Paul Cartier to Ivan Sabourin on a Study of Cancer in the Asbestos Industry (1950)

A two-page copy of a letter of April 10, 1950, from Dr. Paul Cartier of the clinic at Thetford Mines to Ivan Sabourin, K.C., headed "Cancer and the Asbestos Industry." The copy is almost entirely illegible. As J-M described it, Cartier stressed the need for a study of the occupational risk of cancer in the asbestos industry, reported a series of eight cases of lung cancer among asbestos workers at Thetford since 1946 while saying no conclusions could yet be drawn, and named the Saranac Laboratory or the Memorial Cancer Hospital of New York as possible research centers, recommending that both take part to give the study more credibility.

What it shows

By June, Cartier and Dr. Kenneth W. Smith of Canadian Johns-Manville were meeting in New York with Dr. Lanza and cancer researchers on such a study (the June correspondence).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. P. Cartier emphasizes to I. Sabourin (4/10/50) the necessity for a study of the occupational risk of cancer in the asbestos industry. He mentions that although "any conclusions or deductions are soundly (im)possible, we have a series of eight cases of cancer of the lung among the asbestos workers in Thetford mines since 1946." Cartier mentions either Saranac or the Memorial Cancer Hospital of New York as research center (and Vorwald doing a study to "tuer le poulet dans l'oeuf" American equivalent: "to nip in the bud") and recommends a collaborative study of both institutions to increase the study's credibility.