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FILE NAME Newspaper & Magazine Articles NMA DATE 1972 June 13 DOC NMA064 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION NYT - Asbestos Rulings Held Inadequate New York Times Currenfitle Jun 13 1972 ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times 1851 - 2002 ASBESTOS RULINGS HELD INADEQUATE Cancer Authority Says Many Workers Face Death By FELIX BELAIR Jr. Special to The New York Times WASHINGTON June An authority on asbestos cancer said today that tens of thousands of workers exposed to asbestos would die because of inadequate regulations issued by the Government's Occupa- tional Safety and Health Ad ministration : The prediction was made by Dr. Irving Selikoff of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York in a report to a meeting of the industrial union department of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Indus- trial Organizations at the organization's headquarters here Dr. Selikoff said that if the Federal agency showed the same disregard for essential safeguards and precautions in setting standards for other toxic substances as it demon- strated in the asbestos regula- tions we face an unparalleled disaster to the working people in our country The regulations speak bland- ly of five fibers per milliliter ly standard but neglect to add that a working man inhales from four to eight million milliliters in an eight day he said A milliliter or cubic centimeter holds about a thimbleful of air In a direct reference to As- sistant Secretary of Labor George C. Guenther who heads the safety agency Dr. Selikoff said Mr. Guenther orders that workers exposed to as- bestos in any trade are re- quired to work under con- ditions which permit them to inhale 20 million or even 30 million fibers in a working day Mr. Guenther made this statement after hearing of the doctor's charges Dr. Selikoff has chosen to overdramatize matter There is that asbestos question that exposure to asbestos exposure most We believe he said that the new standards will provide substantial and real protection for exposed workers and that they provide for reductions in levels of asbestos exposure that are reasonable and ^fin our judgment based on tests from many quarters The asbestos standard issued by the Labor Department agency last week provided for an exposure limit of 2 fibers but per cubic centimeter of air said the present emergency standard of 5 fibers would con- tinue until July 1976. It also provided a maximum exposure centimeter per limit of 10 fibers cubic for an eight day Reproduced with permission of the Further owner reproduction without prohibited