W. E. Hodgson to S. Lane and C. H. Jensen to E. C. Lindstrom on Leaving Caution Labels Off Shipments to Canada (1965)

Two short letters. On January 14, 1965, W. E. Hodgson at J-M's division headquarters in Toronto confirmed to S. Lane at the Waukegan, Illinois, plant that "Dr. K.W. Smith has advised that it is not necessary to use the Caution label on products containing asbestos in Canada," and asked that the marking be kept off insulation products shipped from Waukegan into Canada, which he believed were only Superex and Superex Cement. On January 25, C. H. Jensen at Waukegan passed the letter to E. C. Lindstrom at headquarters, noting that complying "would be quite difficult" because the caution labels were printed on the Superex cartons and would have to be "obliterated in some fashion."

What it shows

The caution J-M had begun printing on its insulation cartons in 1964 (see Acher's memo of May 11, 1964) was not to go to Canadian customers, on the advice of the company's medical director, Dr. Kenneth W. Smith. These letters open a short exchange about how to remove it, continued in Pocius's reply, Hodgson's letter of February 1 and Jensen's wire of February 16.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

W.E. Hodgson, in a letter to S. Lane on 1/14/65, confirms that K.W. Smith has advised not to use caution labels on asbestos containing products in Canada, specifically Superex and Superex Cement, the principal imported products. C.H. Jensen to E.C. Lindstrom on 1/25/65, encloses Hodgsen's letter to E.C. Lindstrom and expresses his concern that the label would have to be "obliterated in some fashion."