Document ykgEBRkrKVE2x1mnaNKQOqY64

FILE NAME Manville JMA DATE 1970-1973 DOC JMA343 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Memo & Report - Selikoff Opposition with BC Notes 7/5/98 Selikoff Opposition 1970-1973 1970-1973 Matt Swetonic memo to Solon Hill & Knowlton 6/30/70 shows Selikoff at conference clearly aware of Swetonic's role with top management at M surveillance and P.R. He comments on Cape's Dr. Smither preparing his opposition in advance of the conference challenging and questioning Selikoff Classifies good Guys and bad Guys incl Nicholson on Selikoff's staff Solon 10 pp memo on M group's June 1973 trip to UK following Selikoff's attack on the UK asbestos standard identifies Stuart Luxon Deputy Cheif Inspector of Factories as the British government official who at the request of Sabourin and Swetonic appeared as an expert witness at the March 1972 OSHA hearings on the asbestos standard Selikoff talks in Toronto were heavily attended by industry tape recorded for error analysis and at a medical presentation QAMA handed out literature at the door Jack Solon who led this damage control effort for J- M said The man Selikoff is an excellent presenter he is in constant command of the situation and is convincing If you'd like to hear how convincing gladly let you have a set of tapes to listen to 5/18/73 VP Solon was on a name basis with Selikoff and lamented unfair CBC press coverage 3/6/73 oO UTS June 30 1970 TO W. P. Raines CC F. J. Solon Jr. Carl Thompson -- Hill & Knowlton RE GRADUATE SENTHAR ON ASBESTOS DISEASE asbestos Dr. Selikoff's June 15-19 seminar on albaut exulubivaly to acquaint physicians and related disease was designed other highly technical typen with the various types of asbestos related disease Hi them identify how they are caused and what can be done to control fieldtrip the first two days of classroom sessions and the construction sites in the New York - New Jersey area I did not attend to them I only attended to the final day's session when control aspects were discussed Pecause of the highly technical nature of the seminar a good deal of the was over my head of material the proceedings I will interest or importance so rather than attempt a blow by blow description merely list a few observations that may be of the 1. Dr. Smith of Firleigh Dickinson said in his presentation on first day that his research with plural injection of hamsters indicates a dose relationship with mesothelioma He also said that tracheal tracheal injections of chrysotile produced no reaction until he added pyrone to the mix at which point many tumors in the lung developed Dr. Selikoff commented with regard to the mesotheliom study that animal research is well and good but that it would be unwarrented interpolation to equate human response with the reaction of Dr. Smith's hamsters Dr. belikoff was obviously concerned that some doctors in the audience might that mesothelioms in humans was also dose related a notion at odds with Dr. Selikoff's ideas on the subject get the idea completely 2. Dr. Suzuki on the basis of his work with hamsters described three possible results from the depositing of asbestos in the lung They were a the fiber could be digested by the cell b on asbestos hody could be formed c the fiber or fibril could kill the host cell and be released to do more damage Dr. Suzuki anid that point explains why asbenton disease progresses even after expose stops It is of interest that many of the files or fibrils described by Burki os caveing damage were El sised particles It is also interesting but not surprining that Suzuki neglected to mention that most of the fiber inhaled by et animal or a human de never deposited in the lung but is brought up and out by the body's mechanisms I noticed that Dr. Selikoff raised no objection when Suzuki freely ternalated his findings with hemters to human beings as he did with Dr. Smith -more- -2- 3. 3. Dr. Selikoff completely repudiated fir Kissmiller's skin cancer from asberton He said that he has examined more than 2,000 anheston workers and has never seen a case of skin cancer asbestos exposure Perhaps yet that he could even theoretically associate with we should inform Candidate Ottinger of this fact 4. Selikoff said that although he has found a strong relationship with cigarette smoking and lung cancer among his asbestos asbestos workers there does not appear to be a similar relationship with asbestosis 5. 5. Based on past experience personal conversations and listening to them speak I have arrived at a tentative good guy vs bad guy listing for many of Dr. Selikoff's associates at Mount Sinai I should point out that by good guy mean a doctor or technician who approaches the problem of asbestos and health with an open mind and who is more concerned with medicine than theatrics Good Guy Harry Heimum R. J. Schnitzer Duncan Holaday Bad Guy A. M. Langer Jacob Churg Bill Nicholson Don't Know Yet Y. Suzuki 6. During one of Dr. Churg's presentations someone in the audience asked what was the difference between an asbestos body and a ferruginous body Dr. Selikoff answered the question in a thoroughly acceptable manner going so far as to admit that Ae 4 Wave Ponston LLY OS re there are other Ponnoston Pon oston Ponnoston Ponnoston Ponnoston Ponnoston Ponnoston Ponnoston Ponnoston Pon ostoPn onnostPonoonston fibers which can cause workers workers workers workers , However However However However he he said bodies in said said that that that that he he the prefor preformem d ed preformed preformed lung similar preformed preformed preformed the the the term asbestos body in all cases because using the term ferruginous body might leave people with the impression that the body under discussion did not contain asbestos and he would rather have people think that a containing body contained asbestos than the other way around 7. Dr. Selikoff said that in his opinion epidemiological studies are of absolutely no importance whatever unless retired employees are included in the cohort 8. At the first day's luncheon Rene Dubos gave a real Jeremiah talk on the environment As might be expected he blamed industry and government for most of the problems facing us During the question and answer period which , Selikoff ran the subject was raised of having someone government scientists examine all new products for possible health hazards before they are allowed on the market The idea was pretty well accepted that any new product should be considered a hazard until proven otherwise At this point Selikoff asked if Katt Surtonic of lianville vas in the audience I replied in the affirmative and Selikoff said that he would be willing to talk board of directors on this subject anytime I've been trying to exactly what he was driving at ever since to the figure J out 9. I talked with Duncan Holaday for a considerable while at the seminar I gathered from his comments that he has very little percond or professional respect for Ghurg and Harariond 10. At one of the coffee breaks Selikoff asked if I felt the presentations had given a balenced view of the problem I told him that I had hoped to hear more on the steps steps that industryindustry and others are taking to reduce the hazard to employees He said that that part of it would be covered on the last day -BO -BOTO-T-BOO TO- - -BOTO- 11. Attached in cony of the list of reference material given to each participant at the peninar You will notice that 99 per cent of the medical papers included are of the type showing a serious hazard Any medical study showing that Dr. Wright's the problem proper in on is controllable was not included Curiously the list although the actual paper a not enough included in the batch of papers that I received Soncone in the audience ed ahout the Knox - Doll - Hill study Selikoff dismissed it quickly saying that the number of term employees studied was not sufficient to give any reliable results It was obvious that the conservative viewpoint re asbestos was not going to get a decent hearing at the seminar 12. Dr. Smither of Cape Asbestos played the part of devil's advocate throughout the two days of the seminar that I attended The questions he asked and the points he brought up were not too damaging to Sclikoff's position but they did help keep things in perspective and kept Selikoff and the other speakers on their toes Reitze told me that Smither had told him that he had actually planned to do this at the seminar There is no question in my mind after talking with a number of attending the seminar that the sessions achieved their purpose reason they attended the seminar they were nearly all scared to asbestos when they left the doctors For whatever death of 14. The tour of construction sites was an especially interesting conclusion to my participation in the seminar There were nine of us on the tour ~~ Nicholson Noval of the Asbestos Workers Union a lawyer from Hount Sinai named Lottimer Jack Fornhart of HIHA C. R. Jones of HATCA Dr. B. A. Plumlee of HEM Dr. C. G. Kramer of Dow Chemical one person whose name I didn't get and no We visited a school site in Staten Island where we met Ted Brody of the contractors association The conditions there were frankly a mess Brody said that it was as untypical a site as could have been selected Nicholson and Novak said that it was actually a pretty clean job Borres was afraid to stay very long on the site because he said he firmly believed that one fiber is enough to kill you He was impossible to talk to Ile had the worst possible attitude of anyone I met at the seminar in fact probably the worst attitude of anyone I've ever met anywhere Horres told me that he is working on some engineering criteria for asbestos pollution control and that he was scheduled to meet with Herb Levine to discuss spraying Unfortunately Dr. Plumlee wacked his head on a beam at the school nito and we lost a lot of time finding a hospital left the on the island where hospital it was too his wound could be attended to By the time late to meet with Levine as was scheduled we Micholso told Horres not to worry and suggested that he talk with the New York Environment Protection Administration people instead The EPA Hicholson said would not give him a prejudiced viewpoint an Levine probably would love Horres thought that