Asbestos Textile Institute Air Hygiene Committee Minutes and Proposal for Asbestosis Research (1955)

Undated minutes of the Asbestos Textile Institute's Air Hygiene Committee (dated "3/55" by hand), signed by H. M. Jackson of Johns-Manville as chairman, with a two-page committee proposal attached. The committee reviewed a Saranac Laboratory proposal on "the relationship of pulmonary cancer to asbestosis," noting "increasing publicity both in the professional and popular literature" tying the two together and a workmen's compensation claim at one member company that blamed lung cancer on asbestos. The attached proposal asked member companies to join heart and lung studies of workers at a Philadelphia hospital and autopsy studies by Dr. G. W. H. Schepers at Saranac.

What it shows

The committee found the Saranac proposal "exceedingly complex" and wanted a second proposal from another research agency before advising the Board of Governors. It also suggested that other parts of the asbestos industry (asbestos cement, insulation and asphalt tile) be asked to share the cost. The attached proposal described its value to members partly in claims terms: since the usual patient would be "a current or potential workmen's compensation occupational disease claim," the report "would assist in determining the validity of the claim and the extent of the disability and therefore, the liability." The autopsy studies by Dr. Schepers were to show "the nature and extent of the disease process" in a way X-rays could not.

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, 3/55 (handwritten date) - Air Hygiene Committee. Research proposal from Saranac Lab re relationship of lung cancer to asbestosis is reviewed in detail. Attached is "ATI - Air Hygiene Committee Proposal for Asbestosis Research," 6/55 (handwritten date).

Related documents

• Asbestos Textile Institute General Meeting Minutes Rejecting an Autopsy Study, with the Asbestosis Research Proposal (1955)

About this copy

This is document 45 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-000547 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-000550.