Vandiver Brown to J. F. D. Rohrbach on Reviewing the Saranac Report Before Publication (1948)

A one-page letter of April 19, 1948, from Vandiver Brown, secretary of Johns-Manville, to J. F. D. Rohrbach, president of Raybestos-Manhattan. Brown had heard from Saranac Laboratory that a report on Dr. Leroy Gardner's asbestos dust experiments would be submitted in about a month. He reminded Rohrbach that "our contract with Saranac provided that the results of Dr. Gardner's experiments would not be published unless approved in advance by the asbestos textile group which financed the experiments," and asked whether the whole group should meet or "a small committee be appointed to review and make recommendations." He added that Dr. Anthony J. Lanza, a trustee of the Trudeau Foundation since Gardner's death, had secured Dr. Kenneth Lynch of Charleston, South Carolina, to review Gardner's data and notes and prepare the report.

What it shows

The letter shows the sponsors planning, before they had seen it, how to use their contractual right to approve the Saranac report before publication. Brown preferred a small committee to a meeting of the roughly ten contributing companies. The report arrived in the autumn, and in October Brown proposed removing its references to tumors (Brown's memorandum on the Saranac report). The approval clause goes back to the 1936 agreement.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

Acknowledges receipt of letter dated 4/15/48. States that recent correspondence from Saranac Lab advises that a report on Gardner's asbestos dust experiments will be received in about a month. Requests opinion on how sponsoring companies should review the report before any publication. Informs that Dr. Kenneth Lynch reviewed the experimental data and prepared the report after Gardner's death.

Related documents

• J. F. D. Rohrbach to Vandiver Brown on Whether a Report of Gardner's Work Can Be Had (1948)
• J. F. D. Rohrbach to Vandiver Brown Favoring a Small Review of the Saranac Report (1948)
• Vandiver Brown to Ernest Muehleck on a Committee to Review the Saranac Report (1948)
• J. F. D. Rohrbach to Vandiver Brown Asking About Gardner's Final Report (1946)
• J. F. D. Rohrbach to Vandiver Brown Asking for a Brief Report from Gardner Within Sixty Days (1946)
• Sumner Simpson to Manfred Bowditch Asking for Gardner's Report Promptly (1946)
• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Doubting Gardner's Report Will Come Soon (1946)

About this copy

This is document 05782-05783 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.