J-M Correspondence on a Confidential "Special List" of Workers with Advanced Changes at Lompoc (1950)

A set of 1950 J-M papers about the health of workers at the Lompoc, California, diatomaceous earth plant and elsewhere. On February 23, plant manager E. T. Legge told J. P. Woodard at headquarters that Dr. W. M. Anderson would finish "the special list" within 30 days, and that X-rays would now be taken every three months "in areas where we believe there might be a problem." On June 15 Woodard, still waiting, described the list as cases "that should be particularly noticed from time to time," set out on yellow spread sheets showing six or eight years of examination results, and added: "This information is, of course, highly confidential."

What it shows

Woodard explained that headquarters had settled on this way of tracking examination results after several years, and that the list was to include those whose examinations showed "sufficient changes to warrant that the cases be watched." The two October 25 letters concern a Saranac proposal to test aluminum powder against diatomaceous earth lung disease. To Dr. A. J. Lanza, Woodard wrote that the latest Saranac interim report left J-M "quite concerned" about Lompoc and that it might go ahead with aluminum treatment before Saranac's further research was done. Woodard repeated the request for the Lompoc list in September (Woodard to Elsenbast).

About this copy

The last file, Vorwald's letter to H. M. Jackson of September 27, 1950, is also published as the cover letter of Saranac's report on Vernon Hall.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Correspondence from 2/23/50 to 10/25/50 among Elsenbast, Legge, Woodard, Westmont, Anderson, Jackson concerning the development of a "list showing the individual's physical examinations disclosed very marked changes and whose cases were relatively well advanced . . . ." This method has proven effective at other locations. Some spread sheets of the way the information is shown at one of the other locations were left for them to follow as a guide in setting up the information. "You may recall I left there some 16 column, yellow sheets that were to be used as a pattern. There were two sheets showing individuals on the salary payroll, and about 7 sheets listing individuals on the hourly payroll. These sheets were made up here from the information that came into Hugh Jackson on cards. Results of examinations for 6 or 8 years were shown, making it possible to see across the sheet the changes, if any, in the determinations. After several years of showing the information in various ways, this method has been accepted here as the best way of presenting it, and it is for that reason that the spread sheets were made from the cards so that they could be used as a pattern in making new sheets that would include only those cases considered to be the proper ones to b followed up. Of course, it is a matter of the doctor's opinion as to what individuals should be shown on such a list, we would expect them to be those whose examinations have shown sufficient changes to warrant the cases be watched. This information is, of course, highly confidential and we know that everyone involved will so consider it."