& FRANK FIELD: Two weeks ago a news report from Washington revealed that many leading brands of talcum powders for baby and body use contained asbestos fibers.

Palekar of Northrup, Inc., who reported the results of cytoxicity and hemolitic activity tests on four samples of cummingtonite-grunerite from Lead, South Dakota.

At pre sent the PDA opposes a ban on sales of PCBs but this should not lead to complacency on the part of any user of PCBs.

<D JUL i 3 1978 r' j ^ pc f'T*cp7,nftic / - 3-\ - ' r ^ ' - 3 - - ' -- I `"' '*^ i' 4.

The results of this enquiry, which have been presented in document NR/EKV/72.49, lead to the following con clusions: (a) Because of unacceptable levels of PCBs found in the environment und because of a number of incidents involving human health, some countries have taken, or are considering taking action to control the use of PCBs: (b) There are (1972) only six companies in O.E.C.D.

Zt is required to allow a one month lead time between the appearance of a regulation in the Federal Register and the date that it takes effect so OSHA plans to have the permanent standard published by September 5, 1974.

Discussion: Section 302(p) of the Act defines "schedule and timetable of compliance" as "a schedule of required measures including an enforceable sequence of actions or operations leading to compliance with an emission limitation, other limitation, prohibition or standard".

As presented herein, all of the vehicle with the exception of the liquid dryer, which is cobalt and lead, is considered to be xylol.

The purpose of the was to measure the presence and quantity of airborne asbestos fibers greater survey than five microns in length The shorter fibers are not considereads an asbestos hazard but rather as a category of free silica exposure The recommended engineering control limit for asbestos fibers at presenits 2 fibers per milliliter per cubic centimeter of workroom air for a normal work day and work week exposure A total of four samples was taken with two pumps One pump was mounted on the one man working in the dry wall area and the other pump was mounted on the center column of the room and measured the overall asbestos content of the air away from the ribbon mixers The samples were taken open face at a rate of 2 liters per minute for 40 minutes and a blank submitted with the exposed filters as a control CONCLUSIONS The two samples taken on the mixing operator indicates that his exposure is less than or equal to the recommended engineering control limit during a mixing cycle ventilation This result is not surprising since the system on the ribbon mixers where the bags are opened and emptied is doing an excellent job In light of the relatively low exposure of the operator the general room air results are surprisingly high KM BB 5642 An analysis of the sample taken in the center of the room at breathing zone height indicates greater than the that the number of asbestos fibers in recommended engineering control limit the workroom air is of 2 fibers per milliliter milliliter Readings of 5 fibers per and three fibers per milliliter were obtained on each of the two 40 minute sampling runs Measurements of the general room air flow were also made during the sample period and indicated that air was flowing in area from the paint mixing and out through the door which leads to the warehouse storage for the area Given the operator's low exposure the only reasonable explanation in results is that the dust collector system beside the door difference which leads to the main paint mixing area is leaking or emitting fibers in some way and the general room air flow is then carrying them through the very region where we took the general room air sample The low results obtained on the operator who is the only man exposed in the room indicates that the local exhaust ventilation system is performing properly at the source of contaminant that our results give a true picture of the situation the Therefore assuming collector end of the exhaust ventilation system should be carefully checked for places where asbestos fibers might be escaping into the general room air RECOMMENDATIONS| 76-1 A collection barrel is located beneath the dumping chute of the main dust collector bin There is several inches of clearance between barrel the It bottom opening of this bin and the top of would be advisable to connect the bin and the the collection barrel with a plastic sleeve which would prevent the release of asbestos fibers when into the room air the collection bin is dumped into the collection barrel In addition this would reduce the possibility that a leak in the bottom bin opening or the residual fibers in the barrel itself is a source of room contamination KM BB 5643 76-2 Care should be taken to make sure that asbestos bags are not included in the compactor presently in use One bag had inadvertently been placed in the compactor at the time of our visit The operator demonstrated the normal disposal procedures and indicated that this particular bag had been placed there in Given the proximity of the compactor to the general room sample it is possible error by another employee the center post where we took that this single asbestos bag contributed significantly to the total fiber levels detected 76-3 The duct work of the dust collection system should be carefully checked to make sure that there are no leaks emitting asbestos fibers and dust into the work room air A visual inspection at the time of our visit did not reveal any leaks But this is one possible explanation of the high detected levels which should be investigated 76-4 in this area should Operators protective equipment until such time continue to wear their personal as the effectiveness of the respirators presently engineering controls are fully verified The in use approved for asbestos fibers and pneumoconiosis producing are dusts THE SURVEY The four samples sampling pumps taken were collected in A flow rate of 2 liters the per standard manner using two personal minute was used A sampling period of 40 minutes per sample was used The samples were taken with the cassettes open and pointed downward to prevent unwanted trash from settling on them -4- KM BB 5644 af on of One pump was mounted directly the operator of the ribbon mixer and a total two samples was taken with this pump The other personal sampling pump was mounted in the center of the room at breathing zone height and two samples were takeonn this pump also More than two samples per pump might have been taken except that the mixing operations for that days workload had come to an end with the conclusion of the second set of samples Industrial The collected samples were then submitted to our Hygiene Laboratory at Hopkinton Massachusetts They were analyzed there by means of a contrast microscope A visual counting method was used to determine the number of fibers greater than 5 microns in length collected during the sampling period This total sample volume collected and the total number of fibers present allowed the determination of fibers per milliliter to be determined A recommended engineering control limit of 2 fibers per milliliter is suggested in this report Bill Lutts Asst Southwest Division Industrial Hygienist KM BB 5645 KM BB 5647 KELLY MOORE San Carlos California ASBESTOS SURVEY On June 30 1975 a visit was made to this plant to evaluacotnetrotlhse aasndbestos following installation of additional engineering Mike exposure of the amount of asbeus set d ao los ng some of the lines reduction Mutual's Senior Loss Prevention Representative accompanied Love Liberty the writer CONCLUSIONS of 1.

Lead from spray painting blocks 3.

It is, hov.rever, important to distinguish between closed system uses that are controllable in practice and those whore control ennnot be guaranteed either < - because frequent replacement of relatively small quantitief will lead to disposal rather than recovery, or - because a large number of snail units widely dispersed will make collection extremely difficult, or - because accidental leakage will cause imminent danger to human health. 5.

It appears most likely at this point, that the VC Panel will be asked to continue their support although the above leads will be followed-up.

Measurements of the general room air flow were also made during the sample period and indicated that air was flowing in from the paint mixing area and out through the door which leads to the warehouse storage area.

A gas sam ple tube leads from each metering device to a central gas chromatograph.

E ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS QF VINYL/POLYVINYL CHLORIDE a i i/ US EPAv NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER OCTOBER 15. 1974 ?