R. S. Lamar to W. H. Ashton of Johnson & Johnson on Rubino's Talc Mortality Study (1976)

A one-page letter of April 22, 1976, from R. S. Lamar, manager of growth planning in Johns-Manville Products Corporation's Filtration and Minerals Division in Denver, to W. H. Ashton of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Lamar thanked Ashton for a reprint of "Mortality Study of Talc Miners and Millers" by Giovanni F. Rubino and others, which he said helped provide a "clean bill of health" for pure talc but seemed to "increase the difficulties with those talcs containing various asbestos minerals such as tremolite, chrysotile, and anthophyllite." J-M's position on labeling and "being completely candid in our definition of what our products really are" was, he wrote, "the only approach a responsible producer of these materials could take," a "difficult business decision" that was "becoming more comfortable under the circumstances."

What it shows

By 1976 J-M, a talc producer, and Johnson & Johnson were exchanging research on the health of talc workers, and J-M's talc managers drew a line between pure talc and talc containing asbestos minerals. Copies went to Dr. Paul Kotin and others at J-M, and the letter is filed under "Talc (general)."

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

R.S. Lamar (J-M Manager Growth Planning) letter to W.H Ashton (Johnson & Johnson Company). 4/22/76, thanking Ashton for a reprint of the paper "Mortality Study of Talc Miners and Millers," by Giovanni F. Rubino, et al. Lamar states that "[t]his certainly helps provide a 'clean bill of health' for pure talc mineral." However, it seems to increase the difficulties with those talcs containing various asbestos minerals. "Our position with respect to labeling and being completely candid in our definition of what our products really are is the only approach a responsible producer of these materials could take. This was a difficult business decision but is becoming more comfortable under the circumstances." Lamar states that he has circulated a copy of Rubino's paper among "the various interested people" at J-M.