Asbestos Timeline: The 1960s

Every dated document we have published from the 1960s, year by year: 161 from the J-M chronology, 54 from the Motley 1000, 6 from the Simpson Papers. Each line links to the document itself. For the story these documents tell, read the 1960s on our history page.

Key documents

• 1960. J. C. Wagner and colleagues report 33 mesothelioma cases in South Africa's crocidolite district, many among people who only lived near the mines. Read it
• May 6, 1960. The insulation makers' trade association decides, without recorded discussion, that a NIMA safety program "with respect to health should be dropped." Read it
• May 10, 1960. J-M's Manville plant decides against requiring respirators for 714 overexposed workers, partly because marking dusty areas would be "legally admitting evidence of exposure." Read it
• November 3, 1960. J-M rules as company policy that bags of J-Spray asbestos fireproofing will carry no caution label, putting dust precautions only in product literature. Read it
• February 23, 1961. The estate of Fred Wenham, an insulation worker who died in 1960, sues Johns-Manville Products for failing to warn of its asbestos products' dangers; the case later settles. Read it
• March 20, 1961. The widow of insulator Clarence Faciane sues Travelers, Eagle-Picher, insulation makers and tobacco companies over his death from lung damage. Read it
• June 19, 1961. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells J-M's division managers that a federal meeting found "a problem exists" with asbestos and cancer, and urges joining a government study. Read it
• September 26, 1961. American Mutual's engineers advise Keasbey & Mattison to avoid a Public Health Service cancer survey of the asbestos industry, fearing higher claim costs, and to handle cancer internally. Read it
• November 30, 1961. J-M tells its plant managers not to give unions dust counts or medical records, which "could be readily misinterpreted, and adversely utilized." Read it
• March 20, 1962. Dr. Kenneth Smith advises an insurer to stress smoking in an insulator's cancer claim, and says J-M settles cancer claims quietly to keep them out of law journals. Read it
• March 21, 1962. A Union Carbide survey finds that band-sawing Johns-Manville's Thermobestos blocks is a health hazard, and the plant stops cutting them. Read it
• December 4, 1962. After Union Carbide stops buying Thermobestos, Johns-Manville disputes its dust tests and invites its hygienist to Manville; the plant doctor opposes the visit. Read it
• January 28, 1963. A Waukegan memo reports 25 men diagnosed with occupational lung disease were never told; managers approve telling them gradually and destroying pink slip records. Read it
• July 22, 1963. Raybestos-Manhattan agrees to Public Health Service dust sampling at Manheim only, and holds off on the medical phase lest workers become "unduly alarmed." Read it
• April 6, 1964. Selikoff, Churg and Hammond report that insulation workers die of lung cancer at nearly seven times the expected rate, and four of mesothelioma. Read it
• May 11, 1964. J-M fixes the caution wording for its asbestos insulations, to be printed on bags and cartons and "fully legible, but not conspicuous." Read it
• May 13, 1964. Facing group filing of disease claims at Manville, C. L. Sheckler proposes trying most of them, quietly, to backlog the courts and pressure the workers' attorneys. Read it
• October 8, 1964. The Asbestos Textile Institute's Air Hygiene Committee asks how the coming Biological Effects of Asbestos conference, linking asbestos with cancer, can be "investigated and rebutted." Read it
• October 8, 1964. The Asbestos Textile Institute talks of answering Selikoff's cancer findings through a public relations man and has its lawyers draft a warning letter to him. Read it
• October 13, 1964. J-M's medical director calls Selikoff "unscrupulous" but advises against denying his findings too emphatically, lest J-M be put "in an untenable position." Read it
• October 15, 1964. Johns-Manville's insulation division orders a caution label on its asbestos high-temperature insulation, phased in as old cartons and bags are used up. Read it
• February 11, 1965. The Asbestos Textile Institute's board seeks standard answers for customers about asbestos hazards after the 1964 conference, with Dr. Cralley's help. Read it
