Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson Enclosing Leroy Gardner's Letter on the Asbestos Dust Experiments (1939)

A covering letter of November 27, 1939, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, with a copy of a letter from Dr. Leroy Gardner, director of Saranac Laboratory, answering Brown's letter of November 20. Gardner wrote on November 24 that "the evidence from the fine asbestos is all of a negative nature but this in itself, I believe, is as important a contribution as we might make." A second experiment with long-fibre dust, started "a year ago in September," had not yet shown significant changes in the animals' lungs, and he meant to run it at least another year.

What it shows

Gardner told the sponsoring companies' coordinator that the laboratory had been running two experiments instead of one, which "doubled the expense to the laboratory and tied up two of our dust rooms," and that he hoped the companies would "extend their grant so that we may continue to carry on." He promised a report that could be distributed to Brown's member companies; it followed in December as the interim report on experimental asbestosis (Brown's letter sending it to Simpson).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

04190-04191. Transmittal letter for correspondence dated 11/20/39 from Dr. Gardner to Brown.

04189. Acknowledges receipt of letter dated 11/20/39. Reports that although evidence concerning the experiments with very finely ground asbestos is negative in nature, that is an important finding. Informs that second experiment was begun in September using a longer dust fiber. It will be a year before results from this experiment are in. Hopes sponsors will continue to fund the studies. Informs that a report will be forthcoming within the month.

Related documents

• Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson Enclosing Gardner's Interim Report (1939)
• Vandiver Brown to Leroy U. Gardner Acknowledging the Interim Report on Experimental Asbestosis (1939)
• Leroy Gardner, Progress Report on Asbestos Experiments (1938)

About this copy

These are documents 04190-04191, 04189 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.