W. R. Janes of J-M London to F. J. Solon Jr. on British Warning Labels and the Asbestos Information Committee (1975)

A two-page memo of March 19, 1975, from W. R. Janes of Johns-Manville's London office to F. J. Solon Jr. at J-M's Denver headquarters (copies to D. Poutiatine, E. M. Fenner and J. Fischer), reporting on a meeting of the Asbestos Information Committee, the British industry group. Janes describes the warning sticker that Turners (the British firm Turner & Newall) was attaching to orders, invoices and quotations under Britain's Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and the committee's plan to seek official approval for a standard warning label. Since physical labels were "not yet an actual requirement of the Act," he recommends "that physical labelling of products to the U.K. should not take place until such time as the matter has been clarified and accepted. The warnings to billings and literature etc should suffice for the while."

What it shows

Janes also notes that internal memos of Turners and Cape had been quoted in letters to customers, "hardly ethical I feel," since this could cost him access to such memos, and he asks what Canadian Johns-Manville was doing about warnings on fiber sent to Britain. Two months later a J-M health officer found that fiber bags reaching J-M's own Toronto plant were unlabeled (Reitze to Kotin, May 1975). British objections to J-M's fiber-bag label go back to 1968–1969.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

With international shipments of asbestos fiber/products, J-M presently attaches a warning notice to its billing and other literature. At an Asbestos Information Committee meeting, J-M learned that the U.K. has come up with some new labeling requirements. W.R. Janes (J-M London), 3/19/75, states that he "would recommend that physical labeling of products to the U.K. should not take place until such time as the matter has been clarified and accepted. The warnings to billings and literature, etc. should suffice for the while." Janes asked D. Poutiatine what action CJM is taking with regard to warning information on asbestos fiber deliveries to the U.K.