Unsigned Draft Letter to Edward C. Ames of Owens-Corning Fiberglas on Albert Baumgardner (1944)

An unsigned, undated one-page letter written from Toledo, Ohio, to Edward C. Ames, public relations manager of Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, about Albert Baumgardner of Holland, Ohio. The writer regretted any belief that Baumgardner's "condition could have been attributed in any way to handling or exposure to Fiberglas," since the work of Dr. Leroy Gardner of Saranac and others had shown that "exposure to glass fibers involves no hazard to the lungs." A note in parentheses, apparently a suggestion for the final version, asks whether it could "be properly added" that the cause was years of exposure to asbestos products, which had "demonstrated themselves to cause asbestosis."

What it shows

The draft shows a maker of glass fiber insulation ready to name asbestos as a recognized cause of a worker's lung disease while defending its own product with Gardner's research. It is not a Johns-Manville document, and it gives no diagnosis or medical findings for Baumgardner.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

In an unsigned letter from a physician to E.C. Ames (P.R. Manager, Owens-Corning), Albert Baumgardner, a 55-year old insulation worker, is discussed. According to the physician, Mr. Baumgardner suffers from asbestosis as a result of his exposure to asbestos dust. He states the disease is a "well recognized form of lung pathology."

Editor's note: J-M's description says the letter was written by a physician, that Baumgardner was a 55-year-old insulation worker, and that it called asbestosis a "well recognized form of lung pathology." None of this is on the page. The unsigned letter argues that Baumgardner's condition could not be blamed on Fiberglas and suggests adding that years of exposure to asbestos products were the cause.