Ward Burleson to J-M Attorney Andrea M. Guyer on What J-M Knew About Asbestosis Among Insulators (1974)

A typed copy of a three-page handwritten letter of December 12, 1974, from Ward Burleson, who had worked in Johns-Manville's sales side, to Andrea M. Guyer, an attorney at J-M's Denver headquarters, answering her questions about "what J-M people knew of the disease." Burleson recalls first hearing the word asbestosis between 1946 and 1950, when "I was told that asbestos fibre could cause a fibrosis of the lungs which was really not harmful," and that the first asbestosis case among insulators he knew of was in Newark about 1962, mentioned to him by J-M associate counsel Arthur Fisk. "We knew of no cancer link at the time, and as far as I know, did not until Dr. Selikoff brought it out."

What it shows

Burleson gives three reasons he thought the danger was not widely known: unions opposed physical examinations by employers, most deaths were probably not diagnosed as asbestosis, and claims were handled through workers' compensation and did not reach the manufacturer. He writes that after talks with Fisk and Dr. Kenneth Smith, J-M's Industrial Insulations Division decided to put warning labels on insulation cartons (1964), and that a proposal to label bags of mine cement at the mines "was resisted for some time by the Fibre Division, who felt there was no hazard." The copy is marked as obtained in anticipation of litigation, and was written for J-M's lawyers as the insulators' lawsuits grew.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

A typed copy of handwritten letter to Andrea M. Guyer from Ward Burleson, dated 12/12/74, outlines his recollection of Manville's knowledge of asbestosis and insulators Burleson recalls "the first asbestosis case among insulators... occurred in Newark around 1962." He was told that "asbestos fiber could cause a fibrosis of the lungs which was not harmful."

Editor's note: The chronology quotes Burleson as saying the fibrosis was "not harmful." The letter reads "which was really not harmful."