Dr. Kenneth W. Smith to A. L. Fisk Jr. on a Reply to Niagara Asbestos Company in Cavanagh (1960)

A one-page memo of May 18, 1960, from Dr. Kenneth W. Smith, J-M's medical director, to A. L. Fisk Jr. at J-M headquarters, on a letter R. C. Braun of the Niagara Asbestos Company had sent J-M's Buffalo office about a workmen's compensation case, Cavanagh v. Niagara Asbestos Co. Smith drafts a passage Fisk might use in reply: "For many years, we have recognized the fact that prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibres in sufficient quantities could cause pulmonary damage in certain individuals," and J-M's medical and hygiene program was meant to prevent disease "as well as financial loss in the form of workmen's compensation." Braun had asked how the whole compensation award could be shared among a worker's past employers instead of falling on the last one; Smith did not believe "this ever will take place."

What it shows

Smith's draft describes J-M's program in its best light: pre-employment and annual X-rays for everyone exposed to asbestos, dust control at the source, required respirators where that failed, and the claim that "we have created no new cases of asbestosis for many years." Other papers from the same months show a less settled picture, including Smith's own complaints to the Toronto plant (Smith to Lowry, January 1960) and the president's report that dust control at J-M plants had slipped (Burnett's speech, July 1960).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Letter to A.L. Fisk, Jr. from Kenneth W. Smith, M.D., 5/18/60, re: Cavanagh v. Niagara Asbestos Company. Smith comments to Fisk regarding a letter written by Mr. R.C. Braun of the Niagara Asbestos Company. Smith suggests the following as a reply:

"For many years, we have recognized the fact that prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibers in sufficient quantities could cause pulmonary damage in certain individuals. In order to prevent pulmonary disease and subsequent disability to our employees, as well as financial loss in the form of workmen's compensation, we have instituted a thorough medical and hygiene program."

Smith further states his belief that nothing can be done to stop assessing the final employer with total liability for workman's compensation.