J. B. Skinner of American Mutual to W. E. Shoemaker on Asbestos and Lung Cancer References for Keasbey & Mattison (1962)

A two-page memo of January 30, 1962, from J. B. Skinner, chief of the industrial hygiene section of the American Mutual Liability Insurance Company's engineering department, to W. E. Shoemaker, headed "Keasbey and Mattison Company, Ambler, Pennsylvania, Lung Cancer." Skinner listed what his files held on asbestos and lung cancer. At a 1953 symposium partly sponsored by Johns-Manville, Dr. Lynch of the Medical College of South Carolina had said there were enough lung cancers in asbestosis cases "to indicate that there is probably some causal relationship." Dr. A. I. G. McLaughlin had reported 25 lung cancers "in one series of 100 autopsies on asbestosis cases."

What it shows

Skinner also cited a 1960 California study that "seems to indicate that asbestos workers are not unduly exposed to the lung cancer hazard," which he thought "may be of some encouragement to Keasbey & Mattison," and a British factory inspector's report that 31 of 235 asbestos autopsies from 1924 to 1946, or 13.2%, involved cancer of the lung or pleura. He wrote that Canadian papers at "the last Saranac Symposium" showed lung cancer increasing in asbestos workers, but "the proceedings of that last Symposium were never published and therefore the papers given at that Symposium have been lost." The memo shows what one insurer's hygiene staff had on file about asbestos and cancer by early 1962, as its insured weighed the Public Health Service survey (Shoemaker's memo of September 1961).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

J.B. Skinner (Chief, Industrial Hygiene Section, Engineering Department, American Mutual) memo to W.E. Shoemaker, 1/30/62, regarding Keasbey & Mattison Co. and lung cancer. Skinner discusses what he has found in his files with regard to lung cancer and asbestos. Skinner notes that on October 28, 1953, he attended a Symposium on Occupational Diseases of the Lungs, and that there were some references at that symposium to the possible connection between asbestosis and lung cancer. At the symposium, the work of Dr. K. Lynch (Medical College of So. Carolina) and of Dr. P. Cartier on asbestosis-cancer was discussed. The symposium was sponsored in part by J-M. Skinner states that the paper given at the McIntyre-Saranac Conference by Dr. A.I.G. McLaughlin entitled "The Dust Diseases of Great Britain," contains the statement, "The connection between asbestosis and cancer of the lung is becoming clearer and in one series of 100 autopsies on asbestosis cases there were 25 cases of cancer of the lung." In the October 1960 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, there is an article by Dr. John E. Dunn, Jr., et al. on lung cancer mortalities of men in certain occupations in California. Asbestos workers were included in the group studied. The study also considered the cigarette smoking habits of the workers. Skinner says that "[t]he study seems to indicate that asbestos workers are not unduly exposed to the lung cancer hazard ... [but] that cigarette smoking is such a big factor in the development of lung cancer that it makes studies such as this rather difficult." Skinner notes that the Drinker and Hatch report "states that the 1947 report of the Chief Inspector of the Factories states that of 235 cases of asbestos autopsies from 1924 to 1946, 31 or 13.2% were complicated by carcinoma of the lung or pleura." "At the last Saranac Symposium there were some Canadian papers indicating that the incidence of carcinoma of the lung has increased in asbestos workers. Unfortunately the proceedings of that last Symposium were never published and therefore the papers given at that Symposium have been lost."

Related documents

• W. E. Shoemaker of American Mutual on Keasbey & Mattison and the Public Health Service Cancer Survey (1961)

About this copy

This is document 876 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-004597 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-004598.