that would be a good idea What happened after that I cannot say We also visited a boiler insulation job site in Jersey City There was not really very much to look at because they were installing mineral wool mats instead of asbestos during our tour However the subject came up of the union's responsibiliresponsibli to accept work practices that would reduce dusts Novak defended the union in such a poor manner that by the end of lunch practically everyone in the group was firmly convinced that much of the disease among its members wan the union's own fault Br Plumbe told me that his eyes had really been opened Even Lattimer the Mount Sinai lawyer blared the union for much of the problen Nicholson who had been very restrained during the entire tour also kept his mouth shut during the lengthly and heated discussion of the union Horres still thought he and everyone else in the country was going to die but the rest of the tour group was on our side after the tour and against the union - In conclusion the seminar war directed primarily to a medical audience and was therefore of little real interest from public relations standpoint Dr. Selikoff was rather restrained during the seminar probably because of the nature of his audience Most of the attendees however were unquestionably concerned and frightened by the various presentations and we should expect that they will convey this feeling to their various hospitals companies and government agencies We did gain some points on the tour of but it is hard to say if any real good will come from it construction sites Matt Swetonic Environmental Denver GHQ May 18 1973 Affairs 000111A 000111A W. R. Goodwin J. B. Jobe F. H. May Jr. R. P. Carter R. H. Cuje E. M. Fenner W. F. Goodwin N. W. Hendry J. E. Hesse D. E. Hillier J. R. M. Hutcheson A. B. Marchant E. F. Marriner M.D. J. A. McKinney H. B. Moreno F. L. Pundsack W. B. Reitze Ivan Sabourin F. J. Solon Jr. W. C. Streib W. L. VanDerbeek W. C. Winblad G. W. Wright M.D. REPORT ON RECENT PRESENTATION IN TORONTO BY DR SELIKOFF Dr. Irving J. Selikoff made two presentations of Mount recently Sinai Hospital in Toronto New York First Presentation On May 2nd at 8:00 P.M. at a the public he addressed some Health Hazards of Asbestos meeting advertised 75 or so people on as open to the subject At this presentation Dr. Selikoff used every slide I've ever seen him use before covering every subject designed to and arouse a public audience -- the dangers of asbestos classroom molding compounds filtered vaccines talcum interest spray powder sugar filtered through asbestos rice polished with tremolite - containing talc beer liquor gin filtered by asbestos-- and on and on At the end his plea was for cooperation between industry labor government and medical researchers to solve the asbestos problem In reply I thought both Ivan Sabourin and Dr. Mike Pelnar did an excellent job Ivan pointed out the differences between the health experience of asbestos mine and mill workers in Canadian chrysotile mines versus the experience of Dr. Selikoff's groups of insulation workers He stressed Dr. McDonald's study He also brought out the effects of cigarette smoking which Dr. Selikoff had not done in his presentation REPORT - DR SELIKOFF - TORONTO Page 2 May 18 1973 Dr. Pelnar pointed out that Canadian mine and mill workers had pure chrysotile exposure whereas the insulations workers had been exposed to various types of asbestos -- a mixed exposure A union official from our Port Union Plant by the name of Stewart spoke headlines into the floor microphone saying that many employees of the M plant had died many more would die and that M officials were not cooperating by giving the union adequate medical facts on the Port Union employees Stewart must have been interviewed later by the press gave them more untrue but juicy facts which they used Again a case of the sensationalizing press Second Presentation On May 3rd at 9:30 A.M. in a much more clincial atmosphere --~ again in the Medical Science Building of the University of Toronto again sponsored by the Toronto Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association and the University's Department of Preventive Medicine -- Dr. Selikoff lectured a mixed audience of med students a few general public types and we from industry on the Epidemiological Aspects of Asbestos Exposure It was a presentation quite in contrast to that before It was not sensational in style and so convincing to those in the the subject were not very audience who though knowledgeable given the evening was quite serious about One fact -- of considerable import to the industry -- came through loud and clear Dr. Selikoff is going to fight hard on the chrysotile crocidolite amosite matter He said quite directly that until there is much more positive evidence that chrysotile is less dangerous than crocidolite and amosite he is not going to buy it Marc Gosselin of AFD at my request taped both the Selikoff presentations We've made verbatim transcripts of his comments on this matter which he talked about at both presentations Dr. Wright is researching and view to giving us refutations analyzing these scripts with a as they exist so we can in turn go to Selikoff and present the other side of the story REPORT - DR SELIKOFF - TORONTO Page 3 May 18 1973 This is one of our key projects to us to refute him quickly and now because it is important soundly whenever we feel he is off the reservation The chrysotile matter is too important to us and we intend to hit hard with every available argument One or two other things - the QAMA group handed out at the door of the meeting room -- 1 Asbestos and Your Health blue folder -- you already have 2 Lyon Report -- you have 3 Press release on Lyon Report attached 4 Clips from Globe and Mail with comments by Dr. J. E. Cowle attached 5 List of industry attendees I'm also attaching a copy of Paul Toronto presentations so you will besides mine as the only attendee of the meetings Filteau's report on the two have another point of view from the U.S. Also clips The TB Association gave out several leaflets on penumoconiosis plus a bibliography on Dr. Selikoff Scanning it will give you some idea of what a prolific publisher he is In summary in contrast to the feelings expressed by some I believe the industry put up a valiant fight at the Toronto presentation but that doesn't necessarily mean we were the winners The Selikoff an excellent presenter he is in constant command of the situation and he is convincing If you'd like to hear how convincing -- I'll gladly let you have a set of tapes to listen to I will keep you advised of developments on the chrysotile- crocidolite argument front Meantime if you have any questions please call me Solon Jr. 00111H QUEBEC ASBESTOS MINING ASSOCIATION 580 GRANDE EST ... SUITE 320 Co emer TO Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Michael J. Messel R.S. Coleman W. Oughtred M. Dorais J.R.M. Hutcheson M. Prus May 10th 1973 QUEBEC 4 QUE Telephone 529-8168 CC Mr. Mr. All I.C. Campbell A.H. Bagenstose attendants FROM Paul Filteau SUBJECT Dr. Irving Selikoff guest speaker before the Toronto TB and RD Association and the Department of Preventive Medecine University of Toronto > May 2nd and 3rd 1973 At the Medical Sciences Bldg University of Toronto Dr. I.J. Selikoff delivered on May 2nd at 8:00 p.m. an address on the Health Hazards of Asbestos and on the next day at 9:30 a.m. a lecture on the Epidemiological Aspects of Asbestos Exposure There was an attendance of some 80 to 90 people for the evening session and a class of around 60 people for the morning lecture The names of the people related to the Canadian asbestos industry who attended these meetings are shown on the attached list Dr. R.W. Morgan Department of Preventive Medicine University of Toronto acted as chairman As agreed at a special meeting of QAMA directors held on April 19 in Montreal publicity material was distributed at the entrance of the meeting rooms courtesy of the Association The package included a copy of 1. Asbestos and Your Health blue folder 2. Report and Recommendations of the Advisory Committee following the Lyon Conference 3. A press release on the major conclusions of the above Advisory Committee 4. A news clipping from the Globe and Mail of April 30 1973 in which Dr. J.E. Cowle submits that press reports on diseases resulting from exposure to asbestos have been exaggerated Everyone was given a set and some as in the case of Union representatives and University staff asked for large numbers of additional copies A Health Hazards of Asbestos In his usual confident going approach Dr. Selikoff seemingly delivering a well rehearsed or repeated talk first commented on the unique value of the mineral asbestos its increasing production since the Second World War and the large consumption in the U.S.A. Through a series of slides he reviewed early occurences of asbestosis and lung cancer in England South Africa U.S.A. etc. Then flashing tables showing onset of exposure in various age groups of U.S. asbestos insulation workers workers of a textile plant in U.S.A. and an asbestos plant Dr. Selikoff insisted on the number 20 years since onset of exposure as a significant figure for appearance of radiological abnormality It was startling to notice throughout the projecting of these tables however that one table would refer to asbestos insu- lation workers the next to asbestos workers this being repeated intended several times for the same group of workers possibly to produce generalizing effect on the spectators by omitting specific references This was followed by various specific examples showing the hazardous nature of asbestos Attention was thus subtly drawn to the danger of using talcum powder of eating sugar strained through asbestos rice and chewing gum coated with talc drugs beer and liquor filtered through asbestos wearing coats made of asbestos material using papier by children and asbestos paper in the cannon rendering by an orchestra of the 1812 Overture etc. etc. All these instances to impress on the audience the pervasive nature of asbestos and the generalized contamination of the public at large regardless of exposure Finally Dr. Selikoff appealed to the collaboration of Industry Government and Medical Research in an