Asbestos Timeline: The 1940s

Every dated document we have published from the 1940s, year by year: 140 from the Simpson Papers, 138 from the J-M chronology, 34 from the Motley 1000. Each line links to the document itself. For the story these documents tell, read the 1940s on our history page.

Key documents

• January 12, 1940. Vandiver Brown sends Sumner Simpson Dr. Lanza's view that Gardner's findings would take asbestos "out of the free silica class as an industrial hazard." Read it
• January 17, 1940. Vandiver Brown authorizes Dr. Gardner to continue the asbestos dust experiments through 1940 under the 1936 agreement's terms. Read it
• February 6, 1940. Reviewing Gardner's interim report, Canadian J-M's C. M. McGaw advises discussing it only confidentially at the producers' meeting and giving it no further publicity. Read it
• June 25, 1940. At Vandiver Brown's suggestion, the Manville plant manager asks the company doctor to keep Steve Kardos from learning of his probable asbestosis; the doctor refuses. Read it
• February 13, 1941. Begert calls a worker's claim one of "those annoying cases" and asks about a compensation bill J-M is preparing with other business interests. Read it
• September 1941. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation's digest gives members an abstract of Nordmann and Sorge's German report of lung cancer in mice that breathed asbestos dust. Read it
• November 3, 1941. Vandiver Brown tells Sumner Simpson he warned Asbestos magazine's editor that subscribers would dislike a review of a pneumoconiosis book, and expects her to drop it. Read it
• November 5, 1941. Dr. Gardner tells Vandiver Brown that short-fiber asbestos still appears inactive and that he expects to show asbestosis does not progress once exposure stops. Read it
• 1942. Unarco's lawyer and two plant managers meet J-M's Vandiver Brown, who, Roemer later swears, says J-M does not tell workers of their X-ray findings. Read it
• 1942. Two Queens pathologists report lung cancer with asbestosis in two long-time asbestos pipe coverers, the ninth and tenth such cases in the literature. Read it
• February 24, 1943. Leroy Gardner sends J-M's Vandiver Brown an outline of his asbestosis findings that notes excess lung cancer, and proposes leaving the cancer question out of the report. Read it
• March 8, 1943. Keasbey & Mattison sends Turner & Newall Gardner's monograph outline, saying the reference to cancer susceptibility should be left out of the report as inconclusive. Read it
• March 15, 1943. Leroy Gardner tells the National Cancer Institute he was "startled" to find lung cancer in most of his asbestos-dusted mice and asks for a grant to repeat the test. Read it
• March 16, 1943. Sumner Simpson's office acknowledges Gardner's monograph outline, which reports an excessive rate of lung cancer in asbestos workers and in asbestos-dusted mice. Read it
• June 17, 1943. Keasbey & Mattison forwards Gardner's letter to Vandiver Brown saying asbestos and cancer is unsettled and that he will "say nothing" about his mouse findings for now. Read it
• January 3, 1944. Vandiver Brown asks that a bibliography citing lung cancer in asbestos workers be cut from a report meant for Quebec's compensation authorities. Read it
• January 31, 1944. Dr. Gardner agrees to name no particular employer when he publishes his review of the Manheim workers' X-ray films. Read it
• May 17, 1944. Gardner asks to review Canadian J-M's X-rays; the Quebec manager approves, writing that the company's main interest is in "favorable findings" for Gardner's book. Read it
• October 12, 1944. Vandiver Brown and Leroy Gardner agree that California's proposed warning label for asbestos and silica dust is "absurd." Read it
• 1945. Asked by New Jersey to survey Manville for the War Production Board, J-M's insurer Metropolitan Life finds the asbestosis hazard controlled, and the case is closed. Read it
• January 1946. A Navy-sponsored survey of 1,074 shipyard pipe coverers finds three asbestosis cases and concludes pipe covering is not a dangerous occupation. Read it
• April 18, 1946. An asbestos textile maker urges Vandiver Brown to see that Gardner's final report says invisible dust caused no permanent injury and drops any mention of cancer. Read it
• May 8, 1946. Leroy Gardner tells J-M that over 80 percent of Saranac's asbestos-exposed mice developed lung tumors and urges an outside review of J-M workers' X-rays. Read it
• August 9, 1946. J. F. D. Rohrbach asks Vandiver Brown whether Dr. Gardner can write "a few simple conclusions" before his full report, saying he "owes a great deal to the industry." Read it
• August 12, 1946. Thomas Gatke urges Raybestos-Manhattan to press for Gardner's report, wanting its findings "without injections of possibilities of cancer" to answer doctors' claims in court. Read it
• November 12, 1946. After Gardner's death, Vandiver Brown asks Saranac's staff to finish the asbestos report and reminds them the results belong to the sponsors and need their approval. Read it
• January 21, 1947. Vandiver Brown tells Dr. Lanza he hopes the completed Gardner report will leave out any relation between asbestos dust and cancer. Read it
• March 12, 1947. Told that 81.8 percent of Gardner's long-fiber mice developed lung cancer, Vandiver Brown says he is "very much concerned"; Saranac shows he received the finding in 1943. Read it
• June 18, 1947. An Industrial Hygiene Foundation engineer tells the asbestos textile industry that the five-million-particle dust limit may not prevent asbestosis and urges X-rays of all exposed workers. Read it
• December 29, 1947. Johns-Manville learns that a Waukegan superintendent's autopsy showed asbestosis; Saranac's Arthur Vorwald confirms it and warns that others with similar exposure may be affected. Read it
• April 19, 1948. Vandiver Brown reminds Raybestos-Manhattan that Gardner's results cannot be published without the sponsors' approval and suggests a small committee review the coming report. Read it
• September 30, 1948. The Saranac Laboratory sends Johns-Manville a confidential report on twenty years of animal experiments with asbestos dust. Read it
• October 22, 1948. Vandiver Brown proposes removing the tumor findings from the Saranac report, noting that 9 of 11 mice exposed to long-fiber dust had lung tumors. Read it
• November 12, 1948. After a meeting of the sponsors, Vandiver Brown writes that they unanimously agreed references to cancer and tumors must be deleted from the Saranac report. Read it
• November 16, 1948. Arthur Vorwald tells Owens-Illinois that Kaylo dust has produced asbestosis in every animal exposed more than 30 months, reversing Saranac's earlier tentative finding. Read it
• 1949. A Canadian J-M survey of 708 mill workers finds 7 with asbestosis and 52 more with advanced fibrosis; the men with asbestosis have not been told. Read it
• January 1949. Britain's Chief Inspector of Factories reports lung cancer in 13.2 percent of asbestosis deaths, against 1.32 percent of silicosis deaths. Read it
• February 3, 1949. Dr. Kenneth Smith's X-ray survey of 708 Quebec mill workers finds dust-caused lung changes in most and notes that men with asbestosis have not been told. Read it
• March 3, 1949. Vandiver Brown sends the sponsors the revised Saranac report, which he says adopts all their suggestions; the draft's mouse lung tumors no longer appear. Read it

