Objectives and General Plan for Occupational Health Study of the Asbestos Products Industry (1962)

This 1962 document from the U.S. Public Health Service's Division of Occupational Health was a study plan, not a report of results. It proposed a comprehensive occupational health study of the asbestos products industry in the United States. It listed questions that earlier research had left unanswered. These included how common pneumoconiosis was among actively employed workers, whether malignancies were occupational risks, and what exposure levels were safe. Its four objectives were to determine workers' health status, especially respiratory disease; to determine which environmental factors adversely affected their health; to determine the relationship between occupational exposure and cause of death; and to develop medical and environmental criteria and procedures to control the health risks identified. The plan had four parts. Record studies would cover workers who had left the industry during the previous 25 years as well as current workers. Laboratory work would include animal studies of asbestos fiber exposure and tumor formation. In-plant measurements would cover asbestos dust and other air contaminants such as silica. In-plant medical examinations would be given to workers. The document reported no study findings.

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From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. It was among the papers J-M kept in its medical library without an index entry.