Dr. George W. Wright to H. Moreno on Amosite in Marinite and Conditions at Billerica (1973)

A two-page memo of August 20, 1973, from Dr. George W. Wright, a medical consultant to J-M, to H. Moreno, copied to S. Lane, F. May and J. McKinney, on amosite in J-M's Marinite board and on the Billerica plant. Wright had once suggested removing amosite from Marinite, because Selikoff was citing the Paterson, New Jersey, amosite plant. The United Kingdom had since set a 2 fiber per cc standard for amosite, the same as for chrysotile, and Wright now thought amosite acceptable if workers and users were kept under 2 f/cc, with peaks under 10, "from both a health protection and a medico-legal point of view."

What it shows

Wright wrote that Billerica "has had one of the poorest health experiences in the Corporation with respect to asbestosis and cancer," explained by past high exposures. Few stations had reached 2 f/cc, "many are still above 5, and too many are much higher than that," and "the conclusion that wearing a mask is being substituted for proper control seems inescapable." He said engineering controls keeping counts below 2 f/cc were "required to assure the health" of Billerica workers, and that if Marinite posed a threat to users who "might be ignorant of potential hazard or inclined to ignore warning labels," the situation "must be remedied."

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. Wright writes to Moreno on 8/20/73, stating that the U.K. has set a 2 f/cc standard for amosite and chrysotile. "They are of the opinion that amosite is not more toxic than chrysotile." (U.S. standard at this time is 5 f/cc for amosite, crocidolite and chrysotile.) Dr. Wright thinks that the "nature" of the amosite fiber may lead to a greater retention of the inhaled fibers. For this reason, Dr. Wright believes that a TLV for amosite of 2 f/cc would be acceptable from both a health protection and a medico-legal point of view. He realizes that this standard will not be easy to achieve. He then discusses Billerica's poor health experience (5200-5816).