Quebec Asbestos Mining Association Special Meeting Minutes on Caution Labels and Dr. Selikoff (1968)

Minutes of a special meeting of the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association held on March 28 and 29, 1968, at the Grand Bahama Hotel, recorded by Paul-A. Filteau, with A. R. Fisher and C. B. Burnett of Johns-Manville among those present. The technical committee proposed that, in view of Britain's "zero" limit on crocidolite dust, words of caution be printed on fiber bags "to release the producers from possible legal responsibility," noting that "Industry knows that it handles a hazardous material." Counsel reported that Dr. Irving Selikoff had told a congressional committee things about workers' health "which may well be misleading and inviting misinterpretation if not considerable exaggeration." The scientific committee warned that "the three types of asbestos are in the same boat" and listed options if amosite and chrysotile proved as dangerous as crocidolite.

What it shows

The proposed bag label began: "THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS ASBESTOS. INHALATION OF ASBESTOS DUST OVER LONG PERIODS MAY BE HARMFUL." It was to be checked by member company lawyers. The minutes record that Johns-Manville had prepared a position paper on "Asbestos and Human Health" and sent it to every company, and that American asbestos standards were "not up-to-date." The scientific committee said that "with proper circumstances the same fibrogenesis and malignancy apply to amosite and chrysotile," and its options ran from no fiber being used to learning "the maximum allowable concentration which is safe for the working man and the public." The president remarked that people who defended the tobacco industry had told him "it had been found advisable not to be carried away by the medical profession."

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Minutes of Special QAMA Meeting, 3/28-29/68. Discusses proposal re labelling asbestos-containing products. Mentions that J-M has prepared a position paper on Asbestos and Human Health and that copies have been distributed to QAMA members. Discusses Dr. Selikoff and his "statements which may well be misleading and inviting misinterpretation if not considerable exaggeration." States that the "standards for the asbestos industry are not up-to-date" and discusses the reasons why. Discusses options if it is found that amosite and chrysotile cause the same fibrogenesis and malignancy as crocidolite does.

About this copy

This is document 7 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-000366 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-000387.