Dr. Thomas F. Mancuso to L. J. Knippa of Philip Carey on Asbestos Hazards and Research (1963)

A six-page letter of May 23, 1963, from Dr. Thomas F. Mancuso, consulting medical director of the Philip Carey Manufacturing Company, to L. J. Knippa, plant manager at Lockland, Cincinnati, Ohio, giving background and recommendations Knippa had asked for. Mancuso wrote that "a national awareness is developing" of the harmful effects of asbestos, based on recent reports from England, Germany, Africa and the United States "showing a strong association between asbestos and lung cancer and mesothelioma (cancer) of the pleura and peritoneum." He added that well qualified persons thought the "negative" conclusion of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation study done for the asbestos industry "is not really justified."

What it shows

Mancuso reported that the U.S. Public Health Service study of the asbestos industry was "now officially launched (although not publicly announced)." He recommended an inter-industry research program, guidance manuals and technical help for customers using asbestos products, and a company industrial hygiene engineer. He wrote that the hazards "can definitely be controlled," but that the lack of cooperation by other companies, or "the continuation of an occupational cancer exposure in a particular industry," would affect all asbestos companies in public response, lawsuits and compensation. The letter is from another manufacturer's files, not J-M's; it shows what an industry consultant was telling management in 1963 about the cancer evidence and the weakness of the industry's earlier study (see the Industrial Hygiene Foundation report of 1957).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

In response to a request from L.J. Knippa (Philip Carey plant Manager) dated 5/23/63, Dr. Thomas F. Mancuso (Philip Carey Consulting Medical Director) discusses procedures for identifying and limiting the hazards involved with asbestos and asbestos products. He calls for cooperation among members of the asbestos industry in order to meet this end. He believes that the hazards can be controlled.

Mancuso states that a national awareness of the potential and harmful effects of asbestos and asbestos products is developing because of the recent reports showing a strong association between asbestos and cancer. "This is augmented by the technical weakness of the study conducted by the Industrial Hygiene Foundation (at the request of the Asbestos Industry) and the opinion of well qualified persons that the conclusion of a 'negative' association of asbestosis and lung cancer is not really justified in this report."

Editor's note: J-M's description says Mancuso was answering a request from Knippa dated May 23, 1963. That is the date of Mancuso's own letter, which he wrote at Knippa's request.