Asbestos Textile Institute General Meeting on Dr. Selikoff and the New Safety Law (1971)

Four pages of minutes of the Asbestos Textile Institute's general meeting of February 4, 1971, at the Red Carpet Inn in Charlotte, North Carolina, signed by its secretary, H. E. Sunbury. Dr. J. L. Goodman, a doctor associated with Raybestos-Manhattan, reported on a June 1970 asbestosis seminar arranged by Dr. Irving J. Selikoff at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, which he called "a diatribe against industry"; he said Selikoff was "a 'dangerous' man" whose tactics the industry would have to learn to combat. C. L. Sheckler of Johns-Manville, chairman of the Institute's Environmental Health Committee, then described the new federal Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, effective April 28, 1971.

What it shows

Goodman said Selikoff could only be rebutted "by being faced with the overwhelming weight of objective scientific and factual data," and when asked whether the American Medical Association could "control Dr. Selikoff," thought pressure on Mount Sinai might work better. Sheckler said warning labels on products "were now voluntary but probably will become mandatory," that the industry "must give serious consideration to the use of warning labels on asbestos products," and that product liability suits were "proliferating in the Thermal Insulation Industry." He added that the date labeling began "could indicate whether a manufacturer had been negligent, if law suit arises."

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, 2/4/71 - General Meeting. Dr. J. L. Goodman (Member of the Environmental Health Committee) reports upon his attendance at a seminar arranged by Dr. Selikoff on 6/15-18/70. Dr. Goodman was surprised to find a "goodly number of representatives of labor in attendance" at that seminar. The seminar opened with an announcement that the spraying of steel framework with asbestos fiber in new buildings under construction had been banned in New York State. Dr. Goodman describes Dr. Selikoff as a "dangerous" man and warns that the asbestos industry would have to learn how to combat his tactics. Sheckler makes a presentation describing the impact of the new federal "Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970" that would become effective on April 28, 1971.

Related documents

• Asbestos Textile Institute Board of Governors Minutes on Board Changes (1971)

About this copy

This is document 348 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-001726 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001729.