Johns-Manville, Environmental Facts: Questions and Answers on Asbestos and Health (1973)

A four-page Johns-Manville "Environmental Facts" paper from its Environmental Affairs Department in Denver, "Questions and Answers On Asbestos and Health." It says that "with only a few reported exceptions, asbestos health hazards are confined to the occupational setting," that asbestos diseases "are completely preventable by modern dust-control equipment and procedures," and, to the question "Does asbestos use pose any health risk to the general public?", answers "No." It also answers questions on brake linings, filters for beverages and drugs, asbestos clothing, sprayed fireproofing and substitutes.

What it shows

The paper says that in the early 1920s "the asbestos industry sponsored the first studies of asbestos-related disease" in the United States, that disease still appearing came from exposures when there was a "lack of knowledge about health risks on the part of the medical-scientific community as well as industry," and that "there is every reason to believe these cases will decrease in the future." It suggests that "materials other than asbestos also can be a factor" in mesothelioma, opposes substitutes ("No"), and says that much of what had been printed about asbestos and health "has been inaccurate, misleading, or completely false." A companion paper is Johns-Manville, Environmental Facts: Asbestos-Cement Water Pipe and Health (1973); J-M updated the series in 1975 (Johns-Manville, Environmental Facts: Asbestos and Health, Update 1975 (1975)).