Dr. David T. DuBow to Dr. Kenneth W. Smith on the Manville Plant's "No Dust" List (1956)

A confidential one-page letter of February 1, 1956, from Dr. David T. DuBow of the Medical Department at J-M's Manville, New Jersey, plant to Dr. Kenneth W. Smith at headquarters, giving the number of employees on the plant's "NO DUST" list: 333. Of these, 188 (Group I, occupational) had X-ray changes "which might be considered compatible with an occupational exposure," and 145 (Group II, preventive) had tuberculosis or other lung conditions DuBow considered medical in origin. He reports two cases of partial lung disability under treatment, five living employees medically disabled by occupational lung disease, and one death in 1956 and four in 1955 "attributed to occupational dust exposures."

What it shows

DuBow adds that ten employees were being treated at the Glen Gardner Sanatorium for tuberculosis, nine found through periodic examinations, and one had been judged to have tuberculosis aggravated by his work. He warns that if Group II members were exposed to unusual dust and their condition worsened, "the end result might be construed as an aggravation due to their employment." The letter gives a count, early in 1956, of the occupational lung disease J-M's own doctors were finding at its largest plant. A year later DuBow was still asking management for studies of these employees' work areas (DuBow to Naylor, 1957).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. K.W. Smith asks Dr. D.T. DuBow for the total number of employees at the Manville plant currently on the "No Dust" list. Dr. D.T. DuBow indicates to Dr. K.W. Smith, 2/1/56, that there are a total of 333 employees on the list. Dr. DuBow then lists the following information:

1. number of current cases of partial pulmonary functional disability - 2

2. number of employees (still living) deemed medically disabled from occupational lung disease - 5

3. number of deaths in 1956 (1) and in 1955 (4) attributed to occupational dust exposures

4. number of employees under treatment at Glen Gardner Sanatorium for reactivation of old T.B. or new T.B. (10)