• April 25, 1965. J-M's hygiene chief finds dust over the limits at mines and plants and, at Manville, withholds a respirator recommendation for fear of stimulating mass claim filing. Read it
• January 10, 1966. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells J-M managers the company has "numerous potential health hazards" but that he has seen no concrete evidence linking asbestos to cancer. Read it
• June 28, 1966. J-M's health task force finds no written record behind claims of low cancer rates among its workers and asks Dr. Smith to compile one to counter Selikoff. Read it
• August 19, 1966. F. H. Edwards proposes an industry X-ray program for insulation workers, partly to check Dr. Selikoff's findings and contest compensation claims. Read it
• October 24, 1966. J-M's public relations department issues a position paper saying the asbestos–lung cancer theory is unproved and should be regarded with skepticism. Read it
• December 21, 1966. J-M's insurer tells the company it has nothing to contradict Dr. Selikoff's testimony linking asbestos to cancer, after an insulator's colon cancer death is held compensable. Read it
• December 23, 1966. Insulator Claude Tomplait sues J-M and other insulation makers in Texas; Eagle-Picher's examining doctor later confirms asbestosis. Read it
• March 28, 1968. Quebec asbestos miners propose caution labels on fiber bags to limit legal responsibility, and hear that all three asbestos types "are in the same boat." Read it
• April 4, 1968. National Gypsum's safety director reports that J-M is pressing an industry health safety booklet for asbestos-cement products and will publish it with or without agreement. Read it
• April 17, 1968. National Gypsum tells Johns-Manville it strongly opposes an industry safety booklet on asbestos-cement products because it would create fear among buyers and workers. Read it
• July 30, 1968. J-M managers recommend quietly settling two workers' lung cancer compensation claims to avoid publicity and keep them off the public record. Read it
• September 19, 1968. J-M's public relations firm plans the announcement of Selikoff's insulator research, stressing cooperation and steering questions away from mesothelioma, brake linings and public risk. Read it
• October 1, 1968. After British importers protest, Canadian Johns-Manville drops its plan to put caution labels on asbestos fiber bags for overseas customers, and its sales manager urges dropping them at home too. Read it
• November 7, 1968. Before a compensation hearing, J-M's Long Beach plant sends its dust records to headquarters so they "will not be available" there, and suggests a post-dated request for them. Read it
• December 17, 1968. After British objections, J-M's health policy committee decides to put caution labels on fiber bags only for U.S. and Canadian customers; overseas buyers get a leaflet. Read it
• January 15, 1969. J-M's board is told plant doctors have found X-ray lung changes in 295 current workers, "potential claims over a number of future years." Read it
• February 17, 1969. J-M's scientific subcommittee hears that chest X-rays show asbestosis in 30% of current Billerica workers and 24% of 500 Manville workers. Read it
• April 30, 1969. The Navy tells Ingalls Shipbuilding its shipyards have long known of asbestos hazards and asks how the yard protects insulation workers; Ingalls answers in the fall. Read it
• September 10, 1969. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation sends J-M and other sponsors a confidential draft Public Health Service document, offering to have corrections made through committee member Dr. Paul Gross. Read it
• September 16, 1969. In notes of a meeting with J-M's Cliff Sheckler, he is recorded saying "we have had a dirty house and now we have to pay for it" and that respirators work less well than thought. Read it
• October 10, 1969. H. M. Jackson tells J-M's president that plant doctors at most plants are under-reading workers' X-rays and that past dust levels have caused "a substantial frequency of disease." Read it
• October 20, 1969. Insulator Clarence Borel sues Johns-Manville, Fibreboard and nine other insulation makers in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, for asbestosis and failure to warn. Read it
• December 22, 1969. After Eternit complains of labeled fiber bags, J-M International says that as standard procedure no shipment to overseas customers should carry caution labels. Read it

