Seward E. Miller of the Public Health Service to J. P. Woodard on the Diatomaceous Earth Study (1952)

A letter of July 15, 1952, from Dr. Seward E. Miller, chief of the U.S. Public Health Service's Division of Occupational Health, to J. P. Woodard, Johns-Manville's director of personnel policies, enclosing "A Prospectus Of An Occupational Health Study In The Diatomaceous Earth Industry" and a draft memorandum of agreement among the Public Health Service, the California Department of Public Health, J-M and the Dicalite Division of Great Lakes Carbon Company. The prospectus says the invitation to do the study came "from Dr. A. J. Lanza on behalf of the Johns Manville Corporation and the Great Lakes Carbon Company." The study would examine workers, measure dust, and try to set a maximum allowable concentration for diatomaceous earth.

What it shows

Under the draft agreement the Public Health Service would publish the report, workers would be told by the Service of any abnormal findings, and any publicity before publication would require "mutual consent of the Service, the State, and the Companies." The prospectus notes that a number of compensation claims for pneumoconiosis had been filed by diatomaceous earth workers with the California Industrial Commission. The study's findings were published in 1958 (Pneumoconiosis in Diatomite Mining and Processing).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

J-M and the California State Department of Public Health ask the USPHS for assistance in conducting a comprehensive environmental and medical study of the diatomite mining and processing industry in California. (J-M viewed California researchers as hostile and wanted the friendlier federal group involved.) The study begins in 1953 and is undertaken with the cooperation of the 3 principal diatomite producing companies, including J-M.

Editor's note: The chronology's statement that J-M viewed California researchers as hostile and wanted the federal group involved is not in these papers. The published report says the request came from the California State Department of Public Health; the prospectus says the invitation came from Dr. Lanza for J-M and Great Lakes Carbon.

Related documents

• Frederick M. Kriete of the California Department of Public Health to Dr. A. J. Lanza Enclosing the Bulletin on Diatomaceous Earth Pneumoconiosis (1952)