W. W. Acher to E. C. Lindstrom on Caution Wording for High-Temperature Insulations (1964)

A one-page memo of May 11, 1964, from W. W. Acher at the division headquarters of Johns-Manville's Industrial Insulations Division to E. C. Lindstrom of its Quality Control Department. It gives the wording of a caution to be shown on the bags or cartons of all industrial insulations containing asbestos fiber, beginning "This product contains asbestos fiber," and lists nine products to carry it, among them 85% Magnesia, Superex and Thermobestos pipe insulation and blocks, several cements and J-Spray. Acher closes that the statement should preferably be printed on the bag or carton rather than put on as a label, and "should be fully legible, but not conspicuous."

What it shows

The caution was limited to products in which "the fiber can be liberated when the product is handled, machined, etc."; products such as Insulkote and Fibrous Adhesive were left off because there the fiber "cannot become air-borne." The memo shows J-M accepting by 1964 that dust from its insulation products could harm the people handling them, and deciding at the same time how prominent the warning should be. It belongs to the series of 1964 labeling papers that begins with J. B. Jobe's January memo and includes the wording J-M reported to the National Insulation Manufacturers Association in April.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Memorandum from W.W. Acher to E.C. Lindstrom dated 5/11/64 entitled "Labeling of asbestos products high temperature industrial insulations." Sets forth the wording of a caution label which is to be placed on those products containing asbestos fiber which "can be liberated when the product is handled, machined, etc." Contains a list of those products which must be labeled and closes with the following sentences: "It is preferable to have this statement printed on the bag or carton rather than use a label. It should be fully legible, but not conspicuous."