1940

• 1940. An internal J-M report reviews 1938 to 1939, noting the company became self-insured for workers' compensation and counting the savings. Read it (J-M chronology)
• 1940. A list of ships built and repaired at Ingalls Shipbuilding records each hull's dates and insulation subcontractor. Read it (Motley 1000)
• January 3, 1940. R. B. Davis asks Dr. Albert S. Gray of the Connecticut health department to put off his visit to the Stratford plant until February. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 3, 1940. R. B. Davis asks W. E. Casey to make improvements at Stratford wherever possible before Dr. Gray's inspection. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 8, 1940. Sumner Simpson sends O. H. Cilley at Manheim a copy of Dr. Gardner's interim report and suggests his doctor read it. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 9, 1940. Dr. Albert S. Gray agrees to wait until February to arrange his visit to Raybestos-Manhattan's Stratford plant. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 9, 1940. Metropolitan Life bills Raybestos-Manhattan $67.60 for the travel expenses of its recent survey of the company's plant. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 9, 1940. W. H. Dunn, Raybestos-Manhattan's comptroller, notes that the company's arrangement with Dr. Gardner will continue for another year. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 10, 1940. Sumner Simpson pays Metropolitan Life's travel bill for its plant survey and says Raybestos-Manhattan has already put some of its suggestions into effect. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 12, 1940. Sumner Simpson sends O. H. Cilley the minutes of the Air Hygiene Foundation's November meeting to pass to Dr. Metzger. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 12, 1940. Vandiver Brown sends Sumner Simpson Dr. Lanza's view that Gardner's findings would take asbestos "out of the free silica class as an industrial hazard." Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 15, 1940. Vandiver Brown tells Sumner Simpson that two sponsors have dropped out of the Saranac experiments, raising the four main sponsors' 1940 shares to $1,000. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 16, 1940. Sumner Simpson sends his division heads at North Charleston and Manheim copies of Vandiver Brown's letter with Dr. Lanza's comments. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 16, 1940. Sumner Simpson sends J. H. Matthews at Passaic an Air Hygiene Foundation report, to be passed on to Mr. Heinsohn at Charleston. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 16, 1940. Sumner Simpson tells Vandiver Brown that Raybestos-Manhattan will pay $1,000 toward Dr. Gardner's experiments for 1940. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 16, 1940. Sumner Simpson thanks Vandiver Brown for the copy of Dr. Lanza's comments on Gardner's results. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 17, 1940. Vandiver Brown authorizes Dr. Gardner to continue the asbestos dust experiments through 1940 under the 1936 agreement's terms. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 19, 1940. Dr. Gardner thanks Sumner Simpson after Vandiver Brown tells him the sponsors will pay for another year of the Saranac asbestosis experiments. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 19, 1940. W. H. Dunn notes that Raybestos-Manhattan's share of the Saranac experiments for 1940 will be $1,000 instead of $666.67. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 22, 1940. Sumner Simpson asks Dr. Alfred Kornblut of Bridgeport for a written opinion on the value of Gardner's Saranac experiments and what further work the industry should fund. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 23, 1940. Metropolitan Life's Dr. McConnell acknowledges Raybestos-Manhattan's $67.60 check for the travel expenses of its plant survey. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 25, 1940. J. H. Matthews tells Sumner Simpson that the Passaic doctor, safety engineer and he have read the Air Hygiene Foundation report and sent it on to Charleston. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 25, 1940. Vandiver Brown welcomes Southern Asbestos's decision to share another year of Gardner's experiments and says Johns-Manville will keep paying Saranac and billing the other sponsors. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• February 6, 1940. Reviewing Gardner's interim report, Canadian J-M's C. M. McGaw advises discussing it only confidentially at the producers' meeting and giving it no further publicity. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 6, 1940. J. H. Matthews asks where the Air Hygiene Foundation report should go next; Simpson's secretary says Manheim and Stratford already have copies and Charleston can keep its own. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• February 16, 1940. Manville plant manager J. E. Begert recommends retiring Edward Shanahan, who is not improving, and seeking total disability payments for him from Travelers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 1, 1940. R. B. Davis thanks B. F. Postman of the Connecticut health department for touring the Raybestos plant and lecturing there. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• March 13, 1940. R. B. Davis sends the state health department's B. F. Postman a Bridgeport Life article on safety at the Raybestos plant. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• March 13, 1940. W. E. Casey passes on the Foremen's Club's thanks to state industrial hygiene engineer B. F. Postman for his lecture on industrial hygiene. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• March 18, 1940. Raybestos-Manhattan pays Johns-Manville $250, its share of the Saranac experiments for the first quarter of 1940. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• March 28, 1940. O. H. Cilley tells Sumner Simpson that he or the Manheim plant's medical director, Dr. Metzger, will attend the New England Health Institute in April. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 1940. The Air Hygiene Foundation's Digest abstracts Gardner's article reporting that long asbestos fibres, not finely ground asbestos, produced lung fibrosis in Saranac's animal experiments. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 1940. The Air Hygiene Foundation sends members the proceedings of its fourth fall meeting on the medical, engineering, legal and public relations sides of industrial health. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 2, 1940. Sumner Simpson sends Passaic the New England Health Institute's industrial hygiene program and suggests someone from the plant attend. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 2, 1940. Sumner Simpson asks Dr. Gardner which dusts he will discuss at the New England Health Institute, so he can choose which Raybestos-Manhattan men to send. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 5, 1940. Dr. Gardner tells Sumner Simpson his Hartford talk will treat free silica and asbestos individually and all other dusts generally, enclosing an outline. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 6, 1940. J. H. Matthews tells Sumner Simpson that Passaic will send a representative to the industrial hygiene lectures at Hartford. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 8, 1940. Connecticut's Bureau of Occupational Diseases tells Raybestos-Manhattan that asbestos dust escapes at the Stratford trim pulverizer and asks for better dust control at three other stations. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 17, 1940. A J-M purchasing bulletin lists respirator and goggle suppliers and prices for its district offices, plants and home insulation units. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 19, 1940. J. F. Fenning reports to Raybestos-Manhattan's managers on the Hartford talks by Gardner on dusts, Schwartz on dermatitis, Yant on respirators and Postman on dust control. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• May 3, 1940. W. E. Casey lays out Raybestos-Manhattan's planned dust controls at the pulverizer, bagging stations, roto-can and weighing station in answer to the state survey. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• May 10, 1940. Vandiver Brown complains to Sumner Simpson that Gardner is publishing results of the industry-funded experiments "without seeking our advance approval." Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 3, 1940. Sumner Simpson congratulates Dr. Gardner on the honor to be conferred on him by the American Association of Industrial Physicians and Surgeons. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• June 17, 1940. Frank Smutko sues Johns-Manville, saying asbestos dust at the Manville plant made him ill; the case is settled in 1941. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 17, 1940. Raybestos-Manhattan pays Johns-Manville $250 toward the Saranac Laboratory experiments for the second quarter of 1940. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• June 25, 1940. At Vandiver Brown's suggestion, the Manville plant manager asks the company doctor to keep Steve Kardos from learning of his probable asbestosis; the doctor refuses. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 26, 1940. The Manville plant doctor reports examining the whole workforce, noting that "a great many" workers with asbestosis show no progress since their 1932 X-rays. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 21, 1940. Vandiver Brown drafts J-M's answer to North American Aviation: Stonefelt may cause a slight rash but will not cause silicosis or any lung disorder. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 4, 1940. J-M headquarters holds up its North American Aviation letter and narrows its claims about experience with Stonefelt and the Harvard tests. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 12, 1940. Metropolitan Life's Dr. Lanza reads a Manville worker's X-ray as asbestosis; plant manager Begert calls it "a Class A problem" and worries about "shyster attorneys." Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 20, 1940. Sumner Simpson's office sends the comptroller Johns-Manville's bill for the third quarter 1940 payment on the Saranac asbestosis study. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• September 25, 1940. Raybestos-Manhattan pays Johns-Manville $250 toward the Saranac Laboratory experiments for the third quarter of 1940. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 15, 1940. Metropolitan Life signals it will stop reading J-M's Jarratt pre-employment X-rays but will still help interpret films in dust disease claims. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 13, 1940. Sumner Simpson's secretary acknowledges Vandiver Brown's letter of the 12th about Dr. Gardner's asbestos dust experiments while Simpson is away. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 17, 1940. W. W. Kievit sends Johns-Manville Raybestos-Manhattan's $250 check for the fourth quarter of 1940 toward the Saranac Laboratory asbestos experiments. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 17, 1940. W. W. Kievit tells Simpson's office that Raybestos-Manhattan is paying Johns-Manville's fourth quarter 1940 bill for the Saranac experiments. Read it (Simpson Papers)