effort to find a solution to the asbestos problem so that society which needs asbestos won't with the bathwater as he concluded throw the baby out Comments from the Floor ee Comments Comments Coments Coments Comments oe we from ee the i a Floor ee Without diminishing Dr. Selikoff's expertise I. Sabourin pointed out emphatically that a distinction must be made between the experience of the asbestos insulation workers in U.S.A. and the asbestos mine and mill workers in Canada and that some of Dr. Selikoff's claims in his U.S. research studies are not justified by medical data published in Canada Moreover improvement of plant dust control it was emphasized was initiated and pursued for more than 35 years Dr. Pelnar submitted that the Canadian asbestos exposure was to pure chrysotile whereas insulation workers had been exposed to a mixture of various types of asbestos A union official named Stewart overtones to what he claimed a part of the employer at the Port referred in sensational lack of cooperation on the Union plant Dr. J.E. Cowle simply asked Dr. Selikoff to confirm his position suggesting that people do not incur asbestosis unless occupationally in people with exposed and asbestosis that lung cancer occurs more often Dr. Selikoff generally agreed Epidemiological Aspects of Asbestos Exposure In a classroom atmosphere Dr. Selikoff delivered a technical lecture with a professorial touch again making an abundant use of slides Referring to the approach and method in conducting an epidemiological study Dr. Selikoff insisted repeatedly on three essential conditions namely a adequacy of sample large cohort of workers b locating and examining all members if possible c assessing all circumstances such as onset and duration of exposure detailed occupational history smoking habits etc. This was somewhat in contrast with his own approach in his remarks of the previous evening when from random and often rationalized examples and circumstances he repeatedly drew broad inferences and speculative predictions regarding persons having been occupationally exposed to asbestos as well as regards exposure to minute amounts of asbestos in community air as a hazard to the general public Again by means of a series slide presentation of tables ray changes and views of lung sections Dr. Selikoff pointed out and concluded that radiological evidence of asbestosis and lung cancer appeared frequently in individuals examined more than 20 years from onset of exposure and less frequently in individuals after less than 20 years of exposure He also showed very vividly the multiplicative effect of asbestos exposure and cigarette smoking pointing out that no case of lung cancer had been insulation workers found among the smoking asbestos Dr. Selikoff's lecture took most of the time allotted for the session which left only a few minutes for technical sic questions to be posed Dr. Selikoff we were told had to catch a plane shortly after his talk On the whole it would seem that Dr. Selikoff came out on top but that the position and the differing experience of the Canadian asbestos industry were clearly asserted and possibly with a mitigating effect on some of Dr. Selikoff's allegations Obviously the ideal confrontation would be with a qualified medical person with equal speaking ability and willing to present the industry point of view Paul Filteau LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ON BEHALF OF THE CANADIAN ASBESTOS INDUSTRY Messrs Andr^' Beguin Jack Berry S.K. Brigham Ph Casgrain J.D. Christian Marcel Dorais Jean Dup^'r^' P.A. Filteau M.A. Gosselin Dr. Roland Guy J.R.M. Hutcheson K.V. Lindell G.P. Loubert T.S. Patterson Dr. P. Pelnar L.C. Piuze I. Sabourin F.J. Solon x + < * * * * * * * * HH H H HH * ATTENDING TORONTO PRESENTATIONS 000119 000119 Manville J. R. M. Chairman Hutcheson - CJM Pat Loubert President - CJM Marc Gosselin Director of AFD Public Relations Tom Patterson Director of Advertising and Public Relations Environmental Affairs Coordinator Canadian Products Division Ivan Sabourin Canadian Counsel to M F. J. Solon Jr. President Environmental Affairs Quebec Asbestos Mining Association Paul Filteau Director Karl Lindell Consultant P. Pelnar M.D. Secretary Institute of Occupational & Environmental Health Philip Casgrain Attorney to QAMA Jean Dupere Attorney to QAMA Cassiar Jack Christian President Jack Berry General Manager S. K. Brigham Chief Engineer Andre Beguin Engineer Bell Asbestos Marcel Dorais President Lake Asbestos Lionel Piuze President Manager Chairman QAMA Environmental Committee Special Consultants Dr. Roland Guy Pathologist Montreal Death Deathe p Deathe up asbestos cited Hazards of asbestos cited cited cited N.Y. doctor doctor ation. HOLLOBON A By JOAN HOLLOBON health * A medical lecture turned into hazards asbestos only last into impassioned impassioned last night between between debate New Respiratory Respiratory Disease Disease Associ- \ Dr. Selikoff only in ashestas Dr. Selikoff said lung can- asbestos wworokerrs kweorrksers who smoke He hazards meth-in York doctor doctor giving talk criticized criticized construction dust dust defenders the Canadian Canadian ods which allow asbestos defenders In escape escape producing bestos industry for all other workers on a union man J. Selikoff said contaminating contaminating contaminating that Irving Selikoff Selikoff said the general He all that industrial exposure said samples asbestos New York air bestos bestos greatly increases increases increases show asbestos asbestos particles now death rate 15 or yweoarrks- Fibres been detected every individual individual prematurely ers later dying prematurely prematurely autopsied autopsied durdiurnigng the past shown shown between seven seven and times autopsied Medicine Medicine Medicine Mount Sinal School from hing usual deaths deaths cancer cancer or he professor medicine . professor commun- commun- commun- four times expected rate medicine of deaths the expected knows knows this stomach from cinatensctieners athe H slie ght o exposun re ee xposure knows tghiesne1ra5l much greater likelihood of public public will of hazards hazards death from greater likelihood lining of the chest tumor of years ayecacrsepptleraedsepodnsibil- with the mesothelioma called industry industry responsibil- responsibil- daondmena high rate mesothelioma mesothelioma mesothelioma so that asbestos won't won't which which is death from needs asbestos bathwa- asbestosis among industrial workers the " this, van individuals Sabourin In some cases individuals individuals worked only a few asbestos plant sometimes an the Second World sometimes during succumb 20 or more only to he told meeling meeling years laterjointly by the Uni- sponsoredof Toronto Preventive versity the the this Ivan Sabourin Johns Manville Manville counsel made Corporation Canada impassioned impassioned response response claiming that asbestos asbestos 30 over 30 years industry industry 10- medical years sought experts to protect engineering Department Medicine Tuberculosis and workers Toronto viet mee ees, ee et Te Manville Corporation Greenwood Plaza Denver Colorado 80217 F. Solon Jr. Vice President Environmental Affairs UO VSILOC March 16 1973 CONFIDENTIAL Prof. Irving J. Selikoff M.D. Mount Sinai School of Medicine The City University of New York 5th Avenue and 100th Street New York New York 10029 Dear Irving Here are the three CBC radio broadcast transcripts I mentioned on the phone Saturday You tried to be circumspect most certainly - but not they No delineation of the one million figure for example giving the breakdown you gave in your Washington testimony And the business of doesn't pay to get up in the morning anymore Wow as I said in the marginal note So many what we times - say it isn't what we say what they interject but what they do But this is the with technique with the media today - use the interviewee all you can to make your point Get him to ad lib - then add to or twist It's a shame isn't it So be it - but I thought you should have these transcripts and so should our confidential friend Ivan I am pleased with our recent exchanges - and I hope you are too Sincerely Ivan Sabourin Continued Continued from previous page So the engineer has to study the problem very thoroughly and has to be prepared to check and make alterations if r cessary until the required control is achieved This is where we are fortunate in having around the Group many engineers who have spent most of their working life with asbestos and know a great deal about its peculiarities One ingenious way of testing whether dust control equipment is in control is by using a light beam This produces the same sort of eflect as 2 sunbeam shining through a window showing up dust in a house of course it shows up all dust whether it is asbestos or not Our dust monitors can tell by sampling if the equipment is successful in reducing the dust level but they cannot tell why if is not OBSERVATION By usithenligght beam known as the Tyndall beam however the engineer can observe the otherwise invisible line dust and see where is escaping from the equipment In the past although our engineers made a great contribution to dust control they had to rely on visual judgement the elimination of visible dust- they did not have the two invaluable guides of dust measurement and Tyndall beam These techniques developed and applied during the last ten years have been of enormous assistance in concentrating attention to the vital points of control Of course however ingenious and effective is the design of the equipment it will be useless unless it is used properly and maintained at peak performance Regular weekly inspection is laid down in the Regulations as well as a very thorough annual inspection by a suitably qualified engineer but installations should be watched constantly by those who work with them and the slightest leak or other defect must be reported immediately It seems too elementary to say but experience shows that it is necessary that no machine should be switched on before the extraction system is working and of course the extraction should be the last thing to switch off when closing down Personal Only as a last resort when means of sufficiently reducing the dust level have not been found possible should the use of