Johns-Manville Correspondence on Thermobestos Skin Irritation at Reid-Hayden (1953)

Six short Johns-Manville papers from December 1953 and January 1954 on a complaint from Reid-Hayden, Inc., of Charlotte, North Carolina, whose asbestos workers had skin irritation from Thermobestos, J-M's pipe insulation of lime silica and asbestos fibre. Dr. Kenneth W. Smith, the medical director, advised on January 7 that if a J-M employee were sensitive he would recommend covering exposed skin with a barrier cream, "However, I would not recommend this as a standard practice which might associate dermatitis with our product." The reply that went to the customer, drafted by Arthur L. Fisk Jr. and suggested by the legal department, said J-M's Manville plant records showed "no instance of dermatitis" and blamed "an unusual allergy."

What it shows

The exchange shows how a customer's health complaint moved through J-M: from the sales district to Fisk, to the medical director, and back through the legal department to a form reply. A similar skin complaint about another product was handled the same way two years earlier (Fisk on Quinterra paper). The file also holds an unrelated memo from J. C. Crawford Jr. recommending respirators wherever shop prefabrication of insulation threw off fine dust, because "It is impossible to say from here when and how such dust can become a serious health hazard," and asking that any letter on the subject be cleared with H. M. Ball of the legal staff. Thermobestos itself is described in the 1949 production engineering report.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Internal correspondence dated 12/16/53 with draft to Reid Hayden, Inc. written by K.W. Smith and reviewed by Arthur L. Fisk. Initial inquiry on skin irritation caused by exposure to Thermobestos. K.W. Smith writes memorandum of 1/7/54 stating that if this were a J-M employee he might suggest that all exposed parts of skin could be covered with suitable barrier cream, but he is against recommending this as a standard practice since this might associate dermatitis with J-M's product.

Editor's note: J-M's description says the draft to Reid-Hayden was written by Dr. Smith and reviewed by Fisk. The papers show that Fisk drafted it after consulting Smith, and that it was sent on January 18, 1954, as the legal department's suggested wording.