Dr. Jacques Dunnigan, of I'lnstitut de Recherche et de Developpement sur I'Amiante, Secretary General; Mr. Aleksander Ignatow, of Industry, Trade and Commerce, Government of Canada; Dr. Gilles Lagace of the Centre Hospitalier Ste-Marie of TroisRivieres, representing the Government of Quebec; Mr. Marcel Valtat, of ('Association Franqsaise de I'Amiante; Mr. Yvon Turcot, of Intercommunica, Communications Consultant. HWBUI0005275 THE SYMPOSIUM: > Preliminaiy Program r* I t >r Although certain details still have to be reviewed and the formulation of cer tain themes, topics or issues is still subject to change, the program for the World Symposium on Asbestos has, on the whole, been drawn up for the entire three days. The Symposium has been organized into seven sessions, all of them plen ary, with approximately 29 presenta tions, each scheduled to last 20 to 30 minutes. The Program Committee decided to restrict the length of the presentations.in order to allow as much time as possible for the seven panel discussions, which will be open to all participants. Asbestos in the Workplace Day I of the Symposium will principally be devoted to the issue of exposure to asbestos in the workplace and to an evaluation of the risk of this exposure to the workers' health. The first session, entitled "Asbestos: The Medical Data", will notably Include a review of the dis eases habitually related to asbestos, a comparison of past and present epidemiological evidence taking into account changes In workplace exposure levels, and a definition of the term "threshold" as applied to car cinogens in general, and to asbestos in particular. Based on the presentations in this session, p panel will discuss the question "Is there a practicable no effect level for asbestos?" In the afternoon, a session of a tech nical order will examine protection methods in the workplace. The presen tations will attempt to define the progress made in primary and second ary industry and the problems yet to be solved in this field. In the course of the third session of the day, three speakers, representing industry, labour and government, will state their viewpoints on the rights and responsibilities attendant on the use of asbestos in the workplace. A panel made up of the speakers of the second and third sessions will debate the question "Are the workers exposed to excessive risk?" The Major Controversies The fourth session, on the morning of Day II, will consider the full socio economic impact of the use'of asbestos products and asbestos substitutes. Following the presenta tions, a panel will be invited to debate a particularly thorny question, deliberately phrased in a provocative manner: "Should we replace asbestos?" In the afternoon, the fifth session will broach another equally crucial aspect, probably the one which has aroused the most emotion in recent years, This session is devoted to the risks associated with non-occupational exposure, in other words the effects of exposure to asbestos on the health of the general population. The panel discussion which will follow promises therefore to be par ticularly lively, all the more so since the question posed, "Is the general population at risk from cancer due to asbestos exposure?" introduces the notion of a disease which is the "bete noire" of humanity. The Future Day III of the Symposium will attempt to look into the future of asbestos, from the scientific and legislative stand points. In the course of .session six, the scientific community will take the floor. The speakers will be invited to discuss the current state of research Into asbestos, as well as the direction of future research, in light of existing data. The seventh and final session will deal with regulations and legislation. It will notably include a review of regula tions presently in force in various parts of the world and an analysis of the different philosophies underlying the regulatory approaches. This session will also attempt to define the rationale for regulations on the use of asbestos. Finally, two questions will be put to a panel of experts from different coun tries: "To what extent are regulations and legislation in accord with present scientific knowledge?" and "What should be the pattern for future legislation and regulations?" The Symposium and the Press All sessions of the World Symposium on Asbestos will be open to the press. However, given the limited space which will necessarily restrict atten dance at the plenary sessions of the Symposium, the media or journalists wishing to cover this international event will, in due time, be asked to apply in advance for a pass. To this end, the Secretary will be sending out application forms simultaneously to all news media in the fall. HWBUI0005276 Asbestos Chemically Modified During Processing Data on the biological effects of asbestos may be inapplicable to finished products "When pure, virgin asbestos fibres are incorporated in a mixture with other compounds (cement, organic substances, etc.) and processed into a new final product; the resulting pro duct may very well be one in which the individual ingredients have been modi fied chemically.*' Such are the findings currently subscribed to by several scientists which Dr. Jacques Dunnigan, Director General of I'lnstitut de Recherche et de Developpement sur I'Amiante (IRDA), discussed at the Third Biennial Con ference of the AIA, held in London at the end of May. Results of a French Study on Detection and Prevention A team of French doctors and scientists recently complete<Ta detailed study of the X-ray files of more than 6 000 asbestos workers and employees, which represents, spread over more than three years, the interpretation of upwards of 35 000 lung and pleural X-ray films of ; patients exposed to asbestos in an industrial environment. The results of this mammoth undertaking, which is part of an ongoing epidemiological study, have been compiled into a document which con stitutes a veritable treatise on the interpretation of X-rays of workers in the asbestos industry. This publication is available ib specialists in industrial medicine, radiologists, lung specialists and other experts. The publication as well as the study itself were commissioned by ('Association Franchise de I'Amiante and supervised by Dr. Pierre Zivy, a pneumophthisiologist. Although exclusively a study in radiological semiology -- semiology being that field of medicine which concerns itself with the study of symptoms -- it is nonetheless invaluable in that it covers all the asbestos workers in all the asbestos-cement and asbestos textile plants in France. As the President of ('Association Frangaise de I'Amiante, Cyril Latty, stated in the preface to the new publication: "Thanks to this mammoth study undertaken by Drs. Zivy and Gerber, evidence of the appearance of early