1960

• 1960. J. C. Wagner and colleagues report 33 mesothelioma cases in South Africa's crocidolite district, many among people who only lived near the mines. Read it (J-M chronology)
• 1960. A list records the Asbestos Textile Institute General and Air Hygiene Committee meetings that J-M's H. M. Jackson attended between 1947 and 1960. Read it (Motley 1000)
• January 13, 1960. J. B. Jobe of Johns-Manville tells the insulation makers' trade association that the industry "could benefit" from a health program; a recommendation is promised for the next meeting. Read it (Motley 1000)
• January 13, 1960. Seventeen insulation makers, J-M among them, meet as the National Insulation Manufacturers Association to coordinate specifications and an industry publicity campaign. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 21, 1960. Dr. Kenneth Smith complains that Toronto plant workers with silicosis, ordered out of dust in 1955, are still working in dust five years later. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 15, 1960. J-M's insurer, Travelers, refuses full coverage for damage to neighboring property unless dust collectors are installed at the No Agua mill and Antonito. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 3, 1960. A member company tells the Asbestos Textile Institute's dust committee its asbestosis cases have fallen from eighty-five in 1936 to seven. Read it (Motley 1000)
• May 6, 1960. The insulation makers' trade association decides, without recorded discussion, that a NIMA safety program "with respect to health should be dropped." Read it (Motley 1000)
• May 10, 1960. J-M's Manville plant decides against requiring respirators for 714 overexposed workers, partly because marking dusty areas would be "legally admitting evidence of exposure." Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 18, 1960. Dr. Kenneth Smith drafts a reply for a customer saying J-M has long recognized that inhaling asbestos fiber can damage the lungs. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 25, 1960. H. M. Jackson backs a Nashua dust collector, saying conditions there are causing lung disease, and suggests citing compensation costs to justify the expense. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 1, 1960. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells Westinghouse that J-M's 450 insulating cement has so little asbestos that normal use should not cause lung fibrosis. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 1, 1960. A J-M sales manual tells staff to answer customers' questions about diatomaceous earth dust verbally, and to send any request for a written answer to headquarters. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 8, 1960. Answering R. J. Reynolds, J-M's H. M. Jackson says Marinite board is 25% to 50% asbestos, which over time may damage the lungs. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 11, 1960. J-M confidentially tells Los Angeles health officials that Marinite, Colorlith, Asbestocite and Transite are 25% to 50% asbestos and potentially hazardous. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 19, 1960. J-M's president tells managers that compensation costs are up 78% in five years and dust control at J-M plants has fallen to 77% acceptable. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 8, 1960. Waukegan's plant management concedes it mishandled a compensation case and blames a part-time doctor, while praising its low-cost settlements with sick workers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 10, 1960. J-M staff ask Dr. Kenneth Smith urgently for data for a warning message on bags of J-Spray, its new asbestos spray-on fireproofing. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 28, 1960. A Waukegan medical department memo reports late doctors, unread X-rays and workers who have gone three to five years without an examination. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 3, 1960. J-M rules as company policy that bags of J-Spray asbestos fireproofing will carry no caution label, putting dust precautions only in product literature. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 30, 1960. J-M management turns down a request to rebuild inadequate dust control in the Manville rigid shingle building, where 64 to 102 workers were exposed. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 3, 1960. E. E. Keal reports lung, ovarian and peritoneal cancers among London Hospital patients with asbestosis, mostly asbestos factory workers. Read it (Motley 1000)
• December 4, 1960. At an industrial relations meeting, Dr. Kenneth Smith admits Lompoc was dusty and men were disabled because "the emphasis was on production and the profit picture." Read it (J-M chronology)

