Dr. Paul Parrot of the Quebec Ministry of Health to W. H. Soutar on Tuberculosis Deaths in the Asbestos Mining District (1949)

A four-page letter of May 24, 1949, with a table, from Dr. Paul Parrot, demographer of the Quebec Ministry of Health, to W. H. Soutar, assistant to the mine manager of Canadian Johns-Manville at Asbestos. At Soutar's request, Parrot commented on newspaper articles about tuberculosis deaths in the asbestos mining district, keeping to statistics. Using crude totals of deaths from tuberculosis, cancer, accidents and heart disease from 1943 to 1947, he argued that tuberculosis was not the leading cause of death in Thetford Mines or Asbestos and was no heavier there than in other Quebec cities, and he called a published comparison of Thetford Mines' 1944 tuberculosis rate "dishonest." A Canadian Johns-Manville cover note sent copies on to others.

What it shows

The company asked a provincial official for figures to answer press reports during the Asbestos Strike of 1949, and Dr. Kenneth Smith's public statement four days earlier used similar Health Department figures (Smith's statement). Parrot's table counts all deaths among residents of each town, not only miners, and the letter does not discuss asbestos and cancer; the table shows 76 cancer deaths in Thetford Mines and 22 in Asbestos over the five years.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

W.H. Soutar (Assistant to CJM Mine Manager) requested Dr. Paul Parrot (Demographer) to come up with statistics on the mortality rate from tuberculosis in the asbestos mining district. Dr. Parrott (5/24/49) compiled "the crude totals of death" from T.B., cancer, accidents, and heart disease for various communities in Quebec, including Asbestos and Thetford Mines, for the years 1943-1947. Dr. Parrot found that T.B. was not the leading cause of death in the asbestos mining district nor was the mortality from T.B. heavier in Thetford Mines and Asbestos than in any other city. Dr. Parrot reported 76 cancer deaths in Thetford Mines during the years 1943-1947, and 22 in Asbestos.