Seventh Saranac Symposium Transcript on Pneumoconiosis and Lung Cancer (1952)

Twenty-seven pages excerpted from the transcript of the September 24, 1952, session of the Seventh Saranac Symposium, "Pneumoconiosis and Pulmonary Cancer," chaired by Dr. C. P. Rhoads. Dr. Paul Cartier, in charge of a clinic that watched over about four thousand asbestos miners at Thetford Mines, Quebec, presented figures on lung cancer among the miners. Dr. E. R. A. Merewether of Great Britain reported that of 296 recorded British deaths from asbestosis, 48, or 16.2 percent, were associated with cancer of the lung, and that the share "is rising rather than falling."

What it shows

Cartier told the meeting that he could not explain why fewer cancers turned up in his asbestotic group and that autopsies on every worker who died might give "a different picture." Merewether said the small numbers "certainly dictate caution" but represented "the great majority" of British asbestosis deaths over a quarter century, and that if asbestos irritation acted with long exposure, "we would expect an increased incidence of cancer of the lung." He noted that most of the cancer cases had worked in dusty jobs such as weaving and pipe and boiler covering. The transcript shows that the lung cancer question was put before the industry, its doctors and its insurers in 1952 (see the attendance register, Motley document 70).

In Johns-Manville's index

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

Partial transcript of 7th Saranac Symposium Session of 9/24/52 in which Dr. P. Cartier of the Thetford Industrial Clinic makes a presentation on his study of the incidence of lung cancer at the Thetford Mines. Also includes Dr. E.R.A. Merewether's presentation on asbestos and lung cancer.

Related documents

• Program of the Seventh Saranac Symposium (1952)
• Seventh Saranac Symposium, Session on Pneumoconiosis and Pulmonary Cancer, with the Gregoire and Wright Paper (1952)

About this copy

This is document 71 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-000698 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-000724.