Arthur J. Vorwald to U. E. Bowes on Kaylo Producing Asbestosis in Animals (1948)

A three-page letter of November 16, 1948, from Dr. Arthur J. Vorwald, director of the Saranac Laboratory, to U. E. Bowes of the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, sending three copies of a report on animal experiments with Kaylo dust. A year earlier Saranac had tentatively concluded that Kaylo "fails to produce significant pulmonary damage." Vorwald now wrote that "I regret to say" this had to be changed: in every animal killed after more than 30 months of exposure, "unmistakable evidence of asbestosis has developed," and Kaylo "must be regarded as a potentially-hazardous material."

What it shows

Vorwald asked Owens-Illinois to treat as confidential the part of the report drawn from Saranac's unpublished asbestos work for other sponsors. The second page sets out what Owens-Illinois had paid for the research ($5,000 a year from 1945). He closed: "it is better to discover it now in animals rather than later in industrial workers," so that the company, "being forewarned," could protect "exposed employees" and "its own interests." The enclosed report is the interim report of October 30, 1948. The same letter with its report is already published from Johns-Manville's chronology as Vorwald to Owens-Illinois on Kaylo causing asbestosis.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's legal department indexed the Motley 1,000 in 1984. Its index describes this document as follows:

Dr. A. J. Vorwald letter to U. E. Bowes (Director of Research, OIG), 11/16/48, discussing the results of Saranac's studies on the effects of inhaled Kaylo dust on animals. Dr. Gardner in the study reports findings of asbestosis in all animals exposed for more than 30 months to Kaylo dust.

Duplicate of Motley Document #231.

Related documents

• Saranac Laboratory, Interim Report on the Biological Activity of Kaylo Dust (1948)
• Arthur J. Vorwald to Owens-Illinois on Kaylo Causing Asbestosis in Animals (1948)

About this copy

These are documents 231 and 240 of the Motley 1,000, from the set the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility certified as true copies, pages CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001342 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001344.