Vandiver Brown's Memorandum on the Mellon Institute Symposium on Dust Problems (1935)

A five-page memorandum of January 18, 1935, by Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's attorney, reporting on the Symposium on Dust Problems held by the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research in Pittsburgh on January 15. About 250 people from more than 50 industries attended, and speakers included Dr. A. J. Lanza of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Dr. R. R. Sayers of the U.S. Public Health Service. Brown lists four problems the meeting found common to all dusty industries: "ambulance chasing lawyers in combination with unscrupulous doctors," the wish for "properly drawn" workmen's compensation laws covering dust diseases, dust control, and standards for dust counts and X-rays.

What it shows

The memo records that "only two forms of dust, namely, free silica and asbestos, are definitely known to produce disabling fibrosis of the lung." It quotes a speaker calling occupational disease legislation "the strongest bulwark against future disaster for industry," since it would take the cases away from juries and limit lawyers' fees. A seven-member committee was formed to have the Mellon Institute propose a joint program for a fee of $25,000, and Brown was named to it for asbestos. He told the committee that the asbestos industry "did not care to be associated" in the public's or employees' minds with industries whose problem was silicosis, but that J-M would likely cooperate if it could be done "without an undue amount of publicity." Brown sent copies to Raybestos-Manhattan four days later (Brown's cover letter to M. F. Judd); Raybestos-Manhattan's first answer was that it saw no need for the Mellon Institute's services yet (Raybestos-Manhattan's general manager to Brown).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Mellon Institute forms Air Hygiene Foundation (members: asbestos industry, insurance industry, and academia) after sponsoring a major Symposium on Dust Problems. Vandiver Brown attended this symposium and prepared a report on 1/18/35 summarizing the discussion. Brown lists the concerns common to all industries: (1) Menace of ambulance chasing lawyers in combination with unscrupulous doctors; the uncertainties surrounding diagnosis of pneumoconiosis are such that a question of fact is presented in every case. (2) Desirability of making various dust diseases compensable under properly drawn workers' compensation laws. (3) Problems of dust control. (4) Establishing standards for dust counting and particle size determination, for taking of x-rays, and for interpretation of x-rays. The Air Hygiene Foundation is later called the Industrial Hygiene Foundation and then called the Industrial Health Foundation.