Vandiver Brown to Lewis H. Brown on Pennsylvania's Occupational Disease Report (1933)

A three-page memo of April 18, 1933, from Vandiver Brown of Johns-Manville's Legal Department to Lewis H. Brown, J-M's president, copied to S. A. Williams and E. M. Voorhees. Dr. A. J. Lanza of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company had served on a commission appointed by Governor Pinchot of Pennsylvania to report on "Occupational Disease Legislation," whose report recommended making silicosis compensable but not asbestosis. Brown quoted the report's passage on asbestosis in full, including that "In the majority of cases there does not seem to be any definite disability associated with it" and that present knowledge was "too meagre to justify the inclusion of asbestosis in the schedule."

What it shows

Brown called the passage, "from the point of view of the industry, the most favorable opinion concerning asbestosis that has ever come to my attention," coming from a commission of labor, industry, medical and legal members that would have "no incentive to render other than a fair and impartial decision." The report itself called asbestosis "a recognized pulmonary affection" and noted that "death has apparently resulted from asbestosis" in a few cases in this country and England. Brown also thought there might be "some connection" between the report and the willingness of Samuel Greenstone, the lawyer for the New Jersey plaintiffs, "to settle the pending cases for about half the figure he gave us last year as his lowest" (see Greenstone's settlement letter).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Letter of 4/18/33 from V. Brown to L. Brown informing of the report of a special Pennsylvania Commission on "occupational disease legislation." In the report, asbestosis is not included in the list of compensable occupational diseases. V. Brown states in regard to the reference to asbestosis in the report: "In the majority of cases, there does not seem to be any definite disability associated with it." The report acknowledges that the present knowledge on the subject is "meager" and practical experience in communities where asbestos is fabricated "does not reveal a definite clinical picture of disease and disability such as is encountered among those exposed to the hazards of silicosis." V. Brown lists the members of the commission. V. Brown comments he is sending a copy of the report to Mr. Hobart and Mr. Wardwell.

Editor's note: J-M's description attributes the words "In the majority of cases, there does not seem to be any definite disability associated with it" to Vandiver Brown; they are from the commission's report, which Brown quotes. Brown wrote that he was trying to get extra copies of the report for Hobart and Wardwell.

Related documents

• Vandiver Brown to S. A. Williams on New Jersey's Silicosis Commission (1933)