Johns-Manville Chairman of the Board's Bulletin No. 045-2 on Asbestos Policy (1980)

The first page of Chairman of the Board's Bulletin No. 045-2, issued by Johns-Manville's Executive Department on April 16, 1980, effective immediately, on "Asbestos Policy - Johns-Manville Corporation." It says that in virtually all applications asbestos is "bound, locked-in or encapsulated" so that it does not endanger workers or the public, and that, "Believing as we do that proper handling and use of asbestos fiber and asbestos-containing products do not pose health hazards," J-M would continue to promote those products and "defend them against unjustified regulation." The numbered policy says J-M will keep marketing asbestos products that can be made and used safely, will not sell where adequate precautions are unlikely, will equip its plants with the best available technology, will not run operations where dust control is unlikely to give a safe workplace, and will give users guidance on work practices.

What it shows

The bulletin was J-M's formal statement of its asbestos position in 1980, issued in the months when its doctors were answering Waukegan workers about the NIOSH X-ray study (Paul to Kotin, March 1980) and its chairman was meeting Dr. Selikoff (McKinney's memo). It treats the hazard as a matter of handling: asbestos would stay on the market wherever the company judged it could be used safely.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Chairman of the Board's Bulletin No. 045-2, 4/16/80, regarding J-M's Asbestos Policy. McKinney states that proper handling and use of asbestos fiber and asbestos-containing products do not pose health hazards, and J-M will continue to promote its products and their uses, and to defend them against unjust regulation. J-M will continue to equip its plants with the best dust control equipment; it will provide to users guidance and safe work practice information and it will continue to cooperate in efforts to increase knowledge of health risks.

Editor's note: Only the first page of the bulletin is in this file. It does not show McKinney's name or signature, or the point about cooperating in efforts to increase knowledge of health risks.