Malignant and Nonmalignant Respiratory Disease Mortality Patterns Among Asbestos Production Workers (1973)

Senator Robert Taft Jr. inserted this paper into the Senate's Congressional Record on March 14, 1973, in support of his Respiratory Disease Benefits Act (S. 1029). The paper, by NIOSH researchers Joseph K. Wagoner, William M. Johnson and Richard Lemen, was first presented to the American Industrial Hygiene Association. It studied workers employed 1940–1962 at one large plant making mainly chrysotile textile, friction and packing products. It found significant excesses of respiratory cancer (46 deaths observed vs. 18.8 expected) and nonmalignant respiratory disease (72 vs. 35). Respiratory cancer was in excess even after 1–9 years of employment, and many deaths came soon after workers left their jobs.