Document xjYr8xEa3G5Y7J1yZMMqJ1Q4G

Diy\\ T. - >' 'C A h-' ' O. MEMORANDUM p : K. *Vetf TO Messrs. T. Dougherty R. A. Miller R. W. Stobeeus B. R. Barton T. R. van Fleet N. J. Setter R. T. Larkin 3- * --* DATE: ,March 22^.966 A. A. 1 ;ao6 -METAJ.S 0(y CC: L. S. O'Rourke SUBJECT: Asbestos - Toxicology T. J. Hall H. F. Relchard/R. G. Woolary J. A. Riddle t/' J. Derbecker P. R. Cheston T. F. Frangos Gen lemen: Early in March the "New York Times" and the "Herald Tribune", rep rting the establishment of a new environmental health laboratory at Mt. Sinai Hospital (New York City), revived some publicity (copy attached) in egard to Asbestos dust as a health hazard. We understand that a few new papers In other cities picked It up. "Out of context" reporting leads to erroneous conclusions, and thl is no exception. Nevertheless, we should reckon that such a commentary wll recur, and all of us should use the tool we now have at our disposal to maki certain our customers are acquainted with the facta: 1. You have copies of Dr. Demehl's "Asbestos Toxicology Report." Additional copies are enclosed. Use these, and call particular attention to Dr. Demehl's statements in regard to "Threshold Limit Value"fJr asbestos. Control of asbestos dust exposure is necessary, as is control of exposure to any of a variety of dusty operations. 2. Union Carbide pellets offer a clear-cut means of handling asbestos under exceptionally low dust conditions. 3. No work'yet conducted or published presents, nor pro fesses to present, incontrovertible proof of a relationship between cancer and asbestos. Some publications have re ferred to the association of deleterious organic compounds, asx>ng them jute oils from jute sacking material, and 3,4 benzo(a) pyrene. We do not use jute bags. Further, we are -2 analyzing random samples of our product, and expect shortly to prove the absence of any polycyclic aromatics. Your pelleted asbestos affords customers the best tans of avoiding dtlht hazards. Make this clear. Very truly yours, A. I.Pufahl/dh En losures * >t| ns i# iNUUCing Lum fjAsdkstos Dust Called a Hazard: ?!To Iat Lerst One-Fourth of U.S ny JAXU B. nnODY I Asbcj is ,,ust, which hu al structlon workers and their| ready ecn connected with families. the devi opment of fatal can- According to the findings of :er In >ne-half of aabestoa three recent limited studies, the workers, may be a' potential dangers might extend to the health 1 sard for one-quarterl general population.`The studies, of the ] ipulation or more,, it, which Involved autopsies on i repo led yesterday. - 1,100 persons in three cities, This p illmlnary finding was showed that 23 per cent of the) described by Dr. Irving J. Sell- people had asbestos lodged in, koff in 4nouncdng the estab- their lungs. Ushment >fin environmental Or. Sellkoff explained thatI1 health laboratory at Mountl the studies had used a "crudei Sinai Ho iital. The laboratory] will ft or investigate thel I.- dingers man of asbestos and other cnfironmentai contami I'runts. technique" that disclosed only; those asbestos fibers that had become coated by an Irbn-richj material while lodged in the; lungs. A more refined technique; tOr. Se] off said the Unkj (between ncer and asbestos had led Ilm to suspect that now shows that ma: y persons harbor noncoated asbestos fl-| bers as well, he said. I i.awtthaaothhaleriltiaTdrhtamhtsdhenlmseenrofahdoaOrisogmmtrnhrewh.eeblaU;evst]iifrP|ploptrlOheaaIuarb>tb.vhbutdoleoitwrurcrobrSaCas.kmatetthesosenUeuerrsfydvrktrageihoocn,nefwamafdvtlfuiteolirwlmlm*uncuu'hotnnerbeunoodsge--j,-l|t4telilh.uhne,uea0neaauOw<0vgg1su0eEehurn.tdxeipseics'asestNxhsamSrtuesratfetiohewantetlnwemiedoksSyt,ohofiatlweueyftfxyh'ditwspelhenyle:ariaeteaScfrhnwrsteptoeda-pdmyralrateotetthbhao3vdieor,sMa0drsl0aioet0tuuctdohodtniternnoelyyt-!j||>iii1 . cancer and hree times the nor- Sinai, Elmhurst Hospital and1 mat death the stomac ate from cancer of Veterans Hospital In the Bronx. coloq and rectum, The doctors will look for un Ollier lfjorkcn Affected rooted as well as coated asbes Or. Selllfyiff noted that the tos fibers in the tissues. dangers of |xnosurc to asbestos qLook for correlations be dust were mited to ti >se tween the causes of death and h who work directly with this the presence of asbestos fibers g umbaiqteuritiaolu.s*` *Insdualantgoerrsa,nhde fUler said, in lung tissue. *1Determine the A occupational tl extend to ^pricers in "contigu-l history of the deceased and their u ous trades, such as other oon-l relatives and other pertinent v background information. p Asbestos is a fibrous mineral * highly valued for Its noncor rosive and long-wearing prop- p ertles. In addition to its common t use as a fireproof material. Dr. t SeUkoff said, asbestos makes up a about SO per cent of asphalt h tile and Is used in dental cement, p brake linings, plastics, beer fil- g ten, gas masks and paper. Until 1 last year, some schools used tl asbestos dust Instead of sand st for children to play la. wi ; Study Links Asbestos To Cancer By Earl Ubell Science Editor . Scientists have known for I a long time that asbestos was bad for your lungs. Now ; ` ' a study of New York City I workers, both roofers and I. .Insulation blowers, reveals that exposure to the mineral I x\ sends lung-cancer death i i. rates skyrocketing, f* ? i - The figures--gathered by > doctors at Mount Sinai Hos- j | pita]--show that such work- .1 ers hava eight times the lung1 cancer death rata as would bt expected In a non-exposed . population. More supriatngly, the stud ies reveal that such workers i run four times the risk of i getting cancer In other parts ! of ths body, with cancer of ( the colon particularly singled out. For all other diseases, the insulation workers have the same death rata as the . -rest of the population. These findings were em phasised yesterday by Dr. Irving J. SeUkoff, head ' of Mt. Sinai's Division of Envi ronmental Medicine,' on the ; occasion of the establish: -ment of an environmental health laboratory In the hos pital. The laboratory has received grants totaling 1324.i , 000 from ths United States ' Public Health Service and [ the New York City Health I-' Research Council. ' Dr. SeUkoff also pointed out that cigarette smoking `seems to heighten the effects | of the asbestos. Among 130 men exposed to asbestos 20 yean or more who were nonsmokers, he found one lungcancer . death among 110 smokers, 21 such deaths.