ASSE Testimony Raises Concerns Over NIOSH Asbestos Roadmap Changes
ASSE voiced several concerns regarding the focus of the NIOSH Roadmap on Asbestos and other Elongated Particle Minerals at a NIOSH hearing held on March 30, 2009. Adele L. Abrams, Esq., CMSP, Professional member of the Mining and Construction Practice Specialty and co-chair of the NIOSH Mining Sector Council for its National Occupational Research agenda, submitted testimony on behalf of ASSE and expressed that that the revised NIOSH Roadmap has diverted from its ultimate goal in the original draft of developing a unified theory of thoracic-sized fiber toxicity between currently-known and newly identified mineral fibers, synthetic vitreous fibers, and nanofibers. The revised roadmap, Abrams said, downplays the importance of developing a unified theory when in fact, NIOSH representatives stated during a public meeting that the February 2007 Roadmap held the unified theory as the “ultimate goal” of its research. The testimony reflects comments submitted by ASSE in September of 2008 to NIOSH for the record.
Testimony – http://www.asse.org/professionalaffairs_new/docs/033009ASSEAsbestosTestimony.doc
Comments -
http://www.asse.org/professionalaffairs_new/docs/092908NIOSHasbestos-e.doc