respirators be accepted as the means of protection There are of course some operations such as maintenance of the dust extraction filters where this is unavoidable and the Group's practice is to label these as Protected Areas No one must enter such areas unless they are wearing the prescribed respirator and protective clothing Everyone who has to do such work however infrequently this may be must be properly trained in the use of the equipment and the equipment must be issued to him exclusively for his own personal use The equipment must also be carefully stored when not in use left lying about in the work place must be properly and regularly cleaned and serviced Cape has always provided respirators to the pattern cur- protection and hygiene|, tently approved by the Factory Inspectorate There are some occupations where under the 1931 Regulations and the new ones is required that these should be supplied and worn Respirators must be regularly cleaned and checked reassembles a respirator at Germiston But it has always been Company policy to make them also avail- able to anyone who wishes to wear this additional personal protection even in operations ! where extraction is provided and the wearing of respirators is not considered necessary under the Regulations for pro- tection This it must be admil1ed sometimes leads to confusion as to when respirators are necessary and when not The rule is nowadays quite clear MUST be worn in been used in varying degrees i Lagging work was not covered by the Asbestos Industry Regu- laggers included in the list of people who were required to be regularly medically examined by Panel Efforts by the Company to arrange medical examinations for men working on tagging contracts were frustrated by the fact that laggers move from one employer to another according for regular medical examination but this only represented part of employed all over the British High High Standards The nature of lagging work situations to control dust by ventilation so the emphasis here must be on personal protection high standards of cleanliness the avoidance of work than contains asheetss Strict rules have been UC to ensure the greatest 0 01 8 possible avo dance of dust such work by for example 0 01 8 thoroughly wetting the old 30 ging before and during stripping operations Spread of dust to other areas can be avoided 000118 by polythene enclosing the work in 000118 polythene sheeting regular cleaning with vacuum cleaners and properly controlled disposal of stripped material Men engaged in this type of work must be equipped is hig jdm binh a . These two pictures good of the way aboard give beam is used to check the effectiveness example of dust in which Tyndall picture on the top The ing machine This cloud of dust coming from a sand off The other taken taken when dust exhaust was switched shows what what happens with plant working to escape These used by the Factory Inspectorate of Asbestos Dust It should be pointed out that the beam shows it is necessary to take dust samples in up order and amplifies all dust is asbestos to measure how much of it Prolected Area Hygiene Avoidance of dust by -- --gineering methods is the first and a most important step but much of the benefit can be lost unless a high standard of cleanliness is also attained It is not always easy to preserve a clinical appearance in a work- Waf contract so that in the course of years a man may have been employed by a lot of different companies in various Where parts of the country there was any degree of contin- uity for example at the old Cape factory at Barking where 3 group of laggers based on the factory carried out work in the London and Eastern Counties the Company was able to arrange shop but waste materials and accumulation are potential dust hazards especially if the occa- sional spring clean is carried out with an enthusiastically handled broom Regular and frequent cleaning up is the answer and of course using vacuum cleaners or what the Asbestos Regulations call other dustless methods Regularity too is the word in collection and removal of working waste and any materials likely to produce dust Dusty waste must be collected in containers which prevent dust properly escaping and removed regularly for disposal under controlled conditions Nowadays ESDESIDS containing materials for insulation are only used in special and peculiar situatons and Calcium Silicate are asbestos Group products which are now many used in the U.K. Nevertheless thermal 052 a- tion contracting work inevitably involves from time to time the stripping or removal of old Tagging and this more often soup rs Regular Medical check laggy The moonty of between Jas ang employers stil makes it to organize medical sup as effectively as has be in factories but efforts ar made in consultation w Trade Unions concers overcome these difficulti is hoped that befor arrangements can be m regular medical check all men who may in the of their work be involved use of asbestos eee Left A Cape develop for preventing spread of Sucti for lagging work provided by a pump so the movement of air is the polythene enclosur that any dust created ins does escape a s vAabcouvuemocnleeaofnetrhse posters remindingreminding Group emplo*.yees to use Laggers - thermal insulation and control of dust The organization of monitoring working atmospheres and of dust control by engineering ingenuity which has been des- cribed in these articles is related chiefly to factories There is one section of the Group's activities where the problems of control are somewhat different This Is in the Insulation Contracting side traditionally known as lagging For many years the most popular lagging materials were either completely or in part made from asbestos and all three amosite crocidolite blue and chrysotile In the The monitoring reports pro- duced for each factory and the periodic sampling visit paid by Ken Hey and John Jarvis from Group Environmental Services show that steady and consistent progress in the reduction of dust levels has been maintained since the system of regular reporting was introduced This does not mean however that our efforts can be relaxed Although there is a standard set by the Factory Inspectorate future for a safe level of dust our aim is to reduce asbestos dust in our factories to the lowest possible level Constant vigilance is necessary to ensure that improvements are kept up and not whittled away by neglect of equipment through bad main- tenance or careless use by lack of attention to good house- keeping by lack of training and information The worst enemy of good and consistent stan- dards however is complacency The fact that much exce progress has been made ; not delude us into thinking the work of dust contrhaosl: completed or will ever complete New and be methods of working will tinually sought Contin search will give us be ormation about the ef ascestos and indeed 0 hacv an he ave on the hur so that the measures take can be better directed . even more effective Special Special Special TAKING CARE statement by the Group Chairman EVERYONE who works on for this medical and engine- company will know of the hazard to ering research One might well ask tests his lung his health that can be caused why continue to use capa- city by breathing in asbestosby exposure to asbestos if the slightest to the lung function dust Un risk remains This diffi- machine while Sis- happily efforts ~ inosfpite of all the cult question applies to ter Gasson notes the doctors many other hazardous , measurement made scientists and others wehnoginheaevres substances used in in- by the indicator on dustry must striven to The answer prevent there are still it lie in the degree of risk those who the value of the product develop symptoms of to humanity disease often and the your work years after exposurmeany possibility of using suit- DR RICHARD GAZE Cape Director Recently publicity has able alternatives considera- been given in the All those tion about asbestosis and and Chief Scientist - what is being done to safeguard factories that use asbestos pages of informaall workers press and on television to tions receive constant Those of you who in the number of cases the and earnest thought by have worked in or beleikne myself MORE RESEARCH As arising the from management employment at of your closely associated with Cape's factories Doctor Smither explains Acre Mill in company and research for many years are well aware of Bridge YorkshirHeebden into the use of non I want to asbestos of the considerable progress that has been made in improving forward was made during 1950's Recognising the need improvements in work- conditions has not substitutes say how is working conditions since the imediately apparent because the continually deeply I regret that there being time of the last medical knowledge of the causes long period that elapses should be single case carried out asbestosis war There was of course great pressure for and prevention of symptoms of asbestosis But Contrary to the im- Nevertheless for fire duction during the pro- the managements of the main For this reason know- pression given in these resisting materials for Use on land and followed war years by an equally busy period with companies in the U.K. has been hard to come by only in very recent years reports the has company which have sea being set new processes and Cape decided scientists and doctors have demons for many years been strably saved reorganisationupin and factories general their knowledge of the able properly to measure deeply concerned and lives and for many has taken extensive pre- linings to brake- the factories equip- Much heavy ventilation ment had already ha and jointly to undertake an fine fibres in the air and to make a more precise assesse tako turn - ce ye . been with Cape for over twen five years and has extens personal experience of asbest AsbestosCha manufacture He is also man of the Enviromental Contr Committee of the Research Council HOW IT AFFECTS YOU You will want to know ju what is being done to achiev safe working conditions in CL factories These four pages o Cape News have been set asid to tell you this Mr Cros Smither describes how safety limits have been arrived at and how they are applied In another article D Cape's medical con sultant who