1941

• 1941. A site plan of the Manhattan Rubber Division's Passaic factory shows its buildings and the years they were built. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 3, 1941. A lawyer for Manville worker Joseph Kopicki tells J-M he has proof of silicosis from his work; Vandiver Brown asks the plant for its records. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 3, 1941. Vandiver Brown tells Sumner Simpson that four sponsors will keep paying for Dr. Gardner's asbestos dust experiments in 1941 and asks whether Raybestos-Manhattan will. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 14, 1941. With Sumner Simpson away after his wife's death, J. F. D. Rohrbach renews Raybestos-Manhattan's $1,000 pledge for Gardner's asbestos experiments in 1941. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 14, 1941. J. F. D. Rohrbach sends W. H. Dunn the Saranac pledge letters and a Gardner report, to be read at Passaic and Manheim and returned to Simpson. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 15, 1941. Vandiver Brown thanks J. F. D. Rohrbach for renewing Raybestos-Manhattan's $1,000 pledge toward Dr. Gardner's asbestos dust experiments for 1941. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• February 13, 1941. Begert calls a worker's claim one of "those annoying cases" and asks about a compensation bill J-M is preparing with other business interests. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 12, 1941. The Air Hygiene Foundation asks J-M for figures showing industrial hygiene's value in dollars; a J-M note says it has none yet. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 31, 1941. Charles T. Young tells Sumner Simpson the Passaic plant has no unused dust collector to lend and may need to enlarge one of its own. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 3, 1941. Sumner Simpson's secretary sends W. H. Dunn the approved Johns-Manville invoice for the first quarter 1941 payment toward the Saranac asbestosis study. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 4, 1941. W. W. Kievit acknowledges the $250 Johns-Manville bill for the first quarter of 1941 and says payment will go out April 7. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 7, 1941. W. W. Kievit sends Johns-Manville Raybestos-Manhattan's $250 check for the first quarter of 1941 toward the Saranac Laboratory experiments. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• May 16, 1941. A. R. Fisher and Vandiver Brown draft a reply to the Manville Board of Health on local air conditions, telling Begert to make no admissions. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 24, 1941. R. B. Davis invites Connecticut's Dr. Albert S. Gray, or his engineer Mr. Postman, to see the Raybestos Division's new Roto-Clone dust collecting system. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• June 26, 1941. Dr. Leroy Gardner asks Sumner Simpson who in the industry knows about the effects of water and dilute alkalies on asbestos, for the Saranac asbestosis study. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• July 18, 1941. Sumner Simpson sends Dr. Gardner a company laboratory report on water and alkalies and asbestos, and invites him to meet the Stratford chemists. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• July 24, 1941. Begert tells Vandiver Brown that sick workers' cases "get troublesome only when they see their payments are going to run out." Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 1941. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation's digest gives members an abstract of Nordmann and Sorge's German report of lung cancer in mice that breathed asbestos dust. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• September 18, 1941. Asked by Douglas Aircraft about workers' itching, Vandiver Brown drafts a reply saying J-M's Stonefelt insulation cannot cause silicosis or any lung disorder. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 19, 1941. Vandiver Brown agrees J-M will help defend a shipyard insulation worker's suit, to avoid any court decision "establishing our material as a hazardous product." Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 17, 1941. Silva v. Hopeman Brothers, a shipyard insulation case J-M helped defend, ends in a hung jury after a twelve-day trial. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 31, 1941. Sumner Simpson asks the John B. Pierce Foundation for two copies of its new report "Pneumoconiosis (Silicosis) The Story of Dusty Lungs." Read it (Simpson Papers)
• October 31, 1941. Sumner Simpson passes a letter from Asbestos magazine's editor to Vandiver Brown to handle, and asks whether Gardner has reported on the dust experiments. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 3, 1941. Vandiver Brown asks Leroy Gardner for the final report on the industry-funded Saranac asbestos experiments; Gardner promises an update after the new year. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 3, 1941. Vandiver Brown tells Sumner Simpson he warned Asbestos magazine's editor that subscribers would dislike a review of a pneumoconiosis book, and expects her to drop it. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 4, 1941. The John B. Pierce Foundation sends Sumner Simpson two copies of the book "Pneumoconiosis (Silicosis) The Story of Dusty Lungs." Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 5, 1941. Dr. Gardner tells Vandiver Brown that short-fiber asbestos still appears inactive and that he expects to show asbestosis does not progress once exposure stops. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 7, 1941. Vandiver Brown agrees that Dr. Gardner may continue part of the asbestos dust exposures a few months past the end of 1941. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 14, 1941. Sumner Simpson thanks the John B. Pierce Foundation for two copies of its book on silicosis. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 14, 1941. Sumner Simpson sends O. H. Cilley at Manheim a book on silicosis, to be read by Cilley and Luttenberger and then passed to Heinsohn. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 19, 1941. Johns-Manville's credit department reminds Raybestos-Manhattan that a $250 September account, which the index ties to the Saranac payments, is now due. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 4, 1941. Johns-Manville's auditor asks Raybestos-Manhattan to verify its account, showing the third-quarter Saranac charge and a $500 payment. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 8, 1941. Simpson's secretary asks comptroller W. H. Dunn whether Johns-Manville's statement reflects an overlooked Saranac invoice. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 9, 1941. W. H. Dunn reports that Raybestos-Manhattan paid both $250 Saranac invoices with one check on September 23, 1941. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 16, 1941. J-M's list of pending claims for its auditors includes a rock wool dust suit and lung disease claims at its Lompoc and Alexandria plants. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 24, 1941. W. W. Kievit sends Johns-Manville the dates of Raybestos-Manhattan's four 1941 Saranac payments and asks it to correct its records. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 27, 1941. Lorenzo Valentino's lawyer seeks a settlement; J-M's records show its own 1932 X-rays found silicosis in him that had since progressed. Read it (J-M chronology)

