Asbestos exposure during servicing of motor vehicle brake and clutch assemblies (1975)

This Current Intelligence Bulletin from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) alerted colleagues to a potential asbestos hazard in motor vehicle brake and clutch servicing; it reported no study of its own. It relayed data Mount Sinai School of Medicine investigators presented at a NIOSH meeting on July 21, 1975. Personal samples taken within ten feet of the operator showed average peak levels of 10.5 asbestos fibers (described as 5 microns in length) per ml during blow-out of automobile drum brakes, 3.75 during grinding of used truck brake linings, and 37.3 during bevelling of new truck brake linings. Almost all asbestos fibers in brake drum dust were shorter than 0.4 microns. A literature review found at least four cases of mesothelial tumors of the pleura and peritoneum in people employed in automobile brake servicing. It stated that enough asbestos survives braking to produce significant exposures during certain servicing procedures. Disease in this group had not been studied systematically. It ended with interim procedures such as vacuum and damp-rag cleaning, not compressed air or dry brushing.

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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.