is a widely recog nised authority on the medical aspects explain.s in simple terms exactly what the health risks are and what is behind the which medical examinations to all workers are subjected You will see that new and much more rigorous standards have been introduced and are enforced by law The air we breathe in the factories is tested regularly and close medical Supersion of all workers who to contact with asbestos continues There is still more to be done but th the results of many years years ol scientific research behind us the experts believe th . been believed at the time Certainly for the past twenty years em compli- ployees have been medically examined on ployees entry and at regular intervals everyons exposed to it must take the precautions recommended These are not cated or difficult for em- but they do call for care the managers and had been in the early when they first became of the danger to health asoci- ated with breathing asbestos saying how much things Notices thereafter advising them of the risks as required by law have been ex- hibited in places and large sums have been spent on dust ex- haust equipment other safety precautions and If the precautions are observed I sincerely believe that the risk to health is very small indeed and greater than the ordinary hazards of everyday life R. H. DENT improved as a result of the extensive installation of ventilation equipment in the factories i Much had indeed been done damage to health averted precautions would certainly have been taken and with hindsight we now know that these were of this subject together with enginering control In another article Alex Cross describes this research much of which is today carried out at the National Board's Research Foundation tant to ensure that the knowledge available through to working on the shop floor Cape set up a Group Environmental Services Depart- appointed Mr Alex Cross to be in charge of this Mr Cross has departmental supervisor or to the personnel depart Should you wish to discu medical question in conne with your work then mak appointment to see your fa destor I hope you will read articles and that you with them helpful R. GAZE Control by RegulationRegulation Followingareportin1930bytwo members of the Factory Inspectorate Merewether and Price the Asbestos elimination of asbestosis For the first time cases were dia~- nosed among workers whose realized we needed to know Industry Regula- tions 1931 were formulated only exposure to asbestos dust does asbestosis These were designed to protect had been since the 1931 Regula- tions had been fibres cause fibrosis workers in the asbestos textile applied This industry mattress could only mean that the protec- making and the opening preparation tion afforded by these Regula- affect some people while others and tions was inadequate mixing of asbestos fibres remain In 1969 new unaffected regulations were RESEARCH introduced which were not only asbestos fibre have effect What is more comprehensive in their operation and an consulta- range but were designed for the tion on an informal basis be- protection of people working tween the major asbestos dangerous of with asbestos wherever and companies in the U.K. led to and level however this occurred if harm- more formal plan to pool infor- what should we ing the Regulations ful quantities of dust were likely mation and organize research by these were blind 1969. TheAsbestos produced to be the formation in 1957 of the more reliable informa- the standard is based on Furthermore Asbestosis these regulations were suppor- Research Council to emerge as to how average dust level measured Working ted by technical data which for closely with such the cause of the period of work the first time laid down industry organizations might occur After a average is less than as specific stendards for dust the cubic centimetre no Pneumoconiosis were believed levels which Unit and the Research provisional codes action is considered to ensure safe working conditions Factory Inspector- ate and with research projects of etc. the British Ocupational necessary If the level is higher farmed out to various personal protection THE scientific centres of there was enough evidence Cambridge LESSONS OF study the use of Reading Manchester respirators THE PAST If Leeds It was first realized in many avenues of enquiry were concentrations occur greater than early 1950's that the 1931 the pursued At first the outcome of has been devised 40 fibres lations had not resulted iRnegu- research was disappointing the more we learnt the more wa pressure or air line respirator is required Where average dust * cc then the contral Inspector requires a combination of the which the condition the extent by which Apart from providing a means measuring the atmosphere to sufficiently effective difference between Asbestos industry Regulations and the new Asbestos Continued overleaf LEFT Some equipment for the co trol of dust is very elaborat This picture below which formed the righ cover of Cape Magazine seven year ago shows a newly installe multiple duct for removal o . dust from a saw at Acre Mill more date installation is seen in the photograph showing a sander at fitted with with Uxbridge but a very elaborate effective arrangement of exhaust ducts which the dust remove sanded off the surface of the board A eh ee H Cue. Continued from previous page tions was that every person whatever their job or wherever they worked was covered by these safety requirements If asbestos dust could be present in harmful quantities then the Regulations applied There was therefore little if any opportunity for any category of workers to slip through the net The definition of asbestos in the Group dust provides the means at deciding by scientific measure- ment whether controls are effective is not an exaggeration to say that this revolutionized the approach ta the control of asbestos dust in the working environmeefnfetct of which is confidently expected will be seen in the course of the next 10 years to have virtually eliminated asbestosis from the list of industrial hazards DR WALTER SMITHER has been the Group Medical Adviser Since 1955. He is also Medical Consultant to the Asbestosis Research Council a member of the Research Committee to- Hodgson gether with Dr Alan and is an expert on asbestosrelated disease of international whole repute As well as his responsi- bilities for the Group as a he looks after the people who work in the area around London -primarily Uxbridge and Wat- ford For the other Cape factories where containing pro- ducts are manufactured local arrangements are made for medical examination of people employed there Each factory is visited separately by a local doctor who has a thorough understanding of the health problems associated with inha- lation of asbestos dust Facilities are provided at the factory for the doctor to carry out medical examinations and consultation and for maintenance of medical records Usually the doctor is work helped by a nurse who apart from this aspect of her deals with the day to day first aid treatments which may occur Anyone who is anxious about the effect his work may have on his health should ask to see his works Medical Officer in case anyone should be in doubt who this is we have included a reference list below You can find out when your own factory doctor is available through your personnel department Will the 1969 Regula- tions be any more effective than were the 1931 Regulations? One of the biggest problems that medical and environmental researchers have to contend with in dealing with some types of industrial or occupational hazards is the length of time it takes in most cases for the frequently effect to become apparent Ideally as has been demanded by people concerned for the protection of workers all materials especially new products should be carefully examined to be sure that they have no harmful effects either for those who work with them or for those who use them Unfor- tunately there seems to be no short cut to determining with complete certainty whether any new material contains such a C.C.L. and C.U.B.P. Uxbridge Tolpits Harefield Dr. W. J. Smither C.C.L. Chadwell Heath Bowburn Dr R. N. Hill North of England Industrial Germiston Dr W. J. Weech Health Centre C.I.L. Stirling Dr D. A. White S. & P. Hendham Vale Dr. McPherson T.D. Brislington Dr A. Mills MS A 3 EMAS Employment Medical Advisory ServiCE Department of Employment Baynards House Chepstow Place London W2 ASBESTOS AND YOU _ Uxbridge Tolpits and Harefield Medical Asbestosis is a kind of scarring and thickening of the tissues of the lung Although this kind of scarring called fibrosis can can can occur in many other diseases not connected with industry the main concern of the asbestos industry is to prevent out workers from becoming disabled due to inhaling too much asbestos dust The thickening of lung tissue affects the way the lung works so that a sufferer from asbestosis cannot breathe so efficiently and his lungs cannot take in all the supervision of asbestos worker is not able to use all the protec- tive breathing equipment provided or who already has some degree of disability affect- ing his chest or breathing functions That is why first employment is conditional upon passing the doctor who will use physical examination lung function tests and ray reports to assist his decision appreciation of the who hearted operation I ha received from every man who I have asked to participate in to iS ortant research There is a linal advantage metical supervision which JESS obvious Men are given th Deportunity under conditions strict medical confidentiality : This initial examination farm- Wenat happen v en Mudan Mudan being are exposed Standards recommended Ironically the past record of occupational health damage to people working with asbestos may have resulted in it being one of the safer materials to use since there is such a weight of information available from past activities exposures and the effects on health that organizations like the British Occupational Hygiene Society have felt confident in recommending a standard by which the effectiveness of safety measures can be judged It takes time unfortu- nately for such measures to be reflected in an improved health record The survey which