1942

• 1942. Unarco's lawyer and two plant managers meet J-M's Vandiver Brown, who, Roemer later swears, says J-M does not tell workers of their X-ray findings. Read it (J-M chronology)
• 1942. Two New York pathologists report lung cancer with asbestosis in two pipe coverers, bringing the recorded cases to ten. Read it (J-M chronology)
• 1942. Two Queens pathologists report lung cancer with asbestosis in two long-time asbestos pipe coverers, the ninth and tenth such cases in the literature. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 10, 1942. Vandiver Brown tells Sumner Simpson that Dr. Gardner has finished the asbestos experiments and expects a final report by late summer. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• June 12, 1942. Sumner Simpson thanks Vandiver Brown for Dr. Gardner's letter and says he looks forward to the report. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• September 24, 1942. Vandiver Brown tells the Industrial Hygiene Foundation that complaints of infections from handling wet asbestos shingles sound like "a mare's nest." Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 7, 1942. Sumner Simpson tells Dr. Gardner that several manufacturers are asking how his asbestos report is coming along. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• October 8, 1942. The manager of J-M's Manville plant reports that workers are leaving because they are afraid of the dust in some departments. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 13, 1942. Sumner Simpson sends Vandiver Brown Dr. Gardner's letter saying war work has cost him staff and the final asbestos report may come this winter. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• October 14, 1942. Vandiver Brown tells Sumner Simpson that two sponsoring companies are impatient for Gardner's final report, but the delay can be justified. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 2, 1942. Two workers ask about their chest X-rays; J-M's industrial relations manager sends the plates for Dr. Gardner's review and asks Vandiver Brown what to tell the men. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 7, 1942. At a Maritime Commission and Navy conference, Philip Drinker warns shipbuilders that asbestosis is expected where asbestos is installed with little or no precaution. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 29, 1942. E. H. Jeffords tells Sumner Simpson that, on his telephoned instructions, he has written Dr. Lanza and William Fehnel of Metropolitan Life about a former worker's claim. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 29, 1942. Expecting an asbestosis suit by a former worker, Raybestos-Manhattan asks Metropolitan Life's Dr. Lanza for the help that had been "so invaluable" before. Read it (J-M chronology)

1943

• January 7, 1943. A shipyard doctor and Britain's Dr. Merewether agree that removing old asbestos from ships under repair is "a definite hazard." Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 21, 1943. E. H. Jeffords asks Metropolitan Life for a new dust survey of the North Charleston plant, to be run by J. William Fehnel as before. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• February 1, 1943. O. H. Cilley sends Sumner Simpson the Industrial Hygiene Foundation's offer to study further cutting dust at the Manheim textile mill. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• February 3, 1943. E. H. Jeffords tells Sumner Simpson that Metropolitan Life has approved a resurvey of the North Charleston plant, planned for April. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• February 12, 1943. Owens-Illinois research director U. E. Bowes asks Saranac's Leroy Gardner whether its new calcium silicate insulation is a hazard to plant workers and installers. Read it (Motley 1000)
• February 23, 1943. Leroy Gardner tells Owens-Illinois its calcium silicate samples may cause respiratory trouble and advises respirators for exposed pilot plant workers. Read it (Motley 1000)
• February 24, 1943. Leroy Gardner sends J-M's Vandiver Brown an outline of his asbestosis findings that notes excess lung cancer, and proposes leaving the cancer question out of the report. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 4, 1943. J. F. D. Rohrbach asks E. H. Jeffords to have Geilfuss and Heinsohn at North Charleston check an enclosed statement for accuracy. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• March 8, 1943. Keasbey & Mattison sends Turner & Newall Gardner's monograph outline, saying the reference to cancer susceptibility should be left out of the report as inconclusive. Read it (Motley 1000)
• March 12, 1943. Leroy Gardner learns the Owens-Illinois insulation contains chrysotile and warns that quartz and asbestos are "all the ingredients for a first class hazard." Read it (Motley 1000)
• March 15, 1943. Leroy Gardner tells the National Cancer Institute he was "startled" to find lung cancer in most of his asbestos-dusted mice and asks for a grant to repeat the test. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 16, 1943. Sumner Simpson's office acknowledges Gardner's monograph outline, which reports an excessive rate of lung cancer in asbestos workers and in asbestos-dusted mice. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• March 20, 1943. The National Advisory Cancer Council invites Leroy Gardner to apply for a grant to study "the carcinogenic effect of asbestos dust." Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 2, 1943. Dr. Linn J. Boyd of New York Medical College asks Raybestos-Manhattan for its asbestos specifications and any data on asbestosis as an industrial hazard. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• June 3, 1943. Leroy Gardner applies to the National Cancer Institute for $10,000 to study the relationship of asbestosis to lung cancer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 8, 1943. Sumner Simpson's secretary acknowledges Dr. Linn J. Boyd's request and says Simpson will answer on his return. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• June 14, 1943. A Seattle insulation trade group asks Washington State to delete its proposed asbestosis safety rule, calling the disease foreign and claimants "parasites." Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 17, 1943. Keasbey & Mattison forwards Gardner's letter to Vandiver Brown saying asbestos and cancer is unsettled and that he will "say nothing" about his mouse findings for now. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 17, 1943. Gardner's cancer grant application misses the Council's June meeting and is held over until the fall. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 18, 1943. A. S. Rossiter of Asbestos magazine sends Sumner Simpson the Northwest Magnesia Association's letter against Washington State's asbestosis rule. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 22, 1943. Sumner Simpson sends Dr. Boyd analyses of two asbestos types and refers him to Metropolitan Life, which he says knows more about asbestos dust than anyone. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• June 24, 1943. Vandiver Brown tells Sumner Simpson he will leave the Northwest Magnesia Association to learn about asbestosis from Washington State and simply file its letter. Read it (Motley 1000)
• September 1943. A Yale pathologist counts 19 reported cases of lung cancer with asbestosis but finds no reliable answer yet on whether asbestosis causes the cancer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 13, 1943. The National Advisory Cancer Council asks Gardner for a short statement on asbestosis to put before its members with his grant application. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 29, 1943. Leroy Gardner tells the National Advisory Cancer Council the Navy has "a real problem" with asbestos insulation and the cancer question cannot be neglected much longer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 7, 1943. Sumner Simpson asks George Weber whether he has Metropolitan Life's report on its last dust examination at Manheim. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 7, 1943. Sumner Simpson asks George Weber for details of the Manheim hospital's X-ray machine, saying cost has kept the company from buying one for years. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 8, 1943. George Weber tells Sumner Simpson he has Metropolitan Life's report on its February 1943 Manheim survey and offers to bring it to New York. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 13, 1943. Sumner Simpson wires George Weber to bring Metropolitan Life's Manheim report to New York. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 30, 1943. W. H. Dunn sends the Industrial Hygiene Foundation Raybestos-Manhattan's $200 dues for 1944. Read it (Simpson Papers)

