Asbestos Magazine to Sumner Simpson on Publishing about Asbestosis (1935)

A one-page letter of September 25, 1935, from A. S. Rossiter of "Asbestos," the industry trade magazine published by Secretarial Service in Philadelphia, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan. Rossiter reminds Simpson that the magazine had written "on several occasions" about publishing information on asbestosis and the work being done to reduce it, and that "Always you have requested that for certain obvious reasons we publish nothing, and, naturally your wishes have been respected." She asks whether his objection still stands, and proposes an article on the work done in England followed by one from his company on its dust control equipment at North Charleston.

What it shows

The letter shows that the main American asbestos trade magazine had, at the industry's request, kept asbestosis out of its pages, even while the disease was being reported in British journals. Rossiter argues that a discussion "along the right lines" might "combat some of the rather undesirable publicity" asbestosis was getting in the newspapers. The letter bears a handwritten note to Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's attorney, to whom Simpson sent it for his opinion. As the fact records, Brown answered that the companies' interests were best served "by having asbestosis receive the minimum of publicity."

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

A.S. Rossiter writes to Sumner Simpson on 9/25/35, reminding him she has written to him several times in the past concerning the publishing of information on asbestosis; always he has requested "for certain obvious reasons" that she publish nothing, and "naturally" his wishes have been respected. Rossiter now writes and asks that he re-review his decision. On 10/1/35, Simpson asks for Vandiver Brown's opinion on this matter, but states that "I think the less said about asbestos, the better off we are, but at the same time, we cannot lose track of the fact that there have been a number of articles on asbestos dust control and asbestosis in the British trade magazines." Asbestos magazine has been "very decent" about not re-printing these English articles. Brown writes back on 10/3/35 stating that "I quite agree with you that our interests are best served by having asbestosis receive the minimum of publicity." Brown states that if we eventually raise no objection to the publishing of an article on asbestosis, we should warn the editors to use American data rather than English. (Brown states that Dr. Lanza has said that the clinical picture in North America is milder than that in England and South Africa.)

Editor's note: Only Rossiter's letter of September 25, 1935, is in this file. Simpson's letter of October 1, 1935, and Brown's reply of October 3, which the chronology quotes, are not in this file.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown Forwarding a Letter from Asbestos Magazine (1941)