R. P. Carter's Memo on Meetings with OSHA's John O'Neill and Jerry Scannell About Reopening the Asbestos Standard (1973)

A five-page Johns-Manville memo to file of November 13, 1973, from R. P. Carter of J-M's legal department, on his meetings with OSHA officials John O'Neill on November 8 and Jerry Scannell on November 9 about the reopening of the federal asbestos standard. O'Neill told Carter that "one of the primary reasons" John Stender, head of OSHA, had decided against a Standards Advisory Committee was that "Dr. Irving J. Selikoff would have to be included as a member." In a talk to the A/C Pipe Producers Association, O'Neill said that "The OSHA standard for exposure to asbestos dust was written only to prevent asbestosis and was not designed to prevent mesothelioma or cancer," that the British data behind it was "weak and not scientific," and that "The current numerical standard will probably remain unchanged."

What it shows

Carter and F. J. Solon met Scannell, who planned to draft a new standard with outside consultants from industry and labor, some of them recommended by the Asbestos Information Association, and then visit plants. Scannell said he would try to arrange that no OSHA inspections would be made at plants visited for at least a year afterward. He asked J-M for a letter on how it wanted the standard changed and for suggestions on monitoring, "perhaps including a proposal for scrapping fiber counts." O'Neill also said tremolite "is not fibrous" and had not been shown to cause harm, noting a talc producer's petition to drop it from the standard. In a postscript Carter planned to withdraw J-M's request for a 15-man advisory committee and support Scannell's plan. Carter dealt with OSHA's asbestos rule again in 1977 (Carter to Kotin).