E. R. A. Merewether, The Pneumokonioses: Developments, Doubts, Difficulties (1949)

A paper read on June 15, 1949, at the 80th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Medical Association in Saskatoon by E. R. A. Merewether, H.M. Senior Medical Inspector of Factories for Great Britain, and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in February 1950. Of 232 deaths from asbestosis investigated by his department, he reported, 31% were complicated by tuberculosis, and British law compensated asbestosis whether or not tuberculosis was present. He also pointed to "the possible association of asbestosis and cancer of the lungs": 13.2% of the asbestosis cases had lung cancer at autopsy, against 1.32% in silicosis.

What it shows

Merewether was co-author of the 1930 British study of asbestos workers (the Merewether and Price report). In this paper he called asbestos and free silica "the inherently hazardous dusts" and urged international standards for diagnosis, prevention and compensation of the pneumoconioses. The same year, J-M's own medical director in Quebec asked for an expert opinion on asbestos and cancer (Dr. Smith's comments on the Saranac report), and the Saranac Laboratory's director proposed a study of lung cancer among the Quebec workers (Vorwald's October letter).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

6/15/49 (Published 2/50); Merewether addresses Eightieth Annual Meeting of the Canadian Medical Association concerning pneumoconiosis, notes 31% of asbestos deaths complicated by tuberculosis, British compensate under such circumstances, expresses "considerable interest" in asbestosis-cancer link.