Saranac Laboratory, Proposal on Asbestosis and Pulmonary Cancer to the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association (1950)

A 12-page proposal of September 21, 1950, submitted by Dr. Arthur J. Vorwald for the Saranac Laboratory to the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association, to "ascertain whether or not a relationship exists between the inhalation of asbestos dust and primary pulmonary cancer." It noted a "growing tendency to incriminate many other agents irrespective of the lack of clear-cut evidence," but said the evidence on some was "sufficiently serious to warrant extensive epidemiological and experimental investigation. Asbestos dust is in this category." It proposed an X-ray survey of workers at Thetford and Asbestos, and inhalation and injection experiments on two strains of mice, over at least two and preferably five years.

What it shows

Under "Publications of Results," Saranac reserved the right to publish "in accordance with established practices, whereby the manuscript, prior to its publication, is submitted to the sponsoring company for its review and approval." The cost was put at $16,000 for the first year and $10,000 for the second. This J-M library copy is marked up by an unknown reader, with notes such as "survey of all X-ray data only," a suggestion that expert advice be obtained first, and a tally of about $41,000 for a five-year program. The proposal came after Dr. Kenneth Smith had raised the question of the sponsor's control over unfavorable results (Smith to McGaw); J-M's lawyer took up the Saranac study in November (Vandiver Brown's memo).

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

annotated report by Saranac Lab titled Asbestosis and Pulmonary Cancer for QAMA