the Employment Medical Advisory Service of the Department of Health has put in hand with the help of the medical advisers to the member companies of the Asbestosis Research Council will provide a more precise record of the effects and controls than has ever been available in the past and that is almost without parallel in the history of occupational health Some people are already expressing concern that some of the materials which have been recommended for use instead of asbestos may themselves involve some hazards which will not become evident until many more years have passed Past record In the light of all this the Company's policy in dealing with this particular problem consists of a number of related steps In those cases were a person's capacity is impaired as a direct result of his past employment in a situation where the dust level has not been sufficiently controlled the Company accepts its duty to provide every assistance in ensuring that he or she This atte atte atte about the Fisk~ meived meived and the way reduced ato minimum minimum How asbestos affects the body WYTHILI BRYy hd oe Asbestos can be inhaled and may be deposited in the lungs Only fibres of very fibres small size - too small to with the naked eye can get into the lungs However be seen where there is visible cloud of dust containing larger libres can be expected that invisible possibly harmful fibres may also be present In the ordinary way small amounts of asbestos fibres which reach the lungs are sealed oft in such a way that they are no longer harmful However if inhalation of fibrous dust is excessive and prolonged damage may occur The lungs are then wolve kin a scarring process which prevents the proper uptake of oxygen oxygen causing breathlesnes breathlesnes breathlesbresatnhleesssnesss This condition is known as asbestosis The process is gradual one and affects people only after nuny years in work involving asbestos People affected by asbestotis run a greater risk of contracting lung cancer than the general public We now know that this increased risk mage worse - far worse - by cigarette smoking Workers in this industry would be well advised to reduce smuking of cigarettes 10 & minimum or stop smaking smaking altogether In some people the outer covering of the lung the pleural is involved by a scarring process while the lung itself may be unaffected This seems to cause no disability However in small proportion of people a rare tumour known as mesothelioma may develop on the outer surface of the lung It seems that crocidolite blue asbestos from a particular mining area is most frequently involved when this tumour develops Blue asbestos is no longer in normal use in this country but is still encountered in delagging and demolition work receives . whatever financial benefit or compensation may be available Every practical measure must be taken to ensure that Group employees are not exposed today to environmental conditions at their work which might in the light of present knowledge impair their health To this end a combination of medical super- vision measurement of the working environment and regular checking of the working arrangements and equipment is carried out as a matter of firm routine and every effort is made to ensure that all employees who work with asbestos are informed of the nature of the diseases associated with asbestos against which these protection controls have been developed In the following sections some of the people involved with this work explain how these various steps for the protection of Cape employees are organized The above leaflet has been produced by the Department of Employment for issue to all people whose work is subject to the Asbestos Regulations 1969. Page 1 only is shown A. A. Cross Group Environmental Consultant conditicus There is a ie believe that the early signs of asbestosis can be detected by ray and lung function tests often before any symptoms have occurred Many years ago the doctors who first studied the cases of asbestosis occurring in this country believed that only those workers in particularly dusty jobs called scheduled occupations were at risk Such workers were legally required to undergo medical examinations at stated intervals performed by government group of appointed doctors who were expert in various forms of industrial dust diseases called pneumoconiosis Unhappy experience has taught that workers outside these scheduled occupations could also be at risk and for many years Cape has extended medical supervision far beyond the legal requirements The objects of medical supervision are three The first is to avoid the employment of any worker who for physical reasons signs of any lung impairment Sophisticated modern tests have been available in the past few years to assist the doctor in his diagonosis With their opera- tion men can be removed early from any further risk and their progress observed Long supervision The term observation 01 our workers is the third object of medical supervision There are many unanswered questions about the natural history of asbestosis besides the research programme mentioned elsewhere in this section the major companies in the industry of this country have worked closely with the Depart- ment of Employment to set up and a survsuerveyy of our workers health from the time they join us the rest of their lives Changes of occupation and environmental measurements will be compared with records of illness smoking habits medical examination and ray results On a personal note | must record here my own ~ A Casella sampler being used to measure the general atmosphere in our Uxbridge factory discuss problems connected with their work or for that matter any other problems In return the doctor can emphasize the absolutely definite benefits of giving up cigarette smoking Scientific proof Scientists have proved beyond doubt that cigarettes are particularly dangerous for asbestos workers and that smoking asbestos workers are no more likely to suffer from lung cancer the most dreaded complication of severe asbestosis than the general population W. J. SMITHER LEFT George Birkett on left records details of the operation being carried out at Hendham Vale by Andrew McTaggert who is wearing B Casella personal dust sampler The sampling head can seen on Andrew's shoulder Checking to see At every factory in the group where asbestos is being used whether it be in the manufacture of asbestos cement sheets or in brake linings there will be found as part of the scientific team someone or some team regularly measuring the purity of the atmosphere in which people are working Samples of the air are taken in all parts of the factory and on all operations on which people are engaged where there is a possibility of asbestos dust being found The method which is used both for collecting samples and for finding out whether or how much asbestos dust may be in the air is the same as that which is now used by the Factory Inspectors when they visit a factory The instruments and apparatus employed and the method of collecting samples and counting the fibres are the result of many years of experiment and study and comparison of results by the experts The Asbestosis Research Council played a leading part this work which is so highly regarded that the International Labour Organi- zation has recommended to its member States that the system as described in the ARC's Technical Note should be adopted as the standard method for measurement throughout the world St has already been acopted by most European countries in the United States and Canada and elsewhere if the air is clean measured period of time usually 10 minutes and then the sample Is removed for examination The foreign bodies are plenty of these in any air we breathe are collected in the sampling head on a small disc of filter paper The first thing the sampler has to do is to fix the impurities on to the disc so that they can be examined under a microscope When the mem- brane which is what we call the circular disc has been fixed is examined under a microscope equipped by a form of lighting which shows up the asbestos fibres and enables them to be counted There is no guesswork in this method of sampling The person carrying out the sample and measurement is able to see any asbestos fibres which are collected and to distinguish PERSONAL SAMPLES The most important checks provided with dust extraction or other control in order to keep the dust down to a sate level In areas where series of tests have shown that the process is such that under no circumstances will the dust level exceed this is only necessary to confirm at longer intervals that situation is unchanged Attention is there- after concentrated on areas in which has been found that dust control in some form is neces- sary Samples of the air in these areas or these operations are taken every month for report to the local Works Management and in addition to the Group Medical Adviser and Group Environmental Consultant In addition a visit is paid at least twice a year by a member of the Group Environmental Services to take samples independently of the local monitoring staff This enables us to ensure that the methods of sampling are consistent throughout the Group and are also consistent with other expert dust manitors in the industry and in the Factory Inspectorate The people responsible for dust samples and calculating the Jhon ke 3 A cameraman films the asbestos bag opening machine at Tolpits for the Asbestos Research Council film on dust control _ Asbestos at Work Protection from risk When the dust samplers find situations where there is dust above the hygiene standard then the engineers move 15 There are various methods of reducing the dust which may be tried First and fundamental is to see whether it is possible to change the process so that dust cannot be produced or at least that it is less dust producing A simple exemple is by wetting-wet processes procuce little if any dust When this is not a NTN ae i oy ee handling is a good way of exoiding personal contact ano exposure An example of this this is the turnover at Germiston Boaros have to be turned at the end of the sanding and cutting line Originally this was done by hand Now it is done mechani- cally and the turnover device is completely