Joseph L. Goodman on the Asbestos Threshold Limit Value (1972)

A twelve-page paper of February 25, 1972, by Dr. Joseph L. Goodman, medical director of research at Raybestos-Manhattan, on the asbestos health problem and the proposed federal threshold limit value. Goodman argued that the limit rested on a single British study, that a 2-fiber standard would bring "annihilation" of the industry, and that a standard "from 5 to 7 fibers" was realistic. He wrote that insulation workers had "the highest instances of asbestosis of any group of asbestos workers" and of lung cancer and mesothelioma, and called it "a double standard" that they were not monitored at the worksite.

What it shows

Goodman wrote that a U.S. Public Health Service study begun at the textile plants in 1963, with Raybestos-Manhattan and Johns-Manville, had not been fully published, and that the new limit should wait for it. He reported finding only two possible mesotheliomas in 51 years of records at his plant, although "in the early years here we used crocidolite in our product." The paper addresses an unnamed reader on choosing "a realistic TLV."

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Speech prepared by Dr. Joseph L. Goodman (Medical Director of Research, Raybestos-Manhattan), dated 2/25/72. Twelve-page summary of the asbestos-health problems and particularly the need to establish the validity of the current threshold limit value. Also discusses establishing a separate TLV for insulation workers.

About this copy

This is document 189 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-001218 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001229.