1944

• 1944. A draft reply for Owens-Corning says glass fibers are harmless to the lungs and suggests blaming a worker's condition on asbestos products. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 3, 1944. Vandiver Brown asks that a bibliography citing lung cancer in asbestos workers be cut from a report meant for Quebec's compensation authorities. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 8, 1944. Leroy Gardner asks Vandiver Brown for J-M's series of chest X-rays on Manville workers to study how asbestosis progresses. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 10, 1944. The National Advisory Cancer Council declines Gardner's request for $10,000 to study asbestosis and lung cancer in mice. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 10, 1944. Vandiver Brown forwards to Sumner Simpson Dr. Gardner's January 6 letter on the delayed asbestos report. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 12, 1944. Dr. Leroy Gardner asks Sumner Simpson to let him study years of Manheim workers' chest X-rays for his asbestosis monograph. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 13, 1944. Sumner Simpson thanks Vandiver Brown for Dr. Gardner's letter on the delayed report: "He certainly is slow." Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 17, 1944. O. H. Cilley reports that, after the Metropolitan Life report, Manheim has asked for a consulting engineer to check its dust control and for new air tests. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 19, 1944. Sumner Simpson lets Leroy Gardner review Raybestos-Manhattan's Manheim X-rays on condition that the company is not named in his report. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 20, 1944. O. H. Cilley tells Sumner Simpson he is arranging a study of improvements to the Manheim textile equipment. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 20, 1944. O. H. Cilley tells Sumner Simpson he is arranging for an Industrial Hygiene Foundation engineer to check the Manheim dust removal system. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 21, 1944. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation thanks Raybestos-Manhattan for its $200 dues for 1944 and reports 255 member companies. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 28, 1944. Vandiver Brown tells Continental Can that Stonefelt rock wool irritates the skin only mechanically and that workers quickly become immune. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 31, 1944. Dr. Gardner agrees to name no particular employer when he publishes his review of the Manheim workers' X-ray films. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• February 14, 1944. A J-M manager asks that workers' X-rays go quickly to Dr. Gardner in compensation cases and proposes educating Lompoc workers out of their fear of dust. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 28, 1944. Gardner tells Ivan Sabourin that asbestosis does not predispose to tuberculosis, citing one U.S. plant where asbestosis rose from 40% to over 80% of workers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 7, 1944. Vandiver Brown drafts J-M's answer to an aircraft maker asking whether Stonefelt insulation causes dermatitis, saying workers quickly develop an "immunity." Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 10, 1944. Sumner Simpson sends A. F. Heinsohn a draft letter to a Dr. Smith, to mail or revise. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 18, 1944. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation sends Raybestos-Manhattan its report on dust at the Manheim plant and plans to continue the study. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• May 2, 1944. O. H. Cilley reports Industrial Hygiene Foundation dust counts at Raybestos-Manhattan's Manheim mill, with the Picker House above 5 million particles per cubic foot. Read it (Motley 1000)
• May 5, 1944. Sumner Simpson thanks O. H. Cilley for the Manheim dust report and suggests a later check by Metropolitan Life. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• May 17, 1944. Gardner asks to review Canadian J-M's X-rays; the Quebec manager approves, writing that the company's main interest is in "favorable findings" for Gardner's book. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 31, 1944. Leroy Gardner reports that finely ground Owens-Illinois calcium silicate caused an asbestosis-like reaction in guinea pigs and could be dangerous. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 29, 1944. Sumner Simpson sends his plant managers a Wall Street Journal article on inhaled aluminum powder as a treatment for silicosis. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• July 1944. Saranac's doctors read Canadian J-M workers' chest X-rays, noting many lung changes but calling only a few compatible with early asbestosis. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 1, 1944. O. H. Cilley acknowledges the aluminum dust article and forwards it to A. F. Heinsohn. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• July 15, 1944. After reading 200 to 300 X-rays at Asbestos, Quebec, Gardner reports only two questionable cases of asbestosis and calls the disease rare there. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 20, 1944. Vandiver Brown tells Sumner Simpson he has approved Dr. Gardner's plan to add North American clinical and X-ray experience to his delayed report. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• July 25, 1944. A sponsoring company's president backs adding Gardner's Quebec X-ray findings to the final report, even at extra cost. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 28, 1944. Sumner Simpson's office acknowledges Vandiver Brown's July 20 letter on Gardner's proposal while Simpson is away. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• August 7, 1944. Sumner Simpson, through his secretary, tells Vandiver Brown he agrees with Dr. Gardner's proposal to widen his report. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• August 15, 1944. A company survey finds women in Canadian J-M's textile department have the plant's highest absence rate, blaming dust, poor ventilation and illness, including tuberculosis. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 9, 1944. Bell Asbestos shares with Canadian J-M a union brief citing sick miners and denied compensation claims, and its own reply that dust is no appreciable hazard. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 12, 1944. Vandiver Brown and Leroy Gardner agree that California's proposed warning label for asbestos and silica dust is "absurd." Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 27, 1944. A Quebec government survey finds dust in Canadian J-M's textile plant up to seven times the accepted limit and calls for better exhaust and housekeeping. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 16, 1944. J-M, Raybestos-Manhattan and other asbestos textile makers form the Asbestos Textile Institute, with a first-year budget of $20,000. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 16, 1944. O. H. Cilley reports that Pennsylvania's industrial hygiene bureau found the Manheim plant's dust levels mostly under 5 million particles per cubic foot. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 17, 1944. New Jersey's health department finds dust problems in the Manville textile department and notes the fiber count may matter more than total dust. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 21, 1944. A Toledo doctor tells Owens-Corning Fiberglas that a longtime insulation pipe coverer has asbestosis from years of asbestos dust, not from Fiberglas. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 21, 1944. Owens-Illinois asks Saranac to study whether its Berlin, New Jersey, insulation is a hazard to the workers who make it and to those who install it. Read it (Motley 1000)
• November 24, 1944. O. H. Cilley sends Sumner Simpson Pennsylvania's survey finding the Manheim textile mill within the 5 million particle limit, with two points slightly over. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 24, 1944. Sumner Simpson thanks O. H. Cilley for his letter on the state's dust analysis at Manheim. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 27, 1944. Leroy Gardner proposes a $5,000-a-year animal study of Kaylo dust for Owens-Illinois, noting that nothing will be published without the company's authorization. Read it (Motley 1000)
• December 15, 1944. Vandiver Brown tells Keasbey & Mattison that Gardner still cannot write his promised asbestosis monograph but is continuing his experiments. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 19, 1944. Canadian J-M's doctor reports that men cleaning bags of South African blue asbestos suffer almost constant asthma attacks and asks whether other plants have seen this. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 26, 1944. A. F. Heinsohn returns Cilley's Manheim letter and proposes a new dust count at North Charleston by Metropolitan Life or another agency. Read it (Simpson Papers)

