Union to Test Insulation for Asbestos

Representatives of the Harvard dining hall workers union will today request official scientific testing of exposed insulation from several university dining halls. They suspect the insulation may contain asbestos, which many scientists believe increases the risk of cancer.

Two union official said last week they gathered the samples from holes in the outer covering of pipe insulation in the central kitchen serving the river Houses, as well as the kitchens for Adams House, the Freshman Union and the Business School dining hall.

But University officials said last week that even if the exposed insulation contained asbestos, the holes union official Marie Kenney described probable would not present a health hazard either to union members working in the kitchen or students eating food prepared there.

The union's concern coincided with a new study by researchers at the School of Public Health (SPH), who found a correlation between certain occupations and asbestos-related deaths.

The study of 36,000 cancer deaths in Massachusetts over a three-year period found that construction workers and automobile repairmen--who often work near asbestos--had an unusually high rate of lung and other asbestos-related cancers.

Barbara Rice, a volunteer for International Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Employees and Partenders Union Local 26, said yesterday that the group will present sample to the SPH, as well as to the State Department of Public Health.

Kenney said she found five or six holes at the Business School's Kresge Dining Hall, ranging from small tears in insulation lining to 1/4 inch holes. "There must be at least one hole in each dining hall" across the campus, she estimated.

Kenney said the holes are probably caused by carts and similar items banging into the pipes.

Kenney noted that exposed asbestos could also contaminate food. "I'm sure that the chance it might fall into food would cause problems," she said.

"You wouldn't want it around food." agreed Louis J. Diberardinis, an occupational hygienist for the University who deals with asbestos--related problems. But he added the ingesting asbestos carries a much lower risk of cancer than breathing it.

Diberardinis said yesterday he had received only one complaint form Kenney regarding asbestos.

That incident--which Kenney cites as an example of Harvard's slow responses--involved hole in pipe lining in a food service tunnel which has since been sealed, Diberardinis said.

Diberardinis said that eve in that pipe lining was covering asbestos, such small holes would probable not cause a health hazard. "My guess would be no, but it would have to be looked at," he said.

The Right Stuff

Diberardinis said he took air samples from dining halls in which repairs were being made this summer and did not find a hazardous level of asbestos in the air during the work, which he said would create higher-than-normal levels of asbestos dust.

To protect workers' safely, only asbestos should be removed or covered with an impregnable material, Kenney said.

Kenney also criticized the University's correction of problems stemming from asbestos insulation, calling it too show in most cases. "I don't think this is the type of thing you should take months to take care of," she said.

Benjamin H. Walcott, assistant manager of food services, yesterday criticized Kenney for releasing information on the insulation problems without first notifying University officials of the specific problems.

"If she's just noticing things and pointing them out to The Crimson, that's not much help," Walcott said. He added that he would correct any problems which came to his attention.

The summer work was part of a long term program the University is engaged in to remove asbestos insulation or wrap it in a permanent lining, officials said. The University did this work in several dining halls this summer and will continue the work during breaks and future summers, Diberardinis said