enclosed Encicsure itself is very effec tive but complete enclosure is often impossible Partial enclosure together with dust extrac- clessty as possible the condition of the ait which the person engaged in The work actually breathes To do this a sampling head n.e. 8 small drum object is posi tioned as near as possible to the nose and mouth of the person being tested This by means of a small pump sucks in air much the same way as one inhales air in the normal process of breathing Air taken in for a saa Mrs Audrey Barlow is wearing a face mask respirator while recording dust levels when Len Thomas changes the dust collection bag on a dust filter at Trist Draper's works at Brislington these from any other kind of dust of which there are often very many which may or may not have their own particular harmful effects If there are any asbestos fibres in the sample then these are counted according to the system which the experts have worked out From this count can be determined whether the operation is so controlled that the number of fibres is within the safe level or whether the number of fibres exceeds this If the count indicates that the level is too high improvements in the control must be devised If it is not found possible so to improve the method of work or the method of dust extraction or whatever other method of control has been tried then it is necessary for the person doing the work to be provided with personal protection consisting of a suitable form of respirator and protective clothing which prevents asbestos dust being collected on the person's own clothing KEEPING A CONSTANT CHECK The pattern of monitoring which has been worked out in order to ensure that all potential danger areas are kept under watch is as follows First of all survey has been carried out in all factories to find out which areas or operations need to be amount of asbestos dust in those samples are all experienced and knowledgeable not only in the methods of dust sampling but in identifying that part of the work most likely to produce dusty conditions The aim is to measure the worst conditions or most dust producing condition likely to occur in any process or during the cycle of processes on any machine The records of the measurements are carefully watched both by the local management and by the Group Consultant and should any situation appear to be higher than that permitted under the Asbestos Regulations then an immediate explanation and investigation is called for As a result of this continuous and painstaking study dust levels in all the factories have been steadily dropping and few now exceed the recommended standard GUIDANCE FOR THE ENGINEERS As already mentioned the persons throughout the Group who are engaged in monitoring are experienced and well trained in the techniques of sampling and measurement but in addi- tion they are also by now knowledgeable about the precautions and control measures which should be taken and they record any observations of inadequacy LEFT Dr Ian Pasco of Uxbridge takes a sample of the air where John Uzzell is working above left He likes to wear a mask even though the atmosphere was found to be property controlled In the accompanying picture his mate Pat Doran who doesn't wear a mask is wearing sampling equipment on his left shoulder so that the air he is breathing can be tested John Jarvis of Group Environmental Services checks the atmosphere around Dennis Winwright working on the pad sander at Ux bridge or Incorrect working of control systems or any other lactors which are liable to interfere with the effectiveness of the protec- tive measures Another com- mendable contribution they make is to check by taking samples whether any changes in machinery or the dust extraction equipment are resulting in the improvements anticipated This is a most valuable feature which was not available in the past In former days we had to rely on the appearance of visible dust If an operation was seen to be dusty dust extraction equipment would be designed and applied to the operation and if no dust was then visible the control was assumed to be satisfactory Nowadays the guesswork has been eliminated ling dust of any kind and is indeed a firm requirement of the Asbestos Regulations 1969 wherever asbestos dust is emitted in quantities which might be harmful to the health of employed persons is in the design of such dust extraction equipment that the ingenuity and experience of our engineers is put to the test Extraction equipment to be successful has to reckon with the special characteristics of the material it has to handle Asbestos dust is different from most other dusts in which ventilation experts are experienced most dusts consist of particles whereas asbestos dust consists of tiny fibres They tend to cat in the air whereas particles fall more rapidly Furthermore Furthermore when they are collected in ducts or cyclones their brous form tend to make them collect and clog unless the shape and air speeds of the systems are spot on Continued overleaf i ow, | A ele Johns Johns Manville Manville Johns Manville Manville Com Members To Environmental Membrs & Division Managers Group FroFm. J. Solon Jr. - 4 North Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Internal Corespondence Corespondec Correspondence Correspondence Correspondence Cor espondence Correspondence Correspondence Correspondence Corespondec Correspondence Correspondence Corespondence Corespondence Correspondence Corespondence 26234 26234 Date July 18 1973 Copies File and Chrono Subject IMPORTANT IMPORTANT LETTER TO DR SELIKOFF W R. Goodwin A. B. Marchant F. H. May W. P. Albe J. S. Autry E. F. Marriner M.D. P. A. Martinson \ S. J. McDuff J. F. Ball L. J. Bartolanzo J. A. McKinney H. B. Moreno R. M. Billings L. R. Blair R. E. Naylor R. Nebel E. P. Burke P. C. Nikitovich R. P. Carter G. E. Parker A. L. Cini F. L. Pundsack R. H. Cuje W. B. Reitze 1. M. Dienstbach Ivan Sabourin J. B. Dorsey E. M. Fenner W. F. Goodwin S. W. Schulmeyer C. E. Shepperly R. V. Smith M. Harris T. R. Smith N. W. Hendry J. E. Hesse D. E. Hillier F. J. Solon Jr. J. J. Spangenberg W. C. Streib W. A. Hindon C. J. Sulewski J. R. M. Hutcheson W. L. VanDerbeek M. B. Jamin C. W. Wattson H. R. Keefe H. J. White C. C. Keller W. C. Winblad G.-P. Loubert F. A. Winterhalter D. H. Lyons G. W. Wright M.D. You will be letter from interested Dr. Hilton I'm sure in reading the attached Lewinsohn and Stephen Holmes of Turner & Newall to Dr. Irving Selikoff calling his attention to misleading statements he made using Lewinsohn material at a presentation in Boston in late May For background this letter is a direct result of our recent trip to England see Dr. George Wright critiqued trip report attached and commented on the various drafts leading up to this final version we Page 2 July 18 1973 I call your especially attention to the first two paragraphs The transcript came from Ed Fenner and Bill Reitze's tapes made at the conference which we forwarded to Dr. Lewinsohn and then followed with our visit to the British group to personally convey the request of George Wright and ourselves that a strong letter of dissent be sent to Selikoff The second paragraph has statements as strong as I've seen from professionals to professionals any Note also that copies of the letter were sent to Dr. Marcus Key Assistant Surgeon General and of NIOSH and to the headosf AIHA and ACGIH Director the two organizations who sponsored the Boston meeting at which Dr. Selikoff spoke AIA will forward copies of the letter to Secretary of Labor Peter Brennan and Assistant Secretary in charge of OSHA John Stender All and Dr. this by way of letting important the professions know the kind of Selikoff continues to commit people in government misleading acts This is the kind of positive aggressive approach we intend to take on our environmental affairs problems Enc 2 FILE MEMORANDUM 26230 REPORT OF June 23 - TRIP July TO 1 UNITED 1973 KINGDOM Subject trip was made in company with Ivan Canadian environmental counsel John Sabourin our H. Marsh of Raybestos in his capacity as Asbestos Information Association President of America and the Matthew M. Swetonic Executive Secretary of the AIA Purpose of the trip related almost entirely to the reopening of the OSHA Asbestos Standard in the U.S. We wanted to meet with members of the British medical group with British government officials and British asbestos industry personnel to review the situation and prepare in advance for what we believe will be quite a rigorous confrontation at the public hearings on the asbestos standard which are coming up in the near future Following are brief comments on meetings we held in the course of our stay in the United Kingdom 1. Meeting June 25 1973 with Dr. Hilton Lewinsoahnnd Stephen Holmes of Turner brothers Asbestos Alex Cross of Cape Asbestos Michael Howe and Wilfred Howard of Turner & Newall For background -- Dr. Lewinsohn had issued some pre- liminary figures on a study he is making of workers at the Rochdale England plant of TBA Dr. Selikoff had put these figures at the Annual Meeting Association in Boston into a graph which he presented of the American Industrial Hygiene last May Selikoff said these new figures changed the entire picture on asbestos standards and that the present OSHA standard places U.S. asbestos workers at serious risk of irreversible often fatal disease and in my Selikoff's opinion it should immediately be reconsidered We had forwarded to meeting a verbatim sentation at Boston there which he said data Dr. Lewinsohn a few days prior to our transcript of Dr. Selikoff's pre- with a copy of the slide he had used had been made from Dr. Lewinsohn's File Memorandum - Page 2 Report of trip to United Kingdom June 23 - July 1 1973 We reviewed this at our meeting and handed out to attendees a copy of Dr. George Wright's memo to me on , the Lewinsohn matter We suggested that Dr. Lewinsohn and Steve Holmes who had worked with Dr. John Knox of TBA in the original study of Rochdale workers prepare a joint letter to Dr. Selikoff on this matter to do Matter of fact their This they readily agreed first draft was handed to us two days later for review and forwarding to George Wright for comment before final drafting and mailing to Selikoff The British group are more