Dr. Lewis C. Fritts to J. E. Begert on the 1940 Manville Plant Examinations (1940)

A one-page personal letter of June 26, 1940, from Dr. Lewis C. Fritts, the Manville plant physician, to J. E. Begert, manager of Johns-Manville's Manville, New Jersey, factory, submitting the report of a survey in which he had examined all the plant's employees, with a Wassermann test, a urine analysis and a stereoscopic X-ray for each. He explained that "a great many of the people who have 'Asbestosis' have been marked 'No Progress'" because the original X-ray made in 1932 was a single film that could not be closely compared with the new stereoscopic films. All cases showing any lung abnormality would be reviewed again within six months.

What it shows

By the account of J-M's own plant doctor, "a great many" workers at the Manville plant had asbestosis in 1940, and the company was comparing their films with X-rays taken in 1932 (the 1932 X-ray readings). The survey report itself is not in the file. The next day Begert wrote to Vandiver Brown about Steve Kardos, whose probable asbestosis had been found by a hospital doctor outside the company.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. Lewis C. Fritts writes to J.E. Begert (Manville plant manager), 6/26/40, that he has completed his physical exam of all Manville plant employees. His exam included a stereoscopic x-ray. Dr. Fritts states that he has marked many of the employees diagnosed with "asbestosis" in 1932 as having suffered "no progress". This is because the original x-ray taken in 1932 was a single film, and very little comparison can be made between that and the modern stereoscopic x-ray. All cases that have any lung abnormality will be reviewed again within 6 months.

Editor's note: J-M's description says the employees had been diagnosed with asbestosis in 1932. Fritts's letter says only that their original X-rays were made in 1932.