John H. Marsh to John Hawkins on the McGill Study of Asbestos Safety Garments (1974)

A Raybestos-Manhattan memo of March 15, 1974, from John H. Marsh to John Hawkins on the McGill University study of asbestos safety garments, with a three-page memo of March 12 from John J. Magenheimer of the Advanced Research Laboratory. Hawkins had criticized the study; Marsh disagreed that it "was poorly done" and defended Dr. Gibbs of Dr. Corbett McDonald's McGill team. Marsh wrote that the study was begun partly because garment makers wanted assurance that asbestos safety garments "posed absolutely no health hazard," and that it "showed there are some problems we had not anticipated," which might be solved by treating the fabrics or using NOVATEX.

What it shows

Marsh added that union officials at U.S. Steel had complained that asbestos garments "might cause lung cancer." He concluded: "The information available to us should be used in a positive manner to give us a competitive advantage and to avoid any undesirable publicity that might result from testing programs conducted by others on asbestos containing protective clothing." Magenheimer wrote that the study answered the company's question, "Can safety garments be a source of intolerable levels of asbestos dust for the workers wearing them?" The memos show the company treating the findings as a business and publicity matter. The study grew out of the testing discussed in I. H. Weaver's 1973 memo.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's legal department indexed the Motley 1,000 in 1984. Its index describes this document as follows:

J.B. Marsh memo to John Hawkins, (R-M) 3/15/74, entitled "McGill Study of Asbestos Safety Garments." Marsh responds to Hawkins' criticism of the conclusions and recommendations of the McGill report. McGill University conducted a study to determine whether asbestos-containing safety garments are a source of excessive levels of dust to workers wearing them. This study was initiated in part by a request from the safety garment manufacturers for assurances that the use of asbestos-containing safety garments posed absolutely no health hazard. McGill University found that asbestos safety garments expose workers wearing them to excessive levels of asbestos dust, but that the use of greater surface coating on the garments could solve the problem. Marsh states that he is satisfied with the accuracy of the McGill report. Marsh encloses a memo from John J. Magenheimer (R-M) to J.H. Marsh, 3/12/74, also responding to Hawkins' criticism of the McGill report. Magenheimer is satisfied with the results of the study.

Related documents

• I. H. Weaver to J. H. Marsh on Testing Asbestos Cloth for Release of Airborne Fibers (1973)

About this copy

This is document 629 of the Motley 1,000, from the set the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust's records facility certified as true copies, pages CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-002154 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-002157.