Dr. George W. Wright to Alex Cross of Cape Asbestos on When Britain Extended Asbestos Rules to Insulation Workers (1975)

A one-page letter of January 17, 1975, from Dr. George W. Wright, writing from Johns-Manville's Denver headquarters, to Alex A. Cross of the Cape Asbestos Company in London. Wright explains that several lawsuits against makers of asbestos insulation products claimed that warning labels and protective measures "should have been provided the users of the product (insulations workers) long before these precautions actually were taken." He writes: "In retrospect, one can see that we probably should have done it earlier, but there are a number of reasons, known to you as well as to me, why this did not occur." He asks Cross when Britain's 1930 factory rules were extended to cover people who used asbestos products, such as insulation workers.

What it shows

Wright was preparing J-M's defense: he stresses "the extraordinary importance of these lawsuits" and the urgency of the request, "since one of the important trials will begin in early February." The letter is written to a competitor as a friend and colleague, and it treats the late arrival of warnings for insulation workers as something both men already understood. The labels he refers to came to J-M's insulation cartons only in the 1960s (see J. B. Jobe on labeling Industrial Insulations Division products, 1964).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. Wright writes to Alex Cross (Cape Asbestos Company) on 1/17/75, stating that there are several lawsuits in progress against manufacturers of asbestos-cement insulation products. One allegation is that the manufacturers should have used warning labels. "In retrospect, one can see that we probably should have done it earlier, but there are a number of reasons, known to you as well as to me, why this did not occur." Dr. Wright asks Cross when England began its labeling practices (5200-5884).