than unhappy about this action by Selikoff The present British Asbestos Regulations are at the Rochdale based plant largely of TBA on the original studies Selikoff's misuse of Lewinsohn's preliminary figures places the British regulations the and H.M. Factory light British Occupational Hygiene Inspectorate in an extremely Society poor The British the wire -Director of of the most intend to take this matter right down to matter of fact David Hills Managing TBA had a personal hand in drafting some direct statements in the letter to Selikoff File Memorandum - Page 3 Report of trip to United Kingdom June 23 - July 1 1973 2. Meeting June 26 1973 with Drs David Muir and John Davis Institute of Occupational Medicine Edinburgh Scotland We reviewed the Lewinsohn matter Muir and Davis were glad to be informed and particularly pleased that a letter was being written directly to Selikoff They drove us to their experimental farm on the outskirts of Edinburgh to see the animal experimental work they are carrying on initially with amosite fiber under sponsorship of the Asbestosis Research Council File Memorandum - Page 4 Report of trip to United Kingdom June 23 - July 1 1973 3. Dinner Meeting June 27 1973 with Dr. J. Corbett McDonald .We reviewed the Lewinsohn matter with Dr. McDonald who is on sabbatical leave from McGill University Montreal He was in full accord with our strategy and thought the idea of a strong letter to Selikoff from Lewinsohn was excellent As a matter of information involves international work requiring extensive travel Dr. McDonald's sabbatical on population growth Even though on sabbatical he still directs the work of his group at McGill So John Marsh told him of the pure chrysotile exposure at the M Stratford plant asked if Corbett's McGill group led by his wife Allison might tackle the study He sparked to the idea and a meeting was arranged the week of July 8 between M and the McGill group to explore possibilities of such an epidemiological study File Memorandum - Page 5 Report of trip to United Kingdom June 23 - July 1 1973 4. Communications Meeting June 27 1973 between Asbestos Information Committee of U.K. Howe Cross Howard Wright and Asbestos Information Association North America Marsh Swetonic Solon Sabourin We reviewed the Lewinsohn draft of a letter to Selikoff and immediately dispatched a copy to George Wright for his review and comment AIC is increasing its budget next fiscal year from 50,000 to 80,000 pounds 130,000 to 208,000 approximately They plan to spend 26,000 pounds 68,000 for ads in their national dailies and in specialized publications on fire protection We had a preliminary discussion about a partite conference of AIC AIA and QAMA sometime in the future The AIC is producing which will be issued Research Council a new movie - Asbestos At Work under the name of the Asbestosis We learned from Alex Cross that Stuart Luxon's job had changed with H. M. Factory Inspectorate Formerly Director of Industrial Hygiene Service he is now Deputy Chief Inspector -- a lateral and slightly upward move Dr. Walter Smither lunch said he had of Cape Asbestos who joined us received an invitation from for Dr. Selikoff to Committee for a become a New York member of the Steering Academy of sponsored meeting on the Biological Effects of Asbestos to be held October 7-11 1974. Dr. Smither has mixed emotions about holding such a meeting only a year after the Lyon Meeting on the same subject I suggested that Selikoff is calling this new meeting because he was unhappy about the Lyon Meeting not going his way The group agreed this was probably so File Memorandum - Page 6 Report of trip to United June 23 - Kingdom July 1 1973 5. Meeting June 27 1973 with Stuart G. Luxon Deputy Chief Inspector H.M. Factory Inspectorate his wife Mrs. Maitland Luxon Sabourin Marsh Swetonic Solon Luxon was the British government official who at the request of Sabourin and Swetonic appeared as an expert witness at the March 1972 OSHA Hearings on the Asbestos Standard At this dinner meeting Luxon told his recent promotion had been brolight about largely by Great Britain's entry into the Common Market and gives him international responsibility for Safety and Health for the U.K. Luxon believes that he would still be the one British official to come to the U.S. public hearings on asbestos standard reopening should the testimony of H. M. Factory Inspectorate be needed He believes we in the U.S. should be actively seeking negative evidence to show why it is not necessary to go below 2 fibers per cc in our asbestos standard He dwelt at some length on the study being carried out by his Government of the entire British asbestos industry 10,000 workers to determine if their standard of two fibers is sufficient Though they may get indications in the meantime the final determination from the study is at least 20 years away When Luxon learned from John Marsh that the RaybestosManhattan year old plant in Stratford Connecticut was a pure chrysotile exposure except for the past 9 or 10 years -- and that the Bendix brake lining plant at Troy New York was also pure chrysotile exposure he urged us to get the show on the road as soon as possible and begin crash studies of workers at these two locations Luxon suggested to set Selikoff back somewhat and to take the pressure off the asbestos industry that M call the members of the industry together set a time limit and say that by such date long before the July 7 1976 deadline M will announce that all its plants are at the 2 fibers per cc standard or that workers are provided good protection at those locations we're still working on He believes the press will be interested in such a story File Memorandum - Page 7 Report of trip to United Kingdom June 23 - July 1 1973 Luxon says it's too bad we don't have a better dialogue with high do in the U.K. In labor union officials his work he said he as they has found his record dialogue with both industry and organized labor has been of inestimable value To get the total rationale behind the BOHS recommenda- tion that the British asbestos standard not be changed at this time Luxon suggested we write Dr. Dereck Turner Secy British Occupational Hygiene BP Research Center Sunbury London England Society and ask for documentation He said that H.M. Factory Inspectorate was taking the recommendation of the BOHS and was not reopening the British Asbestos Standard at this time Luxon said if we wanted him to coming OSHA Hearings it would through come have over for the to be done up- John Garcia Labour Attache British Embassy Washington D.C. File Memorandum - Page 8 Report of trip to United Kingdom June 23 - July 1 1973 6. Meeting June 28 1973 with Alex Cross Cape and ' Wilfred Howard T & N representing both AIC and Asbestosis Research Council with Solon Sabourin Swetonic Purpose of this meeting was to review the various ways in which the British group might help us at the time of the OSHA Hearings on Asbestos Standard Opening We reviewed the OSHA procedures on standard setting told them we understood there would be no new criteria package on asbestos in connection with the reopening of the standard We said it would be a minimum of seven months until public hearing that the new 15 man Advisory Committee could take 9 months to deliver its report to the Secretary of Labor that meetings of the Advisory Committee would be public as far as listening was concerned but that participation in the Advisory Committee hearings was by invitation only Cross and Howard suggested that since the BOHS was instrumental in influencing H.M.Factory Inspectorate not to reopen the British Asbestos Standard at this time it might be helpful to arrange for three people all members of the Asbestos Subcommittee of BOHS Dr. Hilton Lewinsohn - Stephen Holmes G. Berry Statistician on Dr. Gilson's staff to appear before the Advisory Committee and present the rationale for their not changing the present British Standard of two fibers They also recommended that Dr. John Gilson was by far the most eminent medical scientist in the U.K. on asbestos and would be the best one to appear at the final OSHA public hearings should that be necessary File Memorandum - Page 9 Report of trip to United Kingdom June 23 - July 1 1973 7. Meeting June 29 1973 with Dr. John Gilson and Dr. J. Chris Wagner at the MRC Pneumoconeosis Research Unit Penarth Wales Sabourin Solon Marsh Swetonic We reviewed the Lewinsomh attn er and stressed the fact that we looked on Selikoff's action as an attack on the British Asbestos Standard and on the reputation of H.M. Factory Inspectorate and the BOHS in the setting of proper standards to protect their workers Dr. Gilson agreed it appeared to be so He said he but had no He prefers research was glad to be informed of these matters interest in the political area to devote his time to pure medical We talked about the reopening of the OSHA Asbestos Standard and again he stressed that he had no interest in the scientific However I got the feeling that in light of his warm regard for George Wright should Dr. Gilson be needed to testify in the upcoming OSHA Hearings and should his health permit it he would react favorably to a request directly from Dr. Wright At the end of the meeting Dr. Gilson asked that his secretary make a xerox of the following Lewinsohn- Selikoff material - - Transcript of Selikoff's presentation at the AIHA Meeting at Boston - Copy of the at Boston slide material used by Dr. Selikoff - Copy of the article by Dr. Lewinsohn from which Dr. Selikoff claims to have taken the information he presented at Boston - Copy of Dr. George Wright's memo to me on the Lewinsohn matter commenting He did not ask to xerox the Lewinsohn letter draft to Selikoff because a copy back with him from giving it to Dr. Gilson he said Mr. Berry had Rochdale that morning brought and was Dr. Gilson was in full agreement with our strategy in the Lewinsohn matter File Memorandum - Page 10 Report of trip to United Kingdom June 23 - July 1 1973 In closing this report let me say that this entire trip at my request was planned by Ivan Sabourin He did an outstanding job We were able to spend time with everyone we had designated as important to a discussion of this subject of reopening the OSHA asbestos standard . F. J. Solon Jr.