
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100014
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ASBESTOS LAW DEBATED

Cities across the country have set aside billions of dollars to rip asbestos out of their schools, but Congress is now questioning the law that ordered the costly repairs.

Much of the debate stems from a controversial article published in the Jan. 19 issue of Science magazine, which concluded that the type of asbestos usually found in schools and other buildings is not likely to cause asbestos-related diseases, especially at the levels recorded in the study.

It challenged the established wisdom that asbestos, widely used before the 1970s as an insulating material, should be removed from buildings where occupants are likely to inhale loose fibers and possibly contract lung cancer.

Health professionals, trade unions and some scientists have attacked the conclusions and the integrity of the article's authors. They note that four of the five authors have had professional affiliation with the asbestos industry, and that two have appeared frequently as expert witnesses for asbestos manufacturers sued in personal injury cases.

But the asbestos industry and some members of Congress have embraced the Science magazine article.

The Senate version of the clean air bill passed last week includes an amendment requiring a study of the dangers of asbestos. The Republican-sponsored amendment, which referred to the Science article, would force the Environmental Protection Agency to advise schools that it is preferable to encapsulate asbestos in buildings rather than remove it.

Meanwhile, bills introduced in both houses of Congress since the article's publication have called for the repeal of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act.

The 1986 measure required school districts to look for the presence of asbestos in school buildings and remove it if it is in poor condition. The bills are sponsored in the Senate by Republicans Steve Symms of Idaho and Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson of Wyoming, and in the House by Republican Craig Thomas of Wyoming.

On the other side of the issue, Knut Ringen, director of the Laborers' National Health and Safety Fund, said the article undercuts his union's attempts to train and protect demolition and asbestos removal workers.

"It becomes harder for us as a union to argue with employers that we need to take all these precautions," he said. Laborers' National trains about 7,500 of these workers per year.

by CNB