Hilton C. Lewinsohn, The Surveillance of High-Risk Groups Exposed to Asbestos in the United States (1978)

An 18-page draft paper by Dr. Hilton C. Lewinsohn, corporate medical director of Raybestos-Manhattan, for a panel on "Problems in the Care of the Injured Workman" at the New York Academy of Sciences' "Science Week," June 21-30, 1978. Marked "Draft: Not to be quoted prior to publication," it defines asbestos and "high-risk group," describes direct, indirect, household and neighborhood exposure, and reviews medical surveillance under the 1972 OSHA asbestos standard. Seven tables draw on published reports of cancer and asbestosis deaths in mining and milling, manufacturing and insulation work.

What it shows

Lewinsohn wrote that no large study had measured risk across the different exposure levels in industry, and that "little is known" about health effects below the levels routinely monitored. He complained that the OSHA rule left "no room" for judgment about who needed examinations, so that "the role of the occupational health physician is merely to do as he is told!" His Table 7 shows the highest death rates among insulators: 45.0% of deaths from cancer, 21.9% from lung cancer and 7.6% from 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:

Paper entitled "The Surveillance of High-Risk Groups Exposed to Asbestos in the United States," presented by Dr. H.C. Lewinsohn, during the New York Academy of Sciences' "Science Week" on "The Scientific Basis for the Public Control of Environmental Health Hazards," 6/21-30/78.

About this copy

This is document 634 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-002178 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-002195.