Monroe Harris to Jose Grinda of Asbestos de Mexico on Dust Surveys and Fiber Shipments (1980)

A two-page letter of July 10, 1980, from Monroe Harris, senior vice president of Johns-Manville's Mining Group, to Jose Grinda, the newly appointed general manager of Asbestos de Mexico. Harris wrote that the latest dust surveys by J-M's Bill Reitze showed "some very serious problems, particularly at the Guadalajara and Hermosilla plants," and that "The dust levels, as they now exist, are unacceptable and are causing disease among your employees." He urged a mandatory respirator program at once, followed by engineering controls to bring dust counts below 2 fibers.

What it shows

Harris wrote as Asbestos de Mexico's fiber supplier: "it is necessary for me, as a supplier of asbestos fibre to your company, to assure that our liability is no longer exposed." He asked for reports every three months and warned that if proper precautions were not taken "with the proper sense of urgency, we will have no choice but to stop shipping our asbestos fibre to you." A week earlier, G. Earl Parker, J-M's general counsel, had raised the same choice. Copies went to F. L. Pundsack and Dr. Paul Kotin.