Leroy Gardner to R. H. Stevenson Asking to Review Canadian J-M X-Rays, with H. K. Sherry's Approval (1944)

Two letters. On May 17, 1944, Dr. Leroy Gardner of the Saranac Laboratory asked Dr. R. H. Stevenson, the physician for Canadian Johns-Manville, for an invitation to review the company's X-ray films at Asbestos, Quebec, with Dr. Vestal of North Carolina, whose state had "plenty of real and severe disease" in its asbestos fabricating plants. Gardner was "getting ready to write up the whole asbestosis story" and wanted to "contrast the negative findings in the Canadian mills with the positive ones in the American spinning and weaving plants," with an expert's confirmation "before sticking my neck out too far." On May 24, H. K. Sherry, the Canadian company's manager, approved the visit in a confidential memo, writing: "Our main interest should be in any favorable findings which Dr. Gardner will be able to present in the book he is proposing to write."

What it shows

Gardner's letter treats it as settled that the American spinning and weaving plants showed "positive" findings of asbestosis. Sherry's memo, copied to Ivan Sabourin and J. P. Woodard, shows how the company's managers saw the research: as a possible source of favorable findings for a forthcoming book. The visit took place in July; see Gardner's report to Vandiver Brown and the X-ray readings from the trip.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. L. Gardner writes Dr. R.H. Stevenson (J-M) on 5/19/44, requesting permission from J-M to allow Dr. Gardner and Dr. Vestal (North Carolina State Department of Health) to come to Quebec to review x-ray films of plant workers. Dr. Gardner wishes to contrast the negative findings in Canadian mills with the positive findings in American spinning and weaving plants. Dr. Gardner states he would like to have the confirmation of an "expert" like Dr. Vestal "before sticking my neck out too far." An attached letter dated 5/24/44, from H.L. Sherry authorizing the visit states: "Our main interest should be in any favorable findings which Dr. Gardner will be able to present in the book he is proposing to write."