W. A. Cooper to Dr. Paul Kotin on the History of J-M's Employee Education About Asbestos (1977)

A three-page memo of February 11, 1977, from W. A. Cooper, J-M's director of environmental communications, to Dr. Paul Kotin, on the "History of Employee Education Programs on Asbestos." Cooper writes that "Prior to 1973, employee education about asbestos and health concerns was erratic," left mainly to plant supervisors at safety meetings. He lists the position papers, booklets, posters, seminars, slide program and film J-M produced from 1973 on, starting with the first employee booklet in October 1973. Copies of several of these publications are attached.

What it shows

Cooper dates J-M's first booklet telling employees "about the hazards and what the Company was doing to protect them" to October 1973, when it went to some 8,000 employees in the United States and Canada, and the start of "a new educational effort" to 1975. The attachments show what workers were told. The 1973 booklet named asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma; the 1975 booklet added cancer of the digestive tract and warned against taking dust home on work clothes. The J-M and industry papers told the public there was "no evidence" of risk to the general public. For the March 1974 customer seminars Cooper mentions, see the seminar condensation.

About this copy

The booklet "What Every Employee Should Know" is also attached to J. A. McKinney's 1974 memo on informing foreign customers. The two Asbestos Information Association papers appear to be the same as the Library's separate pages on the Asbestos and Health booklet and the Questions & Answers card, though they have not been compared page by page.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Cooper, in a memorandum to Kotin, 2/11/77, indicates that prior to 1973 J-M employee education concerning asbestos and health was erratic. It was left mainly to supervisory personnel at plant levels. In 1975, a new educational effort commenced, resulting in the publication of the following materials: film "Working with Asbestos." booklet - "What You Should Know About Asbestos," etc.