Johns-Manville, Asbestos and Health: A Special Report (1974)

A 56-page booklet, "Asbestos and Health: A Special Report from the Johns-Manville Corporation, Denver, Colorado, 1974," prepared in March 1974 by J-M's Environmental Affairs Department. It is condensed from talks given to J-M customers in a series of seminars begun in 1973 by F. J. (Jack) Solon Jr., William B. Reitze, Edmund M. Fenner and others, and covers asbestos diseases, fiber types, smoking, the OSHA and EPA standards, labeling, J-M's fiber handling and packaging systems, and dust control engineering. It opens: "At Johns-Manville, we firmly believe that while it is dangerous to pretend there is no problem and do nothing, it is equally as dangerous to pretend a problem is so great that total abstinence is the only cure."

What it shows

The report tells customers that "for the last 50 years, from the first indications there was a health problem involving workers who inhaled too much asbestos dust, Johns-Manville has taken the initiative." It says there is still "a tendency on the part of many people and groups to over-dramatize and distort the health risks," cites the 1972 Lyon meeting of the International Agency for Research on Cancer for the view that the risks are "almost exclusively confined to the occupational environment," and says disease among long-time employees reflects "conditions existing decades ago." It also offers the services of J-M's Environmental Control Systems Department to design and install dust control for customers.

The same text, in an earlier typescript form without the credits page and charts, is in J-M's knowledge chronology as Johns-Manville, A Condensation of Environmental Facts on Asbestos and Health, Customer Seminars (1974).

About this copy

The last pages are diagrams and charts (Figures 1 to 9), ending with the Environmental Affairs Department's order form for printed material.