1945

• 1945. A Navy shipboard electrical handbook gives specifications for asbestos-insulated cable with no safety information. Read it (Motley 1000)
• 1945. Asked by New Jersey to survey Manville for the War Production Board, J-M's insurer Metropolitan Life finds the asbestosis hazard controlled, and the case is closed. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 26, 1945. Headquarters tells Canadian J-M's doctor no other plant has had breathing problems from blue-fibre bags and suggests better instruction, then respirators. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 12, 1945. J-M's Lompoc diatomaceous earth plant lists fifteen years of dust-control work and says employees must wear respirators "where the need is indicated." Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 5, 1945. Vandiver Brown reports that Gardner is still trying to learn why U.S. asbestos factories show more lung disease than the Canadian mines. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 29, 1945. A J-M executive urges keeping the Quebec company doctor on as a consultant because of the number of asbestosis cases expected in the next few years. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 1945. Britain's Chief Inspector of Factories warns that shipyard asbestos insulation work puts workers at risk of asbestosis and calls for respirators and dust control. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 13, 1945. Vandiver Brown welcomes Gardner's theory on why textile dust is more harmful than mill dust and notes J-M has never had a medical director. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 14, 1945. Canadian J-M reports that workers cleaning foreign-fibre jute bags still suffer hay-fever-like reactions and asks that factories stop sending the bags. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 14, 1945. The Thermal Insulation Contractors Association asks Britain's Chief Inspector of Factories for seventy more copies of his asbestos warning for its members. Read it (Motley 1000)
• November 15, 1945. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation circulates a digest of its first round-table conference of plant engineers on dust control and ventilation. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 7, 1945. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation bills Raybestos-Manhattan for its 1946 membership and promises studies on working conditions. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 11, 1945. Dr. Leroy Gardner tells Sumner Simpson the asbestosis monograph is still delayed and asks Raybestos-Manhattan to help fund a $100,000 laboratory addition. Read it (Simpson Papers)

1946

• 1946. A J-M hiring guide for home insulation crews advises against hiring men who have had silicosis or other lung disease that job dust might aggravate. Read it (J-M chronology)
• 1946. Manville plant worker Joseph Slovak sues J-M over pneumoconiosis, claiming it never warned him about the dust; J-M settles in 1947 for $500. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 1946. A Navy-sponsored survey of 1,074 shipyard pipe coverers finds three asbestosis cases and concludes pipe covering is not a dangerous occupation. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 19, 1946. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation sends Raybestos-Manhattan New Jersey's proposed workplace limits, including 5 million particles for asbestos; Simpson passes them to O. H. Cilley. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 5, 1946. Manville plant worker Benjamin Szymanski sues J-M for $50,000 over asbestosis; the plant doctor tells the company he thinks the cause is tuberculosis. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 9, 1946. Benjamin Szymanski, a Manville plant worker with asbestosis, sues Johns-Manville for failing to ventilate, protect and warn him; J-M removes the case to federal court. Read it (Motley 1000)
• April 17, 1946. Dr. A. J. Lanza congratulates Sumner Simpson on the results of the plant's latest dust sampling. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 18, 1946. An asbestos textile maker urges Vandiver Brown to see that Gardner's final report says invisible dust caused no permanent injury and drops any mention of cancer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 8, 1946. Leroy Gardner tells J-M that over 80 percent of Saranac's asbestos-exposed mice developed lung tumors and urges an outside review of J-M workers' X-rays. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 13, 1946. Keasbey & Mattison passes on Vandiver Brown's letters about Gardner's cancer views and urges pressure on Gardner to finish his final report. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 19, 1946. The Asbestos Textile Institute receives Dr. Vestal's plan for an industry medical department and sends it to its Dust Control Committee for study. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 30, 1946. J. F. D. Rohrbach asks Vandiver Brown what became of Dr. Gardner's long-promised final report on the Saranac asbestos experiments. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• July 31, 1946. Vandiver Brown tells J. F. D. Rohrbach he has pressed Dr. Gardner "on almost numberless occasions" for the final report and sends Gardner's latest reply. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• August 2, 1946. J-M's Manville plant asks for a new dispensary X-ray machine because the old one blurs chest films and could miss or misread lung lesions. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 9, 1946. J. F. D. Rohrbach tells Thomas Gatke that Dr. Gardner will not write the report until winter and that he has asked for advance conclusions. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• August 9, 1946. J. F. D. Rohrbach asks Vandiver Brown whether Dr. Gardner can write "a few simple conclusions" before his full report, saying he "owes a great deal to the industry." Read it (Simpson Papers)
• August 12, 1946. Thomas Gatke urges Raybestos-Manhattan to press for Gardner's report, wanting its findings "without injections of possibilities of cancer" to answer doctors' claims in court. Read it (Motley 1000)
• August 15, 1946. Leroy Gardner apologizes for the delay in his asbestosis report and says he must review all the data before giving the sponsors even a brief statement. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• August 19, 1946. Vandiver Brown sends Raybestos-Manhattan Dr. Gardner's reply on the delayed dust report and hopes Gardner will finish it that winter. Read it (Motley 1000)
• August 23, 1946. J. F. D. Rohrbach tells Vandiver Brown the industry is entitled to a brief report from Gardner within sixty days, without waiting for a full review. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• September 5, 1946. The Asbestos Textile Institute's Dust Control Committee tables Dr. Vestal's industry health plan and agrees members will share dust-control information. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• October 24, 1946. Saranac's field director tells Vandiver Brown that Leroy Gardner has died, leaving his asbestos study for the industry unfinished. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 25, 1946. The New York Times reports the death of Dr. Leroy U. Gardner, director of Saranac Laboratory, as a leading silicosis researcher. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 1946. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation issues a circular on its services, listing Raybestos-Manhattan and Johns-Manville as members and Vandiver Brown as a trustee. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 12, 1946. After Gardner's death, Vandiver Brown asks Saranac's staff to finish the asbestos report and reminds them the results belong to the sponsors and need their approval. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 14, 1946. Manfred Bowditch tells Vandiver Brown that Saranac is working out how to finish Gardner's asbestos report and will reply within a week. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 18, 1946. The New York Times reports that Ford and the auto workers' union agree to negotiate plant health hazards after a strike over sodium fluoride fumes. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 19, 1946. Sumner Simpson tells Saranac Laboratory the sponsors have waited two years for Gardner's report and asks that it be sent to Vandiver Brown promptly. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 27, 1946. Manfred Bowditch apologizes to Sumner Simpson that the asbestosis report is not finished and sends a copy of his letter to Vandiver Brown. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 27, 1946. Saranac's Manfred Bowditch tells Vandiver Brown the overdue asbestosis report will be completed somehow and that Dr. Lanza has joined the board. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 29, 1946. Sumner Simpson forwards Saranac's reply to Vandiver Brown and doubts the sponsors will get Gardner's report for a long time. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 2, 1946. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation bills Raybestos-Manhattan for 1947 dues and reports its growing staff and new round tables for company physicians and attorneys. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• December 6, 1946. The New York Times prints the manufacturers' association's policy statement, including a call for working conditions that safeguard employees' health. Read it (Simpson Papers)

