Kenneth W. Smith to C. W. Hite on Asbestos and Cancer Publicity (1964)

A two-page confidential memo of October 13, 1964, from Dr. Kenneth W. Smith, Johns-Manville's medical director, to C. W. Hite, written at Hite's request about the newspaper, radio and television publicity linking asbestos with cancer. Smith called Dr. Irving Selikoff "ambitious and unscrupulous," "out to make a name for himself at the expense of the asbestos industry," and wrote that he was "not prepared to say positively that chrysotile fiber is, or is not, the cause of lung cancer." He advised that J-M "do nothing to try to refute present newspaper articles," since the company "could very definitely be put in an untenable position as far as our product is concerned if we denied too emphatically all of the facts that Dr. Selikoff believes in."

What it shows

Smith wrote that "in our company we have not seen this type of malignancy," while allowing that "given sufficiently high exposures over a period of time, there may be an association of the chrysotile fiber to lung cancer," and he pointed to "very strong evidence" that mesothelioma occurred only among people exposed to crocidolite. Of the New York Academy of Sciences conference set for the next week, he said J-M had "worked diligently for nearly a year" to broaden a program first "quite biased on the effects of asbestos," and that at least three doctors on it could "refute factually the allegations made by Dr. Selikoff." The memo shows the company's medical director privately unsure about chrysotile and lung cancer while recommending a quiet public stance until after the conference.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Memorandum from K.W. Smith to C.W. Hite, 10/13/64, concerning asbestos and cancer publicity. In this letter, Smith refers to Selikoff's initial contact with the asbestos industry when he sought permission to visit Jeffrey. "After spending 4 days with Dr. Grainger, discussing our program and reviewing x-ray files, he told Dr. Grainger in a rather pompous manner that Grainger didn't know anything about reading films and that he, Selikoff, in that short period of time had seen much more disease than he imagined existed."

Smith criticizes Selikoff not only on the basis that he has not had enough experience in working with pneumoconiosis but also because he is "ambitious and unscrupulous, and is out to make a name for himself at the expense of the asbestos industry." Smith personally is not certain whether chrysotile fiber is or is not the cause of lung cancer, but assures Hite "in our company we have not seen this type of malignancy."

Smith also notes "we have not seen cases of asbestosis while other companies have." He speculates that this may be due to less use of crocidolite at J-M. He believes -there is strong evidence that mesothelioma may only be caused by crocidolite. "As far as immediate publicity is concerned, I would strongly recommend that we do nothing to try to refute present newspaper articles. We could very definitely be put in an untenable position as far as our product is concerned if we denied too emphatically all of the facts that Dr. Selikoff believes in."

Smith suggests deferring a decision until after the N.Y. Academy meeting on Biological Effects of Asbestos. He is optimistic that J-M has succeeded in changing the program's tone by adding participants to refute Selikoff.