Dr. Robert W. Morgan to Dr. Douglas Black on the Advocate Mine Survey at Baie Verte (1975)

A letter of December 15, 1975, from Dr. Robert W. Morgan of the University of Toronto's Department of Preventive Medicine to Dr. Douglas Black, medical superintendent of the hospital at Baie Verte, Newfoundland, enclosing his 13-page final report, "Survey of Asbestos-Related Health Hazards in Baie Verte, Nfld." Morgan had visited in September 1975 at the request of the United Steelworkers of America to assess the hazard to workers at Advocate Mines, which J-M operated there. In the letter he wrote that "it is unfortunate that over the years they have misled yourself, the other physicians, and the workers concerning the health hazards and the precautions taken in their operations." The mine manager, "on advice from Asbestos, Que. and Denver, Colorado," refused to meet him or let him inspect the mine or mill.

What it shows

The report found townspeople "exposed to gross amounts of asbestos fiber" from an uncovered tailings pile, mine waste used as gravel (one yard sample was almost 25% asbestos) and fiber carried home on workers. It described inadequate masks, no working showers or double lockers, and company dust monitoring that was "suspect." "Until the week of our visit," Morgan wrote, "Advocate Mines had persistently denied or minimized the health hazards of asbestos fiber," and the bulletin handed out that week left out laryngeal cancer and the certainty that some of the work force would become ill. Of 34 long-term workers examined, none had frank asbestosis, but the report predicted cases of asbestosis, excess lung cancer and "perhaps a few cases of mesothelioma" over the next 15 years, and made 17 recommendations. J-M's own staff described the same conditions in 1976 (Reitze on his Advocate visit; Reitze on levels above the TLV).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. Robert Morgan (University of Toronto) reports to Dr. Douglas Black (J-M plant doctor, Advocate), 12/15/75, on a visit he made to J-M's Advocate Mine and on his survey of the medical and industrial hygiene situation there. Dr. Morgan notes many problems and states that "it is unfortunate that over the years they have misled yourself, the other physicians and the workers concerning the health hazards and the precautions taken in their operations." Notes many problems concerning bad housekeeping, tailings disposal, dust in the surrounding environment, disease, and poor communication with workers and residents regarding health hazards.

Editor's note: J-M's description calls Dr. Douglas Black the J-M plant doctor and says Dr. Morgan visited the Advocate Mine. Morgan's survey was made at the request of the United Steelworkers of America; Black was the Medical Superintendent of the Baie Verte hospital, and the mine manager refused to let Morgan inspect the mine or mill. Morgan's covering letter is dated December 13, 1975.

Related documents

• W. B. Reitze to J. R. M. Hutcheson on Dust at the Advocate Mine (1974)
• W. B. Reitze to Dr. Paul Kotin on His Visit to the Advocate Mine at Baie Verte (1975)
• J. G. Cole's Memos to R. E. Sampson Transcribing CBC Reports on the Advocate Mine (1975)