1947

• 1947. The Sixth Saranac Symposium meets on pneumoconiosis and compensation, with asbestos makers and insurers among those attending. Read it (Motley 1000)
• January 10, 1947. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation's John McMahon notes that the Asbestos Textile Institute has authorized it to make a preliminary survey of the industry. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 10, 1947. Sumner Simpson's secretary sends the comptroller the Industrial Hygiene Foundation's $200 invoice for 1947 dues, approved for payment. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 14, 1947. W. H. Dunn sends the Industrial Hygiene Foundation Raybestos-Manhattan's $200 check for 1947 dues. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 20, 1947. O. H. Cilley explains that the Industrial Hygiene Foundation will make a preliminary dust survey of the asbestos textile industry for the Asbestos Textile Institute. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• January 21, 1947. J-M's doctor at Asbestos, Quebec, asks that a 35-year-old mill worker with 20 years' dust exposure be moved before he becomes "another case" of asbestosis. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 21, 1947. Vandiver Brown tells Dr. Lanza he hopes the completed Gardner report will leave out any relation between asbestos dust and cancer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 31, 1947. A Manville plant manager tells Vandiver Brown that Metropolitan Life's new dust counts are above five million particles everywhere in the department. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 12, 1947. Told that 81.8 percent of Gardner's long-fiber mice developed lung cancer, Vandiver Brown says he is "very much concerned"; Saranac shows he received the finding in 1943. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 31, 1947. J-M's doctor at Asbestos, Quebec, agrees with Thetford Mines' Dr. Cartier to meet monthly and review X-ray films for uniform results in the two clinics. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 26, 1947. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists adopts a limit of 5 million particles per cubic foot for asbestos dust. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 18, 1947. An Industrial Hygiene Foundation engineer tells the asbestos textile industry that the five-million-particle dust limit may not prevent asbestosis and urges X-rays of all exposed workers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 27, 1947. Pennsylvania's Bureau of Industrial Hygiene surveys the Manheim plant, finding high asbestos dust at the twisters and hazardous lead exposures in the brake lining and rubber departments. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• July 10, 1947. J-M arranges a $25 million credit line with Metropolitan Life and Mutual Life and borrows $5 million on 20-year notes. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 6, 1947. Dr. Lanza tells J-M officers that Lynch has written up Gardner's asbestos report but Saranac's new director, Vorwald, is reluctant to publish it. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 2, 1947. J-M's doctor at Asbestos, Quebec, skips the Saranac Symposium, writing that his broad safety duties are "what J-M wants"; Vandiver Brown leads its management discussion. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 14, 1947. John F. McMahon invites Raybestos-Manhattan to the Industrial Hygiene Foundation's 12th annual meeting in Pittsburgh on November 20, 1947. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 19, 1947. The Asbestos Textile Institute's Air Hygiene Committee recommends a $5,000 Industrial Hygiene Foundation program on dust control and diagnosis. Read it (Motley 1000)
• December 5, 1947. The Asbestos Textile Institute's Board of Governors elects its officers for 1948, with G. W. Marshall, Jr., of Raybestos-Manhattan as president. Read it (Motley 1000)
• December 5, 1947. The Asbestos Textile Institute's members hear the Air Hygiene Committee's recommended $5,000 program and agree to decide on it at their next meeting. Read it (Motley 1000)
• December 29, 1947. Johns-Manville learns that a Waukegan superintendent's autopsy showed asbestosis; Saranac's Arthur Vorwald confirms it and warns that others with similar exposure may be affected. Read it (Motley 1000)

1948

• 1948. Raybestos-Manhattan price cards record sales of asbestos cloth, tape and other products to shipyards, the Navy and industrial customers. Read it (Motley 1000)
• January 30, 1948. J-M plans a visit to the widow of Waukegan worker Dominic Bertogliat after Travelers pays a $5,000 death claim, and routes the case to its lawyers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 15, 1948. Worried by a Montreal magazine's issue on mining deaths in Quebec, J. P. Woodard presses Saranac for dates on its asbestos and diatomaceous earth reports. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 19, 1948. Dr. Kenneth Smith reviews the Saranac asbestosis report for Canadian J-M and asks for an expert opinion on whether asbestos plays a role in cancer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 9, 1948. J-M decides how to describe Marinite to the American Medical Association, avoiding a statement that it is made from silica, lime and amosite fiber. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 15, 1948. J. F. D. Rohrbach asks Vandiver Brown whether the industry can still get a report of Gardner's asbestos experiments from other Saranac staff. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 19, 1948. Vandiver Brown reminds Raybestos-Manhattan that Gardner's results cannot be published without the sponsors' approval and suggests a small committee review the coming report. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 20, 1948. J. F. D. Rohrbach tells Vandiver Brown that a few representatives should review the Saranac report before it goes to the whole sponsoring group. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• April 26, 1948. Vandiver Brown tells Keasbey & Mattison that only it and Raybestos-Manhattan know of the coming Saranac report and proposes a small review committee. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• June 1, 1948. J-M's J. P. Woodard presses Saranac to finish its asbestosis monograph because of the "ferment" in Quebec over industrial health. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 17, 1948. Asbestos Textile Institute members learn that the Air Hygiene Committee's recommended program failed to win member approval, and the Institute gives up its paid manager. Read it (Motley 1000)
• July 10, 1948. Canadian J-M's industrial hygiene committee goes on record that headquarters has failed to approve a mill dust project that would cut dust about 50%. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 21, 1948. J-M's officers approve new projects that include dust control work, listed with the July 21, 1948, board agenda. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 28, 1948. J-M asks Saranac's Arthur Vorwald to delay sending his findings on a dead Waukegan worker to the outside doctor while it handles the case at the plant. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 28, 1948. J-M's Roger Hackney discusses how to fund Quebec compensation as Canadian managers expect asbestosis claims to mount and become a heavy burden. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 16, 1948. Vandiver Brown asks New Jersey's Department of Labor to postpone its proposed asbestos code until the Saranac report is available. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 14, 1948. Thomas Gatke urges Vandiver Brown to get the Saranac report finished to fight asbestosis claims, and hopes Gardner's mention of cancer will be stricken. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 16, 1948. J-M's President's Bulletin No. 59 says improvements to substandard working conditions have been suspended because of costs, with only the most urgent needs considered. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 21, 1948. W. G. Hazard tells Saranac that the Kaylo dust under test is 15 to 20 percent amosite and chrysotile asbestos. Read it (Motley 1000)
• September 30, 1948. The Saranac Laboratory sends Johns-Manville a confidential report on twenty years of animal experiments with asbestos dust. Read it (Motley 1000)
• October 12, 1948. Saranac sends J-M fifteen copies of the asbestos report, holding back a section on lung cancer because Gardner's notes on cancer in animals were unclear. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 22, 1948. Vandiver Brown proposes removing the tumor findings from the Saranac report, noting that 9 of 11 mice exposed to long-fiber dust had lung tumors. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 27, 1948. Vandiver Brown sends the sponsors the draft Saranac asbestos report in confidence and calls a meeting, writing it should be published if "speculative comments" are omitted. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 30, 1948. Saranac's interim report tells Owens-Illinois that Kaylo can produce asbestosis in guinea pigs and should be handled as a hazardous industrial dust. Read it (Motley 1000)
• November 12, 1948. After a meeting of the sponsors, Vandiver Brown writes that they unanimously agreed references to cancer and tumors must be deleted from the Saranac report. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 16, 1948. Saranac's Arthur Vorwald tells Owens-Illinois that its Kaylo insulation produced asbestosis in animals and should be handled as a hazardous industrial dust. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 16, 1948. Arthur Vorwald tells Owens-Illinois that Kaylo dust has produced asbestosis in every animal exposed more than 30 months, reversing Saranac's earlier tentative finding. Read it (Motley 1000)
• November 27, 1948. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells J-M's Toronto plant that clean housekeeping is the best proof to workers of no hazard, while naming definite asbestos and silica hazards there. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 1, 1948. Dr. Kenneth Smith warns that unloading silica flour at Asbestos raises hazardous dust and says the men should wear respirators. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 6, 1948. Dr. Kenneth Smith advises Canadian J-M against more autopsies of asbestos workers for now, citing compensation awards to families at Thetford Mines. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 8, 1948. J-M safety engineer H. M. Jackson writes that silica and asbestos are toxic materials in J-M's processes and that needed respirators must be worn. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 14, 1948. Owens-Illinois asks the Industrial Hygiene Foundation to study Kaylo dust, including in customers' plants, after animal tests point to asbestosis. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 31, 1948. After an autopsy on a Lompoc worker, J-M headquarters wants the information quickly but no views spread that would create "an alarmist attitude." Read it (J-M chronology)

