E. R. A. Merewether, A Memorandum on Asbestosis, Part 2, in Tubercle (1933)

The complete December 1933 issue of Tubercle, carrying the second part of Dr. E. R. A. Merewether's "A Memorandum on Asbestosis." This part covers the onset of the disease, the years of exposure before it appears, the disability and death it causes, the amount of dust that produces it, and the added risk of tuberculosis. Merewether wrote that "work in a dense concentration of asbestos dust over a comparatively short period will lead inevitably to the development of a profound fibrosis, provided that the worker lives long enough for it to develop."

What it shows

Merewether concluded that "the existence of even a moderate degree of asbestosis is a serious and ever-present potential risk to life," and that asbestos dust trapped in the lungs "continues to exert its fibrosis-producing powers for at least many years." He also argued that below a certain dust level a disabling asbestosis would not develop within a working lifetime, and that the added risk of tuberculosis was smaller than in silica industries. The memorandum began in the November issue and ends in the January 1934 issue.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

Tubercle. Relevant article continuation of "A Memorandum on Asbestosis" by Merewether. Article states that profound fibrosis will result from short period of exposure to high dust levels if worker lives long enough. A dust level exposure does exist which will not result in asbestosis in a normal working lifetime. Asbestos workers are less prone to tuberculosis than workers who are exposed to free silica.

Related documents

• E. R. A. Merewether, A Memorandum on Asbestosis, Part 1, in Tubercle (1933)
• E. R. A. Merewether, A Memorandum on Asbestosis, Part 3, in Tubercle (1934)

About this copy

This is document 01837-01897 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.