Herbert Morton Ball to J. C. Kelleher on a Customer Letter Calling Asbestos Fibre Non-Toxic (1954)

A one-page memo of September 24, 1954, from Herbert Morton Ball of Johns-Manville's Legal Department to J. C. Kelleher of the Asbestos Fibre Division in Montreal, about Kelleher's letter of September 22 to the Surprenant Manufacturing Company of Clinton, Massachusetts. "Perhaps you are unaware of the fact that your letter constitutes a warranty to this company that asbestos fibre is a non-toxic material," Ball wrote; if its employees developed asbestos pneumoconiosis, "in all probability they would have a good cause of action against us." He reminded Kelleher that "asbestos Grade 7R as used in floor tile would be a bad offender as far as causing asbestosis if the proper controls were not used and respirators were not donned."

What it shows

Ball restated the company policy that all customer questions about hazards in J-M materials go to the Legal Department, which answered them or referred them to Dr. Kenneth Smith or Hugh Jackson. Salesmen were to learn about the health problems of asbestos fibre "for the sole purpose" of recognizing such questions so that, "without making any answer to it," they could pass them on. He asked Kelleher not to sell Surprenant any more fibre until "the apparent warranty of non-toxicity" was removed from the record. The memo shows J-M's lawyer stating in writing that its fibre could cause asbestosis in a customer's plant, and the company's concern being the warranty the letter created.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Memorandum to J.C. Kelleher from Herbert Morton Ball, dated 9/24/54, addresses the issue of warranties provided to an asbestos fiber purchaser, Suprenant Manufacturing Company. Kelleher had written a letter to the Company representing asbestos fiber is a non-toxic material. Ball states: "Perhaps you are unaware of the fact that your letter constitutes a warranty to this company that asbestos fiber is a non-toxic material. If any employees of the company should suffer asbestos pneumoconiosis, in all probability they would have a good cause of action against us. I am sure you must be familiar with the fact that asbestos Grade 7R as used in floor tile would be a bad offender as far as causing asbestosis if the proper controls were not used and respirators were not donned by the employees handling the fiber."

"It has been a policy with the Company that all inquiries from customers relative to any hazards that might be encountered in Johns-Manville's materials should be referred to the Legal Department. . . . We feel that both you and your salesmen should be acquainted with some of the problems inherent in the handling of asbestos fiber from the health and safety standpoint. The purpose of giving you and your men such information would be for the sole purpose of affording you a background so that you would be able to recognize a question which involved safety or health factors and without making any answer to it could refer it to this department." Ball suggests that Kelleher stop selling asbestos fiber to Suprenant Manufacturing Company until the "warranty" is "removed from the record."

Editor's note: J-M's description spells the customer Suprenant Manufacturing Company; the memo reads Surprenant Mfg. Co.