J. A. McKinney to W. L. VanDerbeek on Informing Foreign Customers About Asbestos (1974)

A one-page memo of February 5, 1974, from J. A. McKinney to W. L. VanDerbeek, copied to W. R. Goodwin, F. L. Pundsack, F. J. Solon and Dr. George W. Wright, on "Informing Foreign Customers About Asbestos and Health." McKinney reports that the booklet "What Every Employee Should Know About Asbestos," sent to 21 J-M plants the previous November, had drawn no adverse union or employee reaction, and recommends sending it to customers, "particularly our overseas customers." He asks for a meeting on a label for asbestos shipped overseas: "You will note I did not say 'warning label'."

What it shows

McKinney wanted a label that would tell users how to handle fiber "without, at the same time, unnecessarily frightening the users or having our products classified as 'hazardous'." He added: "I am convinced that at some time in the future it will be held that we had a legal obligation to inform users accurately of the things they should not do with our products." The attached booklet told employees that heavy, prolonged exposure could cause asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, and that non-smoking asbestos workers had no more lung cancer than other non-smokers. J-M had decided in 1972 not to label fiber shipped abroad (Poutiatine to Parker).

About this copy

The same booklet, "What Every Employee Should Know," is also among the attachments to W. A. Cooper's 1977 history of J-M's employee education.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

J-M internal correspondence from McKinney to VanDerbeek, dated 2/5/74, regarding notification of foreign customers about asbestos and health. Recommends sending copies of booklet "What Every Employee Should Know About Asbestos" and some sort of label; however not a "warning" label. "I am convinced that at some time in the future it will be held that we had a legal obligation to inform users accurately of the things they should not do with our products."