Vandiver Brown to Sumner Simpson on Giving Asbestosis "the Minimum of Publicity" (1935)

A one-page letter of October 3, 1935, from Vandiver Brown, Johns-Manville's attorney, to Sumner Simpson, president of Raybestos-Manhattan, answering Simpson's letter about the request from "Asbestos" magazine. Brown wrote: "I quite agree with you that our interests are best served by having asbestosis receive the minimum of publicity." If the companies ever allowed an article, he thought "we should warn the editors to use American data on the subject rather than English," because Dr. Lanza had told him that the disease in North America was "considerably milder than that reported in England and South Africa." He suggested Miss Rossiter's question be taken up at the committee meeting the next Tuesday.

What it shows

The two companies agreed to keep asbestosis out of the trade magazine for the time being, and Brown proposed that anything printed later should rely on the milder American picture rather than the British findings. A handwritten note at the foot, initialed and dated October 8, 1935, appears to record that someone would see Stover, the magazine's publisher, about publicity. Simpson's letter is here, and the magazine's request here.

How Manville answered it in 1983

Play the film from 12:42: Manville: The Asbestos Issue (1983) from 12:42

What the video leaves out is in the same papers. A week before that January meeting, the two companies agreed to keep Metropolitan Life's dust reports confidential (minutes of December 29, 1933). Before the Lanza study was published, Brown asked Dr. Lanza to restore passages favorable to the industry (December 10, 1934) and returned the galley proof asking that its unfavorable aspects not be darkened (December 21, 1934). And the magazine's own letter says it had printed nothing on asbestosis at Simpson's request (September 25, 1935).

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

Acknowledges receipt of Simpson's letter dated 10/1/35 regarding "Asbestos" magazine. Agrees with Simpson that interests are best served by minimum of publicity about asbestosis. States that if approval to publish articles is ever given, it should be clear that American data, not British is to be used. Dr. Lanza has remarked that clinical picture, in North America is considerably milder than in England and South Africa.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to Vandiver Brown on Asbestos Magazine's Request to Write about Asbestosis (1935)
• Asbestos Magazine to Sumner Simpson on Publishing about Asbestosis (1935)
• Sumner Simpson to Julian Mitchell Arranging to See Vandiver Brown (1935)
• Sumner Simpson and Vandiver Brown on Asbestosis Articles in Asbestos Magazine (1935–1941)

About this copy

This is document 02744-02745 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.