1949

• 1949. A Canadian Johns-Manville booklet says over $1 million has been spent on working conditions at Asbestos, Quebec, and that town dust is down more than 75 percent. Read it (J-M chronology)
• 1949. Testifying in 1976, Dr. Kenneth Smith recalls dust from J-M's Asbestos, Quebec, mine and mill blowing through the town in the late 1940s. Read it (J-M chronology)
• 1949. A Canadian J-M survey of 708 mill workers finds 7 with asbestosis and 52 more with advanced fibrosis; the men with asbestosis have not been told. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 1949. Britain's Chief Inspector of Factories reports lung cancer in 13.2 percent of asbestosis deaths, against 1.32 percent of silicosis deaths. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 14, 1949. Canadian Johns-Manville tells its Asbestos, Quebec, workers the strike, now in its 13th day, is illegal and urges them back to work. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 31, 1949. Saranac Laboratory delivers its final report on Gardner's asbestos animal experiments to J-M; the lung tumors in mice reported in the 1948 draft do not appear. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 1949. Massachusetts labels asbestos dust very harmful, sets a limit of 5 million particles per cubic foot and calls respirators a last resort. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 3, 1949. Dr. Kenneth Smith's X-ray survey of 708 Quebec mill workers finds dust-caused lung changes in most and notes that men with asbestosis have not been told. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 3, 1949. Vandiver Brown sends the sponsors the revised Saranac report, which he says adopts all their suggestions; the draft's mouse lung tumors no longer appear. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 19, 1949. Reviewing the Saranac report, J-M's Quebec medical chief recommends asking Saranac for an expert opinion on whether asbestosis is linked to cancer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 21, 1949. Theodore F. Hatch of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation returns the Saranac Kaylo report, saying there is no point in checking its findings but suggesting a dust comparison. Read it (Motley 1000)
• April 7, 1949. Asbestos Textile Institute members decide a Scientific American article unjustifiably painted asbestos as a cancer cause and ask Dr. Lanza to clarify. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 15, 1949. Woodard tells Foster that the Saranac finding that small amounts of long fibres damage lungs means J-M must find and eliminate them. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 25, 1949. H. M. Jackson reports high perlite dust counts in asbestos pipe covering work and urges ventilation and dust control wherever perlite is used. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 20, 1949. During the Asbestos strike, J-M's Quebec medical chief tells the public only two asbestosis cases have been recognized in Asbestos in fifty years. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 24, 1949. At Canadian Johns-Manville's request, Quebec's government demographer argues that tuberculosis deaths in the asbestos towns are no higher than elsewhere. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 15, 1949. Britain's senior factory medical inspector reports that 13.2% of asbestosis cases his department studied had lung cancer at autopsy, against 1.32% for silicosis. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 27, 1949. A J-M bulletin tells contract crews and salesmen what insurance covers the company's insulation contract work, including workmen's compensation through Travelers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 8, 1949. Sending Dr. Smith's 708-man survey to L. C. Hart, Woodard writes that the dust is causing lung changes and many cases will likely become claims. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 9, 1949. Facing a union demand that it eliminate dust, the Quebec asbestos companies prepare a fallback clause calling dust a "nuisance" to be eased as they see fit. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 13, 1949. The Journal of the American Medical Association links lung cancer to asbestosis and calls it a probable occupational hazard for asbestos workers. Read it (Motley 1000)
• August 18, 1949. J-M approves more than $5.5 million to extend dust control at Asbestos, Quebec; Woodard says he made good use of Dr. Smith's 708-man study. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 19, 1949. J-M managers and Dr. Pauly agree to review the Manville plant's list of special industrial hygiene cases every two years. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 27, 1949. Ontario's industrial hygiene division sends J-M's Port Union plant dust counts and recommends better dust control at the Transite pipe charging end and saws. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 30, 1949. J-M engineers find dust in the Waukegan Transite pipe plant at over ten times the allowable and warn it could cause costly claims. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 3, 1949. A J-M engineering report proposes making Thermobestos amosite pipe covering after Sales reports over $2.2 million in 1948 contracts lost to Unibestos. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 11, 1949. At J-M's Toronto plant, workers handling silica flour are ordered to wear respirators at all times, on pain of discharge. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 15, 1949. Saranac's director asks J-M's Quebec doctor for years of worker X-rays to study lung cancer, a problem he calls "of great concern to us." Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 10, 1949. Owens-Illinois's W. G. Hazard sends Kaylo boxcar dust to the Industrial Hygiene Foundation, reporting counts of 25 to 50 million particles during loading. Read it (Motley 1000)