1961

• 1961. The Encyclopaedia Britannica's list of contributors names Dr. G. W. H. Schepers, then a du Pont pathologist. Read it (Motley 1000)
• 1961. The Encyclopaedia Britannica's entry on pneumonoconiosis, by Dr. G. W. H. Schepers, links asbestos with lung cancer. Read it (Motley 1000)
• 1961. The Manufacturing Chemists' Association issues the sixth edition of its guide to warning labels, keeping its model label for dust-producing products. Read it (Motley 1000)
• January 24, 1961. Waukegan reports 232 workers with known, possible or other lung disease, none properly placed away from harmful dust, and keeps its plan to move them confidential. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 16, 1961. Waukegan's managers review 224 workers with known, possible or other lung disease and reaffirm a 1956 policy that did nothing for the possible cases. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 23, 1961. An insulator's family sues J-M in federal court in New Jersey, saying its asbestos products killed him and carried no adequate warning. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 23, 1961. The estate of Fred Wenham, an insulation worker who died in 1960, sues Johns-Manville Products for failing to warn of its asbestos products' dangers; the case later settles. Read it (Motley 1000)
• March 1961. An insulator's widow in Louisiana sues J-M and other insulation makers, saying they failed to warn her husband of the dangers of their products. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 20, 1961. The widow of insulator Clarence Faciane sues Travelers, Eagle-Picher, insulation makers and tobacco companies over his death from lung damage. Read it (Motley 1000)
• April 5, 1961. J-M's insulation contracting subsidiary reports a 60-year-old worker's disability from chronic bronchitis and shortness of breath to its insurer, Aetna. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 8, 1961. J-M's Dr. Kenneth Smith urges asbestos textile makers to ask the Public Health Service for an impartial survey of asbestosis and cancer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 12, 1961. Dr. Kenneth Smith briefs the asbestos textile industry on evidence linking asbestos and cancer and urges inviting a federal study. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 19, 1961. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells J-M's division managers that a federal meeting found "a problem exists" with asbestos and cancer, and urges joining a government study. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 7, 1961. J-M's Manville plant decides to release workers' medical records only as required by law, citing "embarrassing questions" and compensation claims. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 8, 1961. A New Jersey state doctor sends Dr. Kenneth Smith a confidential outline of Dr. Selikoff's planned asbestosis and cancer study in Passaic County. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 12, 1961. At an Asbestos Textile Institute meeting, Dr. Kenneth Smith urges a federal study so that "irresponsible reporting" on cancer does not raise compensation and liability costs. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 26, 1961. American Mutual's engineers advise Keasbey & Mattison to avoid a Public Health Service cancer survey of the asbestos industry, fearing higher claim costs, and to handle cancer internally. Read it (Motley 1000)
• October 17, 1961. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells J-M managers that at Lompoc the company "saw the signs" of dust disease for twenty years while stressing production and profit. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 30, 1961. J-M tells its plant managers not to give unions dust counts or medical records, which "could be readily misinterpreted, and adversely utilized." Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 30, 1961. Owens-Corning decides to stop using Johns-Manville chrysotile at its Berlin plant because of its high chloride content. Read it (Motley 1000)
• December 4, 1961. Owens-Corning drops Johns-Manville chrysotile from Kaylo insulation to meet DuPont's and Union Carbide's demands for low chloride. Read it (Motley 1000)

1962

• 1962. Dr. G. W. H. Schepers' textbook chapter warns that asbestosis can follow brief exposure and is appearing in wartime Liberty ship pipe insulators. Read it (Motley 1000)
• 1962. Johns-Manville contests an insulator's asbestosis claim for work at an Ohio Bakelite plant, and its insurance manager welcomes the denial. Read it (Motley 1000)
• January 30, 1962. J. B. Skinner of American Mutual gathers what his files show on asbestos and lung cancer, including 1950s reports of a causal link, for insured Keasbey & Mattison. Read it (Motley 1000)
• February 2, 1962. The autopsy of a retired J-M Manville worker finds asbestosis and mesothelioma, three years after his compensation claim was dismissed as late. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 20, 1962. Dr. Kenneth Smith advises an insurer to stress smoking in an insulator's cancer claim, and says J-M settles cancer claims quietly to keep them out of law journals. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 21, 1962. A Union Carbide survey finds that band-sawing Johns-Manville's Thermobestos blocks is a health hazard, and the plant stops cutting them. Read it (Motley 1000)
• March 21, 1962. Union Carbide's hygienist finds that sawing J-M Thermobestos blocks is a health hazard; the plant stops using them and J-M disputes the results. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 3, 1962. J-M's insurance manager sends a lung claim to Travelers for defense and asks Lompoc for a copy of the 1957 warning label. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 5, 1962. Marrero's plant manager sets up a floor tile dust task team, saying past conditions no longer meet J-M's tightened cleanliness standards. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 20, 1962. Union Carbide tests three new Thermobestos blocks from Johns-Manville and finds the dust still more than twice the safe limit. Read it (Motley 1000)
• July 26, 1962. J-M's claims agent contests an insulator's Ohio silicosis claim, noting he worked for J-M two weeks and the rules require total disability. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 26, 1962. Johns-Manville's agents report a former two-week insulator's dust disease claim disallowed after a doctor finds pneumoconiosis but blames heart disease. Read it (Motley 1000)
• November 6, 1962. Sheckler reports 27 of 34 Parkersburg survey stations over the limit and says respirators alone will not prevent occupational disease. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 6, 1962. Waukegan's plant doctor writes that men with occupational chest disease are told only once a dust free job is arranged, and recommends using the T.B. sanatorium. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 4, 1962. After Union Carbide stops buying Thermobestos, Johns-Manville disputes its dust tests and invites its hygienist to Manville; the plant doctor opposes the visit. Read it (Motley 1000)

