Document xjYGD0DGRdXR0yJZZz35gK7VQ

b07353 ASBESTOS AND HEALTH Asbestos, used since antiquity, has widespread and important applications in our modern technological society. Approximately 3,000 different products containing asbestos are in daily use throughout the world. Its increased use in the 20th century has lent urgency to the need to cope with occupational health problems related to the excessive inhalation of asbestos dust. Such problems are not unique to the asbestos industry. Many substances and materials in common use today can be detrimental to the health and safety of industrial workers under uncontrolled conditions. A vital and widely used raw material, asbestos is but one of a number of potentially harmful substances used by industry. Basically, the known facts about asbestos-related disease can be summed up as follows: First, asbestos-related health risks today are almost exclusively confined to the occupational setting. Second, the effects of excessive inhalation of asbestos are both time and dose related. This means that asbestos-related diseases may develop, generally, only after the inhalation of substantial amounts of asbestos dust over a substantial period of time. Thus, there are levels of exposure that will not result in any increased risk of disease. Third, there is presently no evidence of risk to the general public from exposure to the minute amounts of asbestos that have been found in community air. Fourth, because of the long latent period of asbestos-related disease, the disease being found today among some long-term industry employees is not an indication of present day condi tions, but is a result of conditions existing decades ago, at a time when neither the industry, government, or the medical profession knew very much about the health effects of asbestos and even less about the proper means for their control. These facts are well recognized by the asbestos manufacturing industry, which has made substantial progress over the years in protecting those who work with asbestos and in eliminating emissions of free asbestos fiber into the community air. Known and Suspected Occupational Risks There are three primary diseases known to be caused or exacerbated by prolonged and heavy inhalation of asbestos fibers. They are asbestosis, bronchogenic (lung) cancer, and mesothelioma. Prolonged heavy exposure does not necessarily result in disease and death-- but there is little question that risks are significantly increased. Asbestosis This is an occupational disease characterized by lung scarring, and is one of the lung diseases called pneumoconioses. It is the most common of the three asbestos related illnesses and is found only among those who have worked regularly and continuously with asbestos under inadequately controlled conditions. The average time span from first exposure to the first clinical signs of asbestosis is 17 years, although some cases have been reported in as few as ten years. Asbestosis is neither malignant nor necessarily fatal. Many asbestos workers with minor cases can and do continue to work and lead normal lives without difficulties. The asbestos 1 _________________ PLAINTIFFS t, EXHIBIT S UC-1643 there are other causes of mesothelioma besides asbestos. Unfortunately, what those other causes might be is still unknown. Until these and other equally important factors are thoroughly investigated, the mesothelioma question will remain unresolved. Other Tumors Some researchers have reported higher-than-normal rates of gastrointestinal cancer among some heavily exposed industry groups. Other researchers have reported no increase of this type of cancer. The consensus of medical opinion is that the eviderraeTS(too fcanty for a definitive conclusion. v Asbestos and the General Public Medical reports of excess asbestos-related disease among occupationally exposed popula tions have been frequently cited by some writers, environmentalists, politicians and others as "proof" that the health of the general public is endangered by the minute amounts of asbestos dust being found in community air. "Neighborhood" and "household" cases of mesothelioma are cited extensively in this regard, as are the frequent reports of the findings of free asbestos fibers and so-called ferruginous bodies (which sometimes contain asbestos) in the lungs of some city dwellers at autopsy. The truth is, however, that there is no evidence--either from experience or from scientific research--that anyone in the general public has ever contracted any asbestos-related disease from exposure to these minute amounts of airborne asbestos, which are many times lower than levels which have been demonstrated to result in no excess of disease in occupationally exposed populations. This conclusion is supported by both the Asbestos Panel of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Biologic Effects of Atmospheric Pollutants, and the 33 member Advisory Committee on Asbestos Cancers of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization. in its 1971 booklet, entitled "Asbestos: The Need For And Feasibility of Air Pollution Controls," the NAS Asbestos Panel, which consisted of seven of the nation's top experts on asbestos and health, stated that "there is no evidence that persons in the general popula tion--without occupational, household or neighborhood exposures--have any increased risk of neoplasm, even though there may be ferruginous bodies or fibers in their lungs." Warning against conclusions of the type frequently reached by the uninformed with regard to asbestos, the report further stated: "One cannot extrapolate from the mortality experi ence of, on the one hand, those who are directly and indirectly exposed to asbestos in their employment to, on the other hand, the general public, who have had moderate or slight exposures from ambient air." The report concluded with the statement that "there is no evidence that the small numbers of fibers found in most members of the general population affect health or longev ity." The report of the I ARC Advisory Committee represents the consensus of present world medical opinion on all aspects of the asbestos-health problem. Meeting immediately after the October 1972 Lyon Conference on the Biological Effects of Asbestos, the Committee, with representation from teb different countries, drafted the following opinions on asbes tos-related disease and the general public: Asbestosis: "There is at present no evidence of lung damage by asbestos to the general public. The amount of asbestos in the lungs of members of the general public is very small, compared to those occupationally exposed." Lung Cancer: "The evidence . . . suggests that an excess lung carcinoma risk is not de tectable when the occupational exposure has been low. These low occupa- 3 sponsoring a study at the Harvard School of Public Health on chest ausculation (breathing sounds) as an early detection device in the diagnosis of asbestos-related disease. While this needed additional information and data is being developed, the industry will take all steps necessary to assure a safe working environment for its employees and for applicators and fabricators of asbestos-containing products. Asbestos Information Association North America 1660 L Street, N. W. Washington, D. C. 20036 A07957 5