Vandiver Brown to Leroy Gardner Authorizing the Saranac Asbestos Experiments (1936)

A two-page letter of November 20, 1936, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's general attorney, to Dr. LeRoy U. Gardner, director of the Saranac Laboratory. Brown authorized Gardner to begin experiments with asbestos dust "for the purpose of determining more definitely the causes and effects of asbestosis," listed five questions the work was to answer, and set the cost at $5,000 a year for three years. He wrote that the results "will be considered the property of those who are advancing the required funds, who will determine whether, to what extent and in what manner they shall be made public," and that any manuscript "will be submitted to us for approval prior to publication."

What it shows

The questions were: what dust concentration causes asbestosis; whether it occurs without earlier infection; whether the scarring keeps getting worse after exposure ends; whether it comes from the silicon in asbestos or from its fibers; and whether "asbestos bodies" help in diagnosis. Brown also asked that all communications about the work go through him. From the start, the companies paying for the research kept the right to decide whether its findings would be published. Gardner accepted these terms three days later (Motley #228); the companies' own agreement is Motley #214.

In Johns-Manville's index

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

V. Brown letter to Dr. L. U. Gardner, 11/20/36, authorizing Dr. Gardner to commence the contemplated experiments with asbestos dust to determine more definitely the causes and effects of asbestosis. V. Brown outlines some of the questions which it is anticipated that Dr. Gardner's experiments will answer. The letter also sets forth the understanding with regard to the funding of these experiments and with regard to the publication of the results.

Related documents

• Asbestos Companies' Memorandum of Agreement to Underwrite Gardner's Dust Experiments (1936)
• Leroy Gardner to Vandiver Brown Accepting the Terms of the Saranac Asbestos Experiments (1936)
• Memorandum of Agreement Funding Gardner's Asbestos Experiments at Saranac Laboratory (1936)

About this copy

This is document 215 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-001302 to CRMC-Motley1000-Subj-001303.