1963

• January 28, 1963. A Waukegan memo reports 25 men diagnosed with occupational lung disease were never told; managers approve telling them gradually and destroying pink slip records. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 31, 1963. Waukegan's plant doctor tells Dr. Kenneth Smith that 24 men diagnosed with lung disease have not been told or moved from dusty jobs. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 8, 1963. Union Carbide hygienist Robert Peele's diary records his dust survey work and contacts during the Thermobestos dispute. Read it (Motley 1000)
• February 14, 1963. Dr. Kenneth Smith explains his X-ray survey was mainly to estimate compensation liability, and that he put nothing in the workers' records. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 26, 1963. Dr. Kenneth Smith advises the Manville plant to buy a shredder so medical copies are destroyed and J-M's compensation position "cannot be doubted." Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 29, 1963. At a J-M managers' meeting, Dr. Smith blames rising occupational disease on past dirty conditions; Sheckler says dust surveys also serve litigation. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 10, 1963. An internal audit finds Manville plant workers without respirators in high-dust areas; the plant asks again whether to make respirators mandatory. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 23, 1963. Philip Carey's medical consultant, Dr. Mancuso, warns of growing evidence linking asbestos to lung cancer and mesothelioma and calls the industry's study weak. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 6, 1963. Told that Dr. Selikoff will report high lung cancer among insulators, the Asbestos Textile Institute committee notes "it will be damaging to the industry." Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 5, 1963. S. R. Zimmerman delays answering the Public Health Service about its asbestos industry study while companies compare how far each will cooperate. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• July 22, 1963. Raybestos-Manhattan agrees to Public Health Service dust sampling at Manheim only, and holds off on the medical phase lest workers become "unduly alarmed." Read it (Simpson Papers)
• October 3, 1963. The Asbestos Textile Institute's Air Hygiene Committee briefly discusses Dr. Selikoff's paper on cancer among insulation workers, already mailed to its members. Read it (Motley 1000)
• October 7, 1963. Dr. Kenneth Smith writes that a man could not work 26 years in J-M's textile department "without some evidence of asbestosis." Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 16, 1963. A Manville plant official sends Dr. Kenneth Smith a worker's autopsy showing mesothelioma and asbestosis and asks him to "dampen" a doctor's interest in it. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 23, 1963. Union Carbide's third dust survey finds Thermobestos and Carey-Temp blocks unsafe to cut with existing equipment, but Kaylo safe. Read it (Motley 1000)

