Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson on Gardner's Findings and Claims of Progressive Fibrosis (1938)

A one-page letter of April 28, 1938, from Vandiver Brown, general attorney of Johns-Manville, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, answering his letter of April 27. Brown was "not surprised at your surprise" over Dr. Leroy Gardner's second progress report, but believed the findings showed that "the harmful effect, if any, of asbestos dust is mechanical rather than chemical in nature." "If this should be definitely established, it would certainly be good news - since it would negative any claims that the fibrosis is of a progressive character, such as is the case in silicosis." He asked for any comments Simpson's doctors made on the report.

What it shows

Brown, the lawyer who managed the industry's side of the Saranac Laboratory research, read the animal results for what they might mean in compensation claims. Gardner's report does not say whether asbestosis progresses, and it warned that all asbestos dust "must still be considered hazardous." Dr. Kenneth Lynch, a Charleston pathologist who saw the report through Raybestos-Manhattan's attorney there, did not follow Brown's reading (his letter of May 6, 1938).

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 4/27/38. Agrees it is surprising if harmful effects of asbestos dust are mechanical in nature, not chemical. It would be good news if this proves true because then asbestosis would not be a progressive disease as is silicosis.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown on His Surprise at Gardner's Second Progress Report (1938)
• Leroy U. Gardner, Second Progress Report on Experimental Asbestosis (1938)
• Dr. Kenneth Lynch to Julian Mitchell on Gardner's Fine-Dust Findings (1938)

About this copy

This is document 03454 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.