pleural symptoms is a clear testament to the timeliness and the value of this paper as regards detection and prevention, which are the focus of industrial medicine." "The conditions for pathological symptoms," went on Mr. Latty, "which are in many ways still obscure and which have been difficult to identify in view of their latency (20 to 40 years), have thus been more clearly estab lished, through a rational statement rather than frail conjectures. Specialists in industrial medicine are better armed to detect early symptoms of asbestosis and, consequently, to take measures which will prevent the workers under their supervision from increasing the risk to their health". With' the support of laboratory test results of several research teams, in cluding that of Dr. Deruyttere of Bel gium, of Dr. Spurny of the Federal Re public of Germany, of a group of scien tists at I'Universite de Sherbrooke, and of IRDA itself, Dr. Dunnigan demons trated that all th.g results lead to belie ve that the physico-chemical proper ties of asbestos, in its raw state, under go substantial alterations when the fi bre is incorporated in other material or substances, as is generally the case with asbestos-containing products. Incorrect Extrapolation Due to this physico-chemical modifi cation, the biological effects associa ted with pure virgin chrysotile asbes tos cannot be automatically associa ted with the modified fibres.contained in finished products: "There are now somd fresh scientific data which show that mechanical or chemical manipula tions of asbestos result in modifica tions of biological effects and more specifically in the passivation of these effects." In light of the available data and of the work in progress in this field. Dr. Dunnigan is of the opinion that regula tions concerning the use of finished asbestos-containing products are not scientifically supported, if arrived at by extrapolation of the epidemiological data obtained after exposure to pure, virgin asbestos. Owing to both the scientific and stra tegic importance of the new findings in this field, IRDA is planning to establish a laboratory service, having among its principal tasks the evaluation of the physico-chemical and biological pro perties of the fibrous particles that may be emitted or released from asbestoscontaining finished products. 4 HWBUI0005277 Michael J. Messel Retires The man who many knew as "Mr. As bestos", Michael J. Messel, who devo ted more than 43 years of his career to the industry and who, from the start, shaped the development of Lac d'amiante du Quebec, where he served as General Manager for over 25 years and as President since 1964, officially retired early this summer. He will however carry on, until the end of 1981, as Chairman of the Board of IRDA and will continue to sit on the Board of Directors of AMAQ. Jean Dupere (at left) and Michael J. Messel. His successor as President and Chief Executive Officer of LAQ is Jean Dupere who, at the time of his appoint ment, held the position of Executive Vice President. Mr. Messel'$ retirement was honou red with several social events, during which the world of asbestos, as well as the communities of Thedford Mines and Black Lake and the employees of LAQ, paid him tribute. Guest Speaker at the AIA Mr. Messel himself took the opportu nity at the AIA Third Biennial Confe rence in London, just before retiring, to discuss the state of the asbestos in dustry as he sees it, in light of his long experience and his intimate knowled ge of its evolution. After recalling the extraordinary growth of mining activity after the second World War, and more specifically in the late sixties and early seventies, a growth characterized by a demand which far exceeded supply, Mr. Messel reviewed the various prob lems confronting the industry today, particularly in terms of regulation, legislation and adverse publicity, the negative effects of which are compli cated by an unfavourable economic climate. Surmountable Problems All this, in the view of the former Pre sident of LAQ, in no way means that asbestos is doomed: "There is no such thing as an endless downturn or an endless upturn. The swing of the pen dulum is universal, and if we manage to hold the fort through the difficult period we are confronted with, I am convinced that, in the long run, asbestos will out live its attackers." "At the moment," went on Mr. Mes sel, "we have the environmental pro blems and the misinformation to cope with, but the industry shall overcome this, for it possesses the brains, the energy and the advanced technology to do so." Noting that there has already been a change in the attitude of the scientific community and that recent studies, such as the one conducted by Dr. McDonald's team, have greatly contri buted to scientists the world over adopting a more balanced approach to asbestos, Mr. Messel is also convinced that, as time goes by, and with the ap pearance of new scientific and medical data, other substances may well repla ce asbestos as a focus for those who have fostered the present climate of hysteria. This does not mean that the asbes tos industry will ever relive the golden era of the last two decades: "Those times are over for good. The profile of the asbestos industry is changing, but so is society and it's not the end of the world." Foreseeable Changes "We have to face the fact," observed Mr. Messel, "that asSestos mining and manufacturing will not provide, in the foreseeable future, the kind of returns it used to. The industry will have to live with that reality and take the necessa ry steps to cope with it: redirecting production, rationalizing costs and, perhaps, even reducing production ca pacity to adjust to the demand level and to lower the breakeven point In the not too distant future, economic imperatives might lead to certain mergers or regrouping of mines," Marketing of asbestos has also un dergone some profound changes, ac cording 1o Mr. Messel: "Today you have to step up your marketing, practi cally beat the sidewalks, and it is not sufficient to go to the purchasing agent or department; you need to call on the chief executive officer or chief operat ing officer to find' out about the com pany's policy on asbestos products. You even have to try and influence the policy makers within the companies." Future Prospects While acknowledging that producing and marketing asbestos does present a challenge today, Mr. Messel never theless concluded that, all things con sidered, and in view of the irreplacea ble properties of asbestos in certain applications and the high cost of ener gy, which will make this mineral in creasingly more competitive, "the as bestos marketing picture over the long haul may be brighter than the current situation leads to believe". 5 / HWBU10005278 O oo Ui > VCD UJ o Ll! Of o o s>- 2 flC h\nb,y\0005279