Document zzgb7mn3V0yRvRmyQQBndGnwR

FILE NAME: Garlock (GAR) DATE: 1956 Mar 13 DOC#: GAR094 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo RE Air Hygiene Committee Meeting on Mar 7 Kerman Klcy, General Manager, Atlantic iivisicn \<. . . Shoemaker ; MID Atl, I-iv. 'nr,. Asbestos Textile Institute - 3/7/56 Air Hygiene Committee Meeting * ' / .7/ //, V.' March 13, 1956. vill you pleaso express my sincere thanks to Ilr. Kuchlech for ny attondar.ee it this meeting, I was sorry not to find anyone from Keaaboy and Mattison Company there so that I could do it personally. [ did find from the management peoplo present that two of tho companion are Lnsured by Employers Mutual, one by Penna. Mfro. and tho others aro self- Insured. Mr. Gatke, another guest and owner of a textile mill in Chicago ' spoke very highly of our Mr. John Skinner, J2. 0. Industrial Hygienist whom se had known before Mr. Skinner camo with us. I a n writing the attached Letter to the committee chairman who is manager of a local plant which is acw self-insured. ~ ' Miese meetings are usually closed affairs, a3 I understand, and future ' solicitation for some of the m e m b e r s 1 business might boat come after more ittendance if we are asked, IJovjevcr, Mr, Kuchlech could be of greater ' sssistance to you on this score. [ picked up quite a lot more technical iniermtion then I an putting in his report to you, but believe the rest would bo cf main interest only to gr .ngineering Department representatives serving asbestos textile plants, cf ;hich we have a number beside Koasbey :: Mattison. It occurred to mo that 5[ rou i;culd like to be briefed on what this industry's problems are and what ;hcy arc trying tc cc about them ir. the hepr. of promoting continued advan- ;agecu3 r. elations with Mr. Muchlcch. ' Summary: il) "he substantial segments of tho U. . h Canadian asbestos industry represented hero have tho makings of excellent control over what can be very costly occupational disease claims, in my opinion. Essential . good factors aro: (a) Intorcst of tliair top managements-- at least ^ what appears to bo a dosiro to produco minimal health hazards in t h e '-' processing of asbestos, (b) Operating management accopt responsibility/?' . for and participate directly in solving health hazard probloraa in '? ocvoral of tho member companies, (c) They have boon discerning enough to seek out the most roliablo sources of technical help on knotty prcbloas, both ongineoring and medical. ' i" 2) Typical program operated by those companies: (a) Pre-employment physical examination, including lung x-ray read by nationally recognized authorities. Koasbey L Mattison l*avi creel!c:.t facilities for such, x-ray diagnosis locally, but American Mutual havo not interested themselves in this rr-.-lcn beyond the local plants. One of our ablo competitors . Herman JIley. :"2 larch 1 3 , 1956. insist cn a nationwide basis that nil x-ray plates bo ob served by Hr. H. b. dander, probably the nation's leading authority cn occupational chest diseases. (b) lericcic cho.3t x-rnyr., usually at lc-oat every two years. (c) Their own ventilating engineering staffs to design and be responsible Tor proper functioning of ventilating equipment. (d) Periodic dust counting procedure to check the effectivoneos of tho engineering control measures. demo companies do their own counting, others depend on insurance company or state services, others use private consultants to do thi3 technical work. (In the last several years, Keasbey & Matticon, against our advice, have given up periodic dust counting which they uaed to be equipped to do themselves".) " (e) ?roc interchange of engineering control ideas among tho several member companies represented hero. (f) Several tints during the last 10-15 years, nerabor companies have joined in having their plants examined by tho Industrial - Hygiene Foundation. The original examination included dust counts, engineering recommendations and medical control reccramc-ndaticnn. Here recently, only oust count survey was conducted. Since such reports may have proved somewhat too coctly, the plants have made combined dust count survey by taking their cwn samples and having then analyzed by tho industrial health technicians of Travelers Insurance Company. ) V.liilo the comncndablo health control measures instituted oomo 15 16 years ago by Keasbey ti Jiattiaon and others have done yeoman service in keeping lung disability claims well 'within a reasonable cost firuro during a critical period of disease disability legislative liberalisation, what they aro- ocin- nnd net doing now appears* to be not completely adequate to meet a serious now throat that can be oxpected to increaso future disability claims considerably. This threat is the alleged causal relationship between lung cancer and exposure to asbestos dust. Y/hat