Document zo8K4JmYJ6MbBvbG9ZRy26EEn

: y purpose in suRP.est mg this meeting was to show the price of asbestos mining in terms of health. /- I have details of 34. men seriously affected by a mixture of asb^stosis and silicosis. if One of them is dead already and at least 3 are dying. There ai*e also 22 men in whom there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that they are developing disease* 13 had less than 5 years minings 3 tt ti 6~ it tt 5 it tt t 7 tt it 2 % it tt 8 it !( 11 M about 10 or more years mining. The man who died was aged 48 and worked about 2 j^ears in the mill. Post mortem! showed gross asbestosis and silicosis and a malignant cancer of the pleura directly attributable to his work in Wittenoom* I am seriously concerned that these cancers of the pleura which are being reported in large numbers from South Africa are due to an individual susceptibility and minimal exposure to blue asbestos (Crocidolite). Crysolite appears to cause lung cance: 11 'Of these started mining in 1950. 4 tt tt tt tt tt 1951. 4 it 5- ft . 5 tt tt i - . it * tt tt tt 1952. tt it . :-1'953. . u ' tt 1954. 3 tt it it tt it 1955. 1 ii t> tt it tt 1957. ...... . 6 - are aged less than 35 years. 11 men are aged less than 40 are less than 50 yrs of age. /<f U)A*AZO oto C\J K\ CM It might be argued that these are a product of the bad old but X would counter that by saying that these men represent the grossest of exposure to dust and that the real health hazard will not be realized for another 10 years, particularly the cancers. These men are also the majority of workers who remained at Wittenoom for more than 5 years. A survey last year showed that over 70^ of workers had been less than 2 yrs in the employment of the company. The conditions in which the men work may be better now but the most recent dust counts compiled by the Mines Department do not suggest that dust control and suppression have improved much at ail. I am not really competent to discuss dust counts but would suggest that we study the Inspector's report and compare it with counts taken in previous years. Underground: Average dust count for day shift H 11 If II It f ii it ii ti A June , Nov, Aug. '60 '60 '61 P.P.C.C 180 P.P.C.C p. p r. r.