Industrial Hygiene Foundation, Proposed Epidemiological Study of Lung Cancer in Asbestos Workers for the Asbestos Textile Institute (1956)

A letter of May 21, 1956, from Dr. C. Richard Walmer, managing director of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation, to Myrl C. Shaw, secretary of the Asbestos Textile Institute (copies to D. R. Holmes and Dr. K. Smith of J-M), enclosing a six-page memorandum proposing a study of lung cancer in asbestos workers. The memo notes that lung cancer in people with asbestosis had been reported for twenty years, that a link with "mere exposure to asbestos fiber and dust has been inferred," and that lung cancer in an asbestos worker "may be looked upon as an occupational disease by some Workmen's Compensation Boards." It says the institute, "motivated by a desire to determine the true facts," asked for a study to prove or disprove a link. Visits to seven plants in April and May 1956 found usable records, and the foundation proposed following a group of workers through their records, insurance claims and death certificates, at an estimated cost of $17,500.

What it shows

The proposal shows the asbestos textile industry being offered, in 1956, a straightforward way to learn whether its workers were dying of lung cancer. The institute's Air Hygiene Committee discussed it in June and September 1956 without reaching a decision. Bound behind the proposal is a copy of the Saranac Laboratory's confidential report to J-M, "Asbestosis: Experimental Studies," dated September 30, 1948 (pages 8–55), the version sent to J-M without its section on cancer.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

IHF proposes to undertake a study of lung cancer in asbestos textile workers and a dust survey for ATI. A Memorandum on Proposed Epidemiological Study of Lung Cancer in Asbestos Workers for the Asbestos Textile Institute, dated 5/21/56, was prepared by the Industrial Hygiene Foundation. The memorandum states that the rapidly increasing incidence of lung cancer has become a matter of concern to all. The occurrence of lung cancer in persons who also have asbestosis has been specifically noted by a number of authors over the past 20 years. Also a connection between lung cancer and exposure to asbestos fiber and dust, even short of diagnosable asbestosis has been inferred. Now it appears that when lung cancer occurs in an asbestos worker it may be looked upon as an occupational disease by some workmen's compensation boards.

Because of the above-mentioned considerations and "motivated by a desire to determine the true facts," the Asbestos Textile Institute approached the Industrial Hygiene Foundation regarding the feasibility of a statistical epidemiological study having as its objective to prove of disprove, if possible,

1. Whether there is any relationship between lung cancer and asbestosis, and

2. Whether a relationship that as large a group as possible of textile workers who entered the industry at a specific time be selected and followed. The incidence of asbestosis and lung cancer in this group should be determined by studying work histories, medical records, insurance company experience and vital statistics records for the areas in which the selected plants are located. It is anticipated that the field work, analysis of the data and preparation of the report would take one year.

Related documents

• Asbestos Textile Institute General Meeting Minutes Rejecting an Autopsy Study, with the Asbestosis Research Proposal (1955)