Asbestos Information Association Annual Meeting Minutes on the State of the Medical Art Memorandum (1978)

Minutes of the annual meeting of the Asbestos Information Association/North America at the Marriott Twin Bridges Hotel, Arlington, Virginia, on September 20, 1978, with a cover memo of November 8 from executive director B. J. Pigg (8 pages). Guy Gabrielson of Nicolet reported that the Legal Research Committee had reviewed counsel's State-of-the-Medical Art Memorandum, which "covers the legal issues involved in the presentation of the state-of-the-medical art defense" and drew on Dr. Philip Enterline's review of the medical literature; non-members could buy it for $2,000. Dr. Hans Weill of Tulane University described a conference for plant physicians that would "prepare the plant physician to serve as a witness during litigation." E. M. Fenner of Johns-Manville said work practices for asbestos-cement pipe and sheet, the sheet practices developed with J-M's research department, would be a major part of the association's alternative construction standard.

What it shows

The meeting drew about thirty member companies, among them Johns-Manville, Raybestos-Manhattan, Union Carbide, Flintkote, Bendix and Nicolet. The minutes show the association turning its medical literature review into a legal "state of the art" defense and training company doctors as witnesses, while it prepared an industry alternative to a stricter OSHA standard for construction work. Weill also dismissed a study released by HEW Secretary Califano as "anti-scientific" in its release and "weak" in its basis. Johns-Manville's president, John A. McKinney, spoke at the dinner the evening before. The draft letter offering Enterline's materials to non-members is in Motley #731.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

AIA Annual Meeting Minutes, 9/20/78. Guy Gabrielson states that the AIA Legal Research Committee met on 9/18/78 to review the state of the medical art memorandum, prepared by Special Counsel. This document covers the legal issues involved in the presentation of the state of the medical art defense. The document incorporates the work of Dr. Enterline, who reviewed medical literature on asbestos-related disease. The document is now being revised following the committee's review and should be available to members and their trial counsel in the near future. The document will be available to nonmembers at a fee of $2,000. Dr. Weill reports that the AIA-sponsored plant physicians' conference will be held in November. The purpose of the conference is to provide physicians who are responsible for performing medical surveillance on asbestos-exposed workers with an update on the methodology of health surveillance. Also covered will be the state of the medical art. This conference will prepare a plant physician to serve as a witness during litigation. Dr. Weill discusses the current asbestos-health medical literature including an article which documents "the occurrence of mesothelioma in a Turkish village where there is no asbestos." Mr. Fenner says that a major task facing the Technical Committee at this time is to provide the technical support to the Standards Advisory Committee in their preparation of an AIA alternative standard for occupational exposure to asbestos in the construction industry. Fenner notes that the Asbestos-Cement Pipe Producers Association "has developed and documented work practices for asbestos-cement pipe. In cooperation with J-M Research and Development, a set of work practices is being developed and documented for asbestos-cement sheet." These work practices will comprise a major part of the AIA 'construction alternative'.

Related documents

• Asbestos Information Association Technical Committee Papers and Draft Letter Selling the Enterline Study (1978)

About this copy

This is document 732 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-003153 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-003160.