Remarks by Dr. George M. Lawton, Captain, MC, U.S. Navy, Armed Forces Epidemiological Board's Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Asbestos-Related Health Problems (1977)

This document is not a research study and reports no new data. It records remarks by Dr. George M. Lawton, a U.S. Navy captain, to the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board's Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Asbestos-Related Health Problems on 29 September 1977. The author said the Navy had banned asbestos in most cases and required respirators, dampening and disposable clothing where it was torn out. A fleet instruction barred crews from asbestos work except procedures that may be necessary in an emergency to keep the ship operational. Shipyard controls had not been extended to sailors potentially exposed in the fleet. Pneumoconiosis workshops had begun, and a Harmful Exposure Analysis Panel had started assembling data. Steps were under way to train certified "B" x-ray readers, set up an asbestos worker registry, and develop an x-ray study of one entire shipyard. The author said the long lag before disease made case-finding difficult and no lower limit of safety could be identified. The author concluded that studies and monitoring had three payoffs: defining the problem's extent, detecting and treating disease, and creating a model program.

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From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. It was among the papers J-M kept in its medical library without an index entry.