aro tho signs cn the horizon? (a) An award has been made within tho last year in ienna. definitely connecting astestosis and cancer cf the lung. This ia I2ie first atato handing down such an award. It is particularly alarming an Penna. law ia net as liberal asiaost state laws in allowing awards for aggravation. (b) b. C. llunper,*M.D., Director, national Cancer Institute, Federal Security Agency is now quite vocal, without adequate factual data to back him up, that asbestos dust will cause lung cancer. Literature References: Public Health Honograph Ho. 36, published over Dr. Hueper'a name by the Rational Institute of Health. I!e alno is quoted in an editorial in the American Journal cf Pathology (Uov. *55 issue, I believe) as saying that anyone living near an asbestos plant can get T Vornan Kley. Paro 3 U - i ^ o a*(j Farcii 13, 1956. lung cancer. Uuoper has been quite reliable in proving the car.cor causing properties of quite a number cf 'commodities but very reliable medical opponents sa; lie noon eff the deep end and accuoes ether ~ material a of havin', cancer causin', proper ties without sufficient factual basis fer hir. statement. hr, Kenneth Smith of Johns I-anville c.ccusoc hir. of the latter in the. case of asbestos. Investigations in the asbestos nines of Canada where medical records nro completo for some yrnrs nay rivo sene indication of a alight relationship but present compiled data is toe irief to givo a conclusive answer to auch a relationship, Ilnnco, tho Quebec Asbestos Mining; Association is new undertaking a bread-scale a-rvey of vital statistics, not only among asbestos nine workers but similar Canadian population control groups, to try to determine reliably if thcro is causal relationship between lung cancer anu exposure to asbestos, This survey 1;; to be conducted by tho Industrial Hygiene Foundation who are wisely drawing on the skill of well known institutional medical authorities as well as statistical czqserts c-f the IT. r-. Public Health nervice. (c) Another alar:cing aspect of thi3 situation in that lung cancer is now in epidemic proportions among the it. 8. public in general. Cancer of all kinds nc.w causos 16 per cent of all deaths and is second in im portance only to heart disoascs. Three per cent of all people now die of lung canccsr. This moans that out of every one hundred people employed in asbestos*, industries (or any ether industry for that matter) threo will die of lung cancer, kith a vnad dog" like I>r. Ilucpcr loose on tho subject of asbestos, future claim results can be alarming. Lt . Iluepor testified fer tho claimant in the Penna..case mentioned above. - k) The Air Hygiene Committee of the Asbosto- Textile Institute are hav ing hr* Kenneth Smith report on this situation personally- to their Board of Governers today. The Committee is recommending that con sideration bo given tc having tho Industrial Hygiene Foundation pre pare a proposal for conduct of an epidemiologic survey of U. 75. * asboston products industries along the lines cf the ono to bo made " in Canada, to determine if there is an asbestos-cancer relationship. The purpose of the survey will be the compilation of reliable factual information by an impartial institution and the givinrr of w i d e `publicity in the literature to the findings to try to forestall the asbestos industry being tagged with a lot of human disabilities that do not have causal relationship with asbestos at all. In other words, even - conscientious industrial physicians at present have little if any authoritative literature to refer to on'this subject. V.hat the sur vey should come up with is information ouch as the glass and pert land cement Industries developed scao years ego finding that dust exposure in tlicac industries should net Uo considered to bo a silica hazard. ;or.c present at the meeting: . Lr. wetor (an operating executive) American Asbestos Textile Corp* Uerristown, Penns, , Nurmax. K le y . Pace Hk I-iarch 13 , 19 5 6 . Kr. Donald R, Holmes, Manager' Aston-Iilll Manufacturing Company Philadelphia 29 Pcnna. " * I-lr. Huch K. Jackson, Director of Health Services Johns-Manvillc Corp. 22 East 40th Stroet, New York 16, LT. Y. ` Konneth V.', Smith, M. D. (J-M specialist on asbestos is) Johns-Manvillc Corp, 22 -ast IjOth Stroet, How York 16, H.I. Mr. Lautenberger, Manager Raybestos-Mahhattan, Inc, Manhoim, Pa. - ' Mr. Schmidt, Chiof Engineor Scuthorn Asbestos Co, Charlotte 1, N. C. Mr. G. E. Houghton, Chief Engineer Garlock Packing Co. Palmyra, N.Y. Mr. Gatke, Owner Asbestos Textilo Co. (?) Chicago, 111. next meeting of this committee will be in the fall when the members will the guesta of the Johns-lianvillo Corp. at their larG e mlninG facilities GO CO C\x C > * *1: Assistant Manager Mr. V. V. Eallontine, Phila.Diat.Eng.Mpn Mr. John E. Skinner, Industrial Hygienist, ;!.u.