F. J. Solon Jr. to Wilfred P. Howard of Turner & Newall on Labeling All Fiber Bags in Canada and the U.S. (1969)

A two-page letter of March 6, 1969, from F. J. Solon, Jr., J-M's vice president for advertising and public relations, to Wilfred P. Howard of Turner & Newall in Manchester, England, replying to Howard's letter of February 11. J-M's Environmental Health Policy Committee had decided "that we will proceed immediately to ship all asbestos fibre in Canada and the USA with the caution label printed on the bag." Solon granted that the decision "may not be greeted enthusiastically" by members of the British Asbestos Information Committee and Asbestos Fibre Importers Committee, but wrote: "We feel it is our obligation to bring the asbestos-health factors to the attention of our customers and most particularly to the workers on the production line in Canada and the USA."

What it shows

The letter carries out the Policy Committee's instruction of February 18, 1969, that Solon tell the British "we will use caution labels on shipments to Canada and U.S." (Policy Committee minutes, February 1969). The wording would be the one Howard had sent, already printed on the first supply of bags. British producers had objected to the label the autumn before, and J-M had already agreed not to label bags sent overseas (the 1968–69 correspondence). Copies went to Turner Brothers Asbestos, Cape Asbestos, the Asbestos Fibre Importers Committee and two men at Hill & Knowlton International, the public relations firm.