Johns-Manville Memos on a Caution Label for Marinite (1958)

A file of Johns-Manville letters and memos from March to August 1958 on whether to put a caution label on Marinite, an asbestos and calcium silicate board. In March, Dr. Kenneth W. Smith, J-M's medical director, told the Aluminum Company of Canada that long inhalation of asbestos "may cause some pulmonary changes." In July, Herbert Morton Ball, J-M's secretary and general attorney, warned that a dusty situation at the Newport News Shipbuilding yard "may result in extensive legal liability" and urged a label on the back of the sheets, and Dr. Smith drafted one: "Inhalation of dust produced in sawing, drilling or trimming this board may be harmful. Avoid breathing this dust." The division instead decided to rely on a sentence about dust control in its fabricating instruction book.

What it shows

Ball wrote that "placing a statement in the literature does not carry to the employee the information he should have," and that a failure-to-warn lawsuit would raise J-M's product liability insurance premiums. Dr. Smith said that if J-M labeled Marinite it would have to label Transite, Flexboard and some pipe coverings too, and that this should be "a policy decision made by our Senior Officers." W. G. Hoffer of the division argued against a label: sheets were often faced or covered after they left the plant, and "a caution label on our products - and none on theirs would make our selling efforts most difficult." He recommended relying on the instruction book, whose new wording said only that "adequate precautions must be taken to eliminate air contamination by dust," and said the question need not go to the senior officers. Hugh M. Jackson, manager of J-M's industrial health program, and Dr. Smith agreed, and Don Hinmon told Hoffer to proceed. The booklet in the file carries that caution in its foreword. A year earlier J-M had told a testing laboratory that Marinite 36 was not toxic if swallowed (1957 letter).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Correspondence and memoranda beginning on 3/18/58 from K.W. Smith relate to an inquiry from J.P. Pilotte, of Aluminum Company of Canada, Ltd., regarding potential health problems with Marinite, shows that J-M gave serious consideration to placing a warning label on Marinite. KWS advocated warning also on Flexboard, Transite, pipe covering. Impact of possible litigation on costs of insurance was considered. An alternative of an augmented discussion of dust avoidance in reprint of existing use instruction booklet was proposed.

As a result, a J-M sales manual was developed for Industrial Board products to caution those fabricating J-M boards that during dry cutting, machining, drilling, and sanding operations adequate precautions must be taken to remove dust in order to eliminate air contamination. Proper exhaust systems should be so designed to remove dust at the point of origin. J-M recommends that firms familiar with this type of dust collection equipment be consulted to assure adequate protection. For those requiring additional information on particular fabricating problems not covered in the manual, J-M invites them to consult with local J-M representatives. This booklet was referred to in response to interrogatories in LeGrande.

Editor's note: J-M's description says Dr. Smith advocated warnings on Flexboard, Transite and pipe covering as well. His letter says that if the label were put on Marinite, "we would have to apply it" to those products too, and that the decision should be left to the senior officers. Nothing in this file shows the booklet being cited in the LeGrande interrogatory answers.

Related documents

• J-M Industrial Insulations to the National Sanitation Foundation Testing Laboratory on Marinite 36 (1957)