Ernest Muehleck of Keasbey & Mattison to W. W. F. Shepherd of Turner & Newall Enclosing Gardner's Monograph Outline (1943)

A one-page letter of March 8, 1943, from Ernest Muehleck of Keasbey & Mattison Company to W. W. F. Shepherd of Turner & Newall in Rochdale, England, enclosing Dr. Leroy Gardner's letter of February 24, 1943, to Vandiver Brown and his "Outline of Proposed Monograph on Asbestosis" (18 pages in all). Muehleck found the outline "extremely interesting," but wrote that "we feel that reference to the question of cancer susceptibility should be omitted from the report since it is inconclusive." Gardner's letter says "the question of cancer susceptibility now seems more significant than I had previously imagined."

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Ernest Muehleck (Keasbey & Mattison) letter to W.F. Sheperd (Turner & Newall, Ltd.), 3/8/43, entitled "Dr. Leroy U. Gardner's Asbestos Dust Experiments." Muehleck encloses a copy of Dr. Gardner's letter of 2/24/43 to V. Brown and a copy of the "Outline of Proposed Monograph on Asbestosis" by Dr. Gardner. Muehleck states that the outline is "extremely interesting" and "brings out a number of important new developments." However, Muehleck feels that "reference to the question of cancer susceptibility should be omitted from the report since it is inconclusive." Muehleck asks for Sheperd's comments. Dr. L.U. Gardner letter to V. Brown, 2/24/43, stating that he has at last succeeded in analyzing most of the voluminous experimental data and assessing the results of his animal experiments. Dr. Gardner states that he has completed over 40 different experiments, many of them divided into several parts, which involved exposure of animals for 1 to 3 years to various dusts. Dr. Gardner states that he has not had time to write a full report of his work, but is enclosing an outline of his proposed monograph on his experiments. Dr. Gardner reports that there are still a few experiments in progress which should be completed soon. "The question of cancer susceptibility now seems more significant than I had previously imagined. I believe I can obtain support for repeating it from the cancer research group. As it will take 2 or 3 years to complete such a study, I believe it will better be omitted from the present report." 4-page document entitled "Outline of Proposed Monograph on Asbestosis (Saranac Laboratory Study under Grant from Asbestos Association)," prepared by Dr. L.U. Gardner. The outline mentions a study on human pathology, but Dr. Gardner never completed this. 11-page document entitled "Asbestos Annotated Outline Indicating Results," prepared by Dr. L.U. Gardner. Under the section "Human Asbestosis," Dr. Gardner writes that "there are now on record 10 cases of lung cancer in asbestos workers. Compared to the total number of autopsies on asbestosis, this incidence is excessive .... The evidence is suggestive but not conclusive that asbestosis may precipitate the development of cancer in susceptible individuals." Under the section "Experimental Asbestosis," Dr. Gardner states that he found that mice (a strain prone to tumors) exposed to long fiber asbestos developed lung cancer at the rate of 16 times the average for mice inhaling other dusts for comparable periods of time. Dr. Gardner states that "these observations are suggestive but not conclusive evidence of a cancer stimulating action by asbestos dust." On the subject of dust measurement, Dr. Gardner recommends that a fiber standard (and not a particle standard) be adopted.

Duplicate of Motley Document #1148.

Related documents

• Leroy Gardner to Vandiver Brown Enclosing an Outline of His Monograph on Asbestosis (1943)

About this copy

These are documents 1148 and 1204 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-005289 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-005306.