Asbestos Textile Institute Air Hygiene Committee Meeting with Company Doctors on Medical Examinations (1953)

Three pages of minutes of the Asbestos Textile Institute's Air Hygiene Committee meeting of June 10, 1953, the first attended by doctors from the member companies, among them Dr. K. W. Smith of Johns-Manville. The committee told the doctors that, by the Saranac Laboratory research, long fibers caused the lung scarring, so past dust surveys that counted only particles were "practically without value." The doctors agreed that complete pre-employment and annual examinations, with chest X-rays and breathing tests, were essential, that there were usually no significant X-ray changes in less than five years of exposure, and that asbestos bodies were "not an indication of the disease."

What it shows

The doctors agreed to bring X-ray films and data on each plant's work force to the next meeting. The committee noted that most state codes set the limit for asbestos dust at five million particles per cubic foot, and that for some time the companies would be "subject to two standards, that required by the states, and our self imposed standard based on experimental and clinical evidence." It also reported that copies of the Saranac reports had been given to New Jersey officials, who were revising the state's threshold limits.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's legal department indexed the Motley 1,000 in 1984. Its index describes this document as follows:

ATI Meeting Minutes, 6/10/53 - Air Hygiene Committee. Recommends pre-employment and periodic annual exams and other medical procedures.

Related documents

• Asbestos Textile Institute Hygiene Committee Minutes on Fiber Sampling and Two Standards (June 1953)

About this copy

This is document 33 of the Motley 1,000, from the set the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility certified as true copies, pages CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-000496 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-000498.