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afety and Health Director Orders Purging of Booklet He Calls Unfalf Spec|~l to'rbeNe~ York Times WASHINGTOn, March 2~-- A Re~ ]. Mr. Foster s~id ~at ~e~ A~inistratt~ o~ci~ h~ o~e~ ~e, ~gom~ ~d~ ~mpl~n~ a~ut ~e d~t~cfl~ of mo~ I~,~ ~e~ ~ materials, p~i~larly a~t ~e slide on cotton d~t ~d'is h~d~ up ~stfibu- ~ p~ntations. E. I. ~ Pont de Nemo~ lion of fi~s ~d ~Iides on o~er'heal~ ~ & Comply 'had ~y ~n issues by ~e ~cu~tionai SafeW ~d ' ~o~ obj~ to ~e ac~l~i~le H~I~ A~st~tion ~ ~ g~d ~at [ ~ey a~ ~tib~, a s~kesm~ for ~eagen~s~dt~sy. . - Glen Pea~ who was ~tor of the ~ve~t oHi~ais ~d lair s~s agent's office of ~o~a(ion ~d con- " s~er alf~ when ~e mate~als were ~ ~ t~ay ~t ~e safety ~d h~l~ ag~cy w~'p]~ to ~k the Su-. P~, said it was "ab~lutely p~me C~ to ~llow it ~o ~n it~ ~se ~vY we~ d~i~ to c~ate a climate on ~ cott0nd~t ~sue. ,Under P~sldent a~t employe~." . ~ "I ~nt over ~c~a~s Carter, th.e agency argued t~fore the Court that its rules on cotton dust, whl.ch it said caused ~mwn lung disease, n.eed not be subjected m an analysis of its costs as against its benefits. Tberne G. Auchter, the new adminis- trator of the health and safety a~ency, or- dered the withdrawal of the cotton dust bvo~ets because be'formal them "offen- sive," according to James Foster, a spokesman for ~he agency. • Mr. Auchter felt that the cover of the booklets, which~showed a pho.tograph of a worker who was obviously gravely 111 and suffering, "makes a s~a.tement that is oh. vtously favorable to ~ne side," Mr. FoS- ter said. The spokesrhan added that M~. Auch. ter wanted the agency to be objective and not favor either labor or business.' The booklets, .and a poster which also~ showed the photograph of~ the worker, who eventually died, were ordered with- films I produced ~ not bi.ased," he said. • i CaIled'Simple, Stralghtfoi-ward' • Franklin Greet, who was special !a~sistant to Ray Marshal, former Secre- tary of Labor, said tl~e films were "sim. ple, straightforward explanations o! tt~ .law., the agency and workers' rights ~der the law.'" . :"Pp.rhaps the new. Adminlstrat/on doesn't want workers to knc~v about OSHA'S responsibilitieS," he ~dded. Mar~iret Semilmri0 bf the depa.rtme~t of occupatina~ safety and h.eal~h of A.F.L,-C.LO., called tlie actions bYthe new OSHA chief a '°startling and shock, ing dxample of censorship." She also said that the federation had re. ceived information that groupsreceiving training funds from Federal agency had been told by the agency's field represent- atives that they would lose their hu~is un- drawn from all OSHA field offic.es',by Mr. less they r~.t~trned thematerlais, • Auchter~ ~llms and SlidesHeld . [ . Relmrt Is Termed '.Baloney, Mr Fo~ter, asked about this r~p~rt, Mr. Auchteraiso ordered astopputon I .. :. ....... , ....... • ....... sam it w vmone~, ~e aaaea mat three films and two shde presentatxons [ • ~ . - . . nreduced trader the ~reviou.~ Admini.~tr'~o | WaS possible thnt "some .bgdy got overea- lion ] get and went beyond the ~pint of ~Ir. " '~he films'and slides will be k~tou~of [ Auchter's ~rders but tl~t ltw~ not c.irculationuntilMr. Auchterd~ines te.nd~.~to_makeany_such.threats: _ . in me ~upreme t:ourt case, me Labor whether or not they. are in conformance .... with his pglicy, which is that Government ~..pa.c~ment .ar~. e~un J..an.. 2!,.~e .~ay. ax~er inauguration uay, Ulat cotton OUSt be neutral in tone and approach ~nd not .... take sides and exacerbate the adver- ~egulatfons t.o protect wor~ers ~mm ~lnl ~lnttnn~hln h~tw~on hlt~|n~ ~u'l bro~rn lung disease need no~ under the ................labor,' ' Mr. Foster" said. ................. law be sub~ected ~o a cost-benefits analy- The films were about workers' fights under the safety and health law, how the law works, and the ]~istory of occupa- tional safety and health in America. The slide presentations were about the dan- gets of cotton dust and acryi~it~ile, a vinyl compound, a~-td workers' ~.~hts to protection.. sis. Now, according to Government and iunlon sotlrces~ the department wants to r~open the ~.ase with a view to possibly changing its argumen~ against cost.bone. fit- analysis. President. Reagan has rooted that ~ analysis be performed for all Govenu~ent regttlatiot~.. 1S; OS T104230931

OSHA Will Seek to Relax Rules on Cotton Dust The Reagan administration is pre- paring to relax the federal regulations that limit worker exposure to cotton dust, thereby giving the textile indus- try by a~iminhtrative order what it has been seeking unsuccessfully ~n the courts for Fears. Government sources said the Occu- pational Safety and Health Admin/s- tration will announce today its inten- tion to amend the regulations to re- quire that the cost of dust-limitation dev/ces be weighed agah~st potential benefits. The textile industry has been'. pressing for such a chm~ge in the U.S. Supreme Court, as a way of I/beral/z- /ng what it regards as an excessively expensive set of requirements. The cotton dust standard/s one of the mo~ importan~ and controversial the administration has a~taeked in its determination to ea~ the regulatory burden on business. If the regulation proposal /s fully h-nplemented, it could end the Su- preme Court case, considered one of the most sigr~cant in the recent h~- tory of regulatory law. The justices themselves would have to dec/de whether the rule-change renders the controversial case moot or in need of recomideration in the lower courts. The cost-benefit ~ue arose during the Carter administration, not just in the textile industry but in every in- dustry regulated by OSI4X Manufac- turers contend that OSHA's standards for exposure to hazardous substances are too harsh and threaten to put small fm*ns out of business. Organized labor and other textile worker grou~ consider the use of cost-benefit analys/s '~mmoral" be- See COTTON, A13, Col. 3 The Reagan admini~tration'~ regu- latory ~hit list." Pa~e D1 CO'I~ON~ ¥~om AI cause they my it pla~ a dollar value on hum~ s~~ ~m~- ~ ~t ~.~ ~d w~ not ~ aandards as too hamh and.tee ~. But U& C~urt of Ap~ Jud~ Dav/d L Bazelon ruled ~aimt the compan/es, ~g that the law astt~ up OSHA ~ n~t reqube cost-benefit ~ .o~ cor~idoration of ~e~s to was tl te , said,. ii~'nk~ Of it:though:hO~ i'~ Ti04230932

~OSHA ~ Has Cotton Dust BOoklets Destroyed ~.S;~07 Ti04230933