Kenneth W. Smith to R. S. Gardner on the Causes of Lung Cancer (1950)

A one-page letter of February 10, 1950, from Dr. Kenneth W. Smith at Asbestos, Quebec, to R. S. Gardner of Canadian Johns-Manville's Toronto office. Thanking Gardner for some letters, Smith asked for a copy of the newspaper clipping mentioned in a letter to Mr. Fisher, since he wanted to follow the subject up. "Certain gases and fumes are known to cause lung cancer," he wrote, but he knew of no definite hazard from that source in J-M's general operations. "The chief causes of lung cancer are dust and certain coal tar products." He planned to go to Saranac Lake the next week to discuss lung cancer, among other things.

What it shows

The clipping was the Toronto newspaper report on lung cancer as a compensable disease (Woodard to Peterson). Three days earlier Smith had told headquarters that asbestos and silica dust might cause lung cancer in J-M's operations (Smith to Woodard).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

Dr. K.W. Smith in a memorandum to R.S. Gardner (Toronto), 2/10/50, states that certain gases and fumes cause lung cancer, but none of these hazards occur in J-M's operations. "The chief causes of lung cancer are dust and certain coal tar products." Next week, he plans to go to Saranac to discuss lung cancer.