Arthur Elsenbast to O. B. Westmont on Aluminum Therapy Research and Moving Men from Dust at Lompoc (1951)

A three-page letter of January 16, 1951, from Arthur Elsenbast in New York to O. B. Westmont at Johns-Manville's diatomaceous earth plant in Lompoc, California, headed "Aluminum Therapy Research - Saranac." Elsenbast reviews the company's inquiries into aluminum therapy, including visits to the McIntyre Porcupine gold mines in Canada, where miners inhaled aluminum powder, and early tests suggesting the McIntyre powder made J-M's diatomite almost insoluble. He reports that Dr. Lanza, after visiting Lompoc, gave J-M a confidential memorandum on the condition of its men there, and that "other than removing men from the presence of the dust at the plant, there was no further recommendation made." The question of moving men out of the dust had been discussed with Westmont and Dr. Anderson, he writes, and it was decided in September that this would be, "in most cases at this time, a detrimental proposition."

What it shows

The letter shows J-M considering aluminum therapy at Lompoc after the only recommendation it had received from Lanza was to remove men from the dust, which the company had decided against for most of them. Elsenbast complains that waiting for Saranac's animal tests would mean "we will be able to do nothing until 1954." In a postscript he adds that the company's medical advisers had "strongly" recommended against the planned test on cancer-bearing mice, which was put off for a year (see Vandiver Brown's memo on the proposal). The letter gives no reasons for the September decision.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

Elsenbast reports to Westmont, 1/16/51, that the subject of removing men from dust at Lompoc was discussed with Dr. Anderson and Westmont on a previous occasion, and during Elsenbast's trip to Lompoc in September, it was decided that, in most cases at this time, it would be a detrimental proposition.

Related documents

• J. P. Woodard to A. S. Elsenbast on the Lompoc List of Advanced Cases (1950)
• Lompoc Plant List of Improvements to Reduce Dust, 1930 to 1944 (1945)
• A. K. Barnes to Vandiver Brown on Lung X-Ray Procedure and Dust Fears at Lompoc (1944)