Deposition of Dr. Edwin D. Merrill on Holding Back Abnormal Chest X-Rays at Manville (1979)

Sixteen pages (cover, index and pages 76 to 89) of the deposition of Dr. Edwin Davis Merrill, taken in Newark, New Jersey, on May 22, 1979, in In re Asbestos Cases (CP-77-1) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Merrill testified that he joined the medical department at J-M's Manville, New Jersey, plant in June 1953 under its chief, Dr. David T. DuBow, whom he later succeeded, and that he and DuBow read the workers' chest X-rays. At first, he said, when they saw signs of pneumoconiosis they put their reading in the worker's medical file and reported it to the safety department, often with a "no dust restriction" so the man would be kept out of dusty work.

What it shows

Around 1955 or 1956 (he said he was guessing at the date), Merrill testified, Dr. Kenneth W. Smith, J-M's corporate medical director, asked them to hold aside X-rays showing anything "significant or possibly significant" for periodic meetings with Smith, DuBow and the safety or compensation department, chiefly C. L. Sheckler, to reach "a concensus as to the probable diagnosis" before making a formal report or putting one in the record. The safety department would then check whether the employee's job was dusty; only if it was would the manager be told to improve conditions or move the employee. The excerpt does not say what the employees themselves were told. In 1959 these same men met on how to answer outside doctors who asked for workers' X-rays (DuBow to Naylor).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Doctor Edward Merrill testifies, on 5/22/79, he began employee exams at Manville plant in 1953 and in 1955, Dr. Smith changed the procedure that he not disclose asbestosis without K. Smith approval.

Editor's note: J-M's description says Smith changed the procedure so that Merrill would not disclose asbestosis without Smith's approval. The testimony in this file shows X-rays being held for a consensus meeting before any formal report, but does not mention disclosure to employees. Merrill dates the change "around 1955 or '56" and says he is guessing.

Related documents

• Dr. Kenneth W. Smith to W. A. Young at the Toronto Plant on No-Dust Recommendations and Transfers (1955)