Hilton C. Lewinsohn to J. H. Marsh on the NIOSH Asbestos Update (1977)

A five-page confidential Raybestos-Manhattan memo of January 3, 1977, from Dr. Hilton C. Lewinsohn, the company's medical director, to J. H. Marsh, commenting on the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) document "Re-examination and Update of Information on the Health Effects of Occupational Exposure to Asbestos." Lewinsohn said he was "astonished by the casual approach of the authors" and wrote, "In my opinion, NIOSH still has to grow up!" He granted that "nobody disputes the epidemiological evidence which associates asbestos exposure with asbestosis, lung cancer, gastro-intestinal cancer and malignant mesothelioma," and that the risk "extends beyond the factory walls and involves users and fabricators." But he faulted NIOSH's mesothelioma predictions, its treatment of all fiber types as alike, and its proposal to set the standard "at the lowest level detectable."

What it shows

Lewinsohn argued that the existing 2-fiber standard had not been shown inadequate, though he wrote that, "having special knowledge which I am not yet privileged to disclose," a stricter standard was "almost certain to emerge in the United Kingdom." He ended that arguments over whether a safe level exists "are academic, and provide hot-air to inflate the political ballon which NIOSH and OSHA are passing to and fro leaving industry to be piggy-in-the-middle!" The memo shows the company doctor accepting that asbestos caused the main diseases, while resisting a lower exposure limit.

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. H.C. Lewinsohn memo to J.H. Marsh, 1/3/77, entitled "NIOSH Document Entitled: 'Re-examination and Update of Information on the Health Effects of Occupational Exposure to Asbestos'." In his memo, Dr. Lewinsohn comments on the above-mentioned document. Dr. Lewinsohn is very critical of the document especially regarding its discussion of the incidence of mesothelioma.

About this copy

This is document 719 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-002895 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-002899.