Dr. Edward A. Gaensler to Dr. Thomas H. Davison and Others on the Billerica Plant Health Examinations (1972)

A four-page report of July 7, 1972, from Dr. Edward A. Gaensler of the Boston University School of Medicine to Dr. Thomas H. Davison, Dr. Roy Huffman, Clifford L. Sheckler and John F. Wall, on his 1971–72 examinations of 65 employees of J-M's Billerica Plant in Massachusetts, with three pages of computer tables. Gaensler found 8 men (12.3%) with "moderately advanced asbestosis" and did not diagnose "slight" asbestosis, which he believed "cannot be made with any degree of certainty." Because nearly all the abnormal findings were in men employed 10 years or more, he suggested yearly re-examination for that group and examinations every two or three years for the rest.

What it shows

Gaensler noted that a letter from Dr. Huffman of February 1972 said "all cases of asbestosis, whether slight, moderate or severe, must be reported to the Federal Government within 48 hours of the diagnosis," and set out his stricter definition of the disease against that background. The report shows asbestosis among long-serving Billerica workers in 1972, and J-M arranging outside medical surveillance of the plant in the first year of the federal asbestos standard. Gaensler also offered to extend the study to J-M's other two New England plants.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

Dr. Edward Gaensler (Boston University School of Medicine) summarizes in a letter to Dr. Thomas H. Davison dated 7/7/72, the results of his health examination of J-M Billerica employees (65). Dr. Gaensler found 8 cases of "moderate" asbestosis. He did not attempt to diagnose any "slight" cases of asbestosis, because he feels such a diagnosis cannot be made with any degree of certainty. Dr. Gaensler found that all the workers with moderate asbestosis had been exposed to asbestos for over 10 years. Therefore, Dr. Gaensler suggests that all workers employed for 10 or more years have an annual re-evaluation. Other employees need only be examined every other year or even every three years.