Dr. Paul Kotin on R. T. Vanderbilt's Objection to J-M's Talc Caution Labels (1974)

A one-page memo of November 7, 1974, headed "Talc Labeling," from Dr. Paul Kotin to six senior Johns-Manville managers (W. R. Goodwin, F. H. May Jr., J. A. McKinney, F. L. Pundsack, C. J. Sulewski and W. L. VanDerbeek). Robert Bacon, assistant to the president of the R.T. Vanderbilt Company, "a major talc competitor," had told J-M that its decision to put asbestos caution labels on all its talc shipments would cause "irreparable damage" to Vanderbilt, and that Vanderbilt's president would call a senior J-M officer to say he believed J-M meant to hurt his company. Kotin writes that the decision to label "was based on our conviction that J-M's talc contains fibrous asbestos."

What it shows

By late 1974 J-M had concluded that its own talc contained fibrous asbestos and decided to label it as such. A competitor selling talc from the same kind of deposits saw that label as a threat to its business. Earlier steps toward labeling talc are in G. E. Parker's June 1974 memo.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Paul Kotin, M.D. writes a memorandum to W.R. Goodwin, F.H. May, J.A. McKinney, F.L. Pundsack, C.J. Sulewski, and W.L. VanDerbeek on 11/7/74, re Talc Labeling. Kotin discusses the information received by Mr. Robert Bacon, Assistant to the President of R.T. Vanderbilt Company that J-M's decision to insert asbestos caution labels on talc shipments will result in "irreparable damage" to Vanderbilt.