Asbestos Textile Institute Air Hygiene Committee Minutes on the Taylor Case and the Proposed Lung Cancer Study (1956)

Minutes of two meetings of the Asbestos Textile Institute's Air Hygiene Committee, June 4 and September 5, 1956, each three pages, signed by chairman D. R. Holmes. In June the committee discussed the Taylor case in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where a state referee found for the worker on an asbestosis-cancer relationship, relying on writings by Dr. Hueper "of the National Institute of Health." It took up the Industrial Hygiene Foundation's proposed lung cancer study, estimated at $17,500, and Dr. Kenneth Smith of J-M urged that it be adopted "as soon as possible." The committee also decided to tell Dr. Kenneth M. Lynch, who was studying asbestos and lung cancer, that it could not support his work. In September, after "considerable difference in opinion concerning the merits of such a study," no recommendation was made to the institute's board.

What it shows

By mid-1956 a compensation award had tied asbestosis to lung cancer, and the textile companies were weighing whether to pay for a study of the question. Smith wanted the study done quickly so the foundation could publish it alongside a survey it was making for the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association. H. M. Jackson of J-M attended the September meeting with representatives of Raybestos-Manhattan, Keasbey & Mattison and other members, which also discussed dust counts in member plants and whether yearly X-rays exposed workers to too much radiation.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

ATI negotiated with IHF re follow-up dust survey of member companies (6/4/56 or 9/5/56).

ATI Air Hygiene Committee Minutes of 6/4/56 discusses Taylor workers compensation claim in which court, relying on Hueper data, found asbestosis-cancer nexus. Committee concludes that research may be essential now.