1964

• 1964. Johns-Manville's labels for its Marinite boards carry a caution that breathing asbestos dust "may cause serious bodily harm." Read it (Motley 1000)
• January 2, 1964. J-M's Industrial Insulations Division tells Dr. Kenneth Smith it is about to begin putting caution labels on cements, millboard, molded insulations and boards. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 28, 1964. Dr. Kenneth Smith sends the U.S. Public Health Service draft caution labels for J-M asbestos products that release fiber when cut or handled. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 25, 1964. J-M's insulation division proposes caution labels, writing that given the Asbestos Workers Union's concern it should use anything that "could lessen our exposure to claims." Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 6, 1964. Selikoff, Churg and Hammond report that insulation workers die of lung cancer at nearly seven times the expected rate, and four of mesothelioma. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 14, 1964. J-M tells the insulation makers' trade association it is printing an asbestos caution on cartons of calcium silicate, magnesia and asbestos cements. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 1964. William T. Marr reports asbestosis disability and a death among Long Beach Naval Shipyard insulators, and heavy dust when old insulation is removed. Read it (Motley 1000)
• May 6, 1964. The Manville plant reports 19 occupational disease claims since March 20, mostly from textile workers, and suspects an organized effort to identify and file them. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 11, 1964. J-M fixes the caution wording for its asbestos insulations, to be printed on bags and cartons and "fully legible, but not conspicuous." Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 13, 1964. Facing group filing of disease claims at Manville, C. L. Sheckler proposes trying most of them, quietly, to backlog the courts and pressure the workers' attorneys. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 13, 1964. With disease claims rising at Manville, Sheckler advises delaying the usual offer of treatment and benefits to a worker J-M's doctor found had early asbestosis. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 4, 1964. Dr. Lewis Cralley shows the Asbestos Textile Institute charts of falling dust levels, and the committee decides not to take part in the coming asbestos conference. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 25, 1964. A memo on a Manville grievance notes that a 10% respirator time allowance added to dryer-unloading jobs in 1959 was cut back in 1964. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 29, 1964. Harry A. Burris dies at the Bedford, Massachusetts, veterans hospital; the physician's statement lists asbestosis among his conditions. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 29, 1964. J. V. Miles of the Marrero plant tells headquarters that, whatever the official survey showed, the pipe plant's Wet End has "a very serious dust problem." Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 2, 1964. Johns-Manville's insulation division decides to put a precautionary label on every asbestos product in its high temperature line and tells the plants how to apply it. Read it (Motley 1000)
• September 14, 1964. Dr. Kenneth Smith objects to a gummed caution label that caused "a small furor" at Manville and asks that the caution wait for newly printed cartons. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 8, 1964. The Asbestos Textile Institute's Air Hygiene Committee asks how the coming Biological Effects of Asbestos conference, linking asbestos with cancer, can be "investigated and rebutted." Read it (Motley 1000)
• October 8, 1964. The Asbestos Textile Institute talks of answering Selikoff's cancer findings through a public relations man and has its lawyers draft a warning letter to him. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 13, 1964. J-M's medical director calls Selikoff "unscrupulous" but advises against denying his findings too emphatically, lest J-M be put "in an untenable position." Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 15, 1964. Johns-Manville's insulation division orders a caution label on its asbestos high-temperature insulation, phased in as old cartons and bags are used up. Read it (Motley 1000)
• October 19, 1964. Abstracts for the New York Academy of Sciences asbestos conference include Selikoff's insulator death figures and papers by Wagner and J-M's Dr. Kenneth Smith. Read it (Motley 1000)
• October 19, 1964. The New York Academy of Sciences program for its 1964 asbestos conference calls asbestos-related cancers perhaps the most important industrial cancers. Read it (Motley 1000)
• December 3, 1964. Answering an insulation contractor, Dr. Kenneth Smith writes that he does not believe the use of asbestos carries "a serious health hazard." Read it (J-M chronology)

1965

• January 14, 1965. On Dr. Kenneth Smith's advice, J-M's Toronto office asks that the asbestos caution be kept off Superex products shipped into Canada. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 29, 1965. J-M headquarters keeps the asbestos caution on all its insulation cartons but says the Canadian plant may cover the label before reshipping to customers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 1965. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells J-M's industrial relations managers he steered the industry to a federal survey because no federal agency would "incriminate an entire industry." Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 1, 1965. Citing Dr. Kenneth Smith's assurance, J-M's Toronto office asks that the asbestos caution be sanded off cartons of Thermobestos and Superex sent to Canada. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 9, 1965. A Chicago customer, never told of a dust hazard, becomes "exceedingly alarmed" by J-M's new caution label on Superex and considers dropping the product. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 11, 1965. The Asbestos Textile Institute's board seeks standard answers for customers about asbestos hazards after the 1964 conference, with Dr. Cralley's help. Read it (Motley 1000)
• February 16, 1965. Waukegan presses headquarters for an answer: ship Superex to Canada with caution labels, or remove them as the Manville plant is doing. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 25, 1965. J-M's hygiene chief finds dust over the limits at mines and plants and, at Manville, withholds a respirator recommendation for fear of stimulating mass claim filing. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 4, 1965. At an asbestos industry meeting in Quebec, Dr. Kenneth Smith urges companies to open their health records to the Public Health Service study. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 4, 1965. At Thetford Mines, J-M's Dr. Kenneth Smith urges the asbestos industry to tell the truth about worker health, while Ivan Sabourin doubts any asbestos and cancer link. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 16, 1965. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells a J-M division the insulator cancer study is wrong and that he sees no serious health hazard from using asbestos. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 3, 1965. S. R. Zimmerman thanks the Public Health Service for the Manheim air sampling results and asks to hear more as the study goes on. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 3, 1965. Raybestos-Manhattan receives the Public Health Service's results from its 1964 Manheim dust survey, all below the 5 million particle limit. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• November 12, 1965. R. L. Moore passes on J. Wronski's comments on the Public Health Service dust report and has the report filed for safe keeping. Read it (Simpson Papers)

1966

• January 10, 1966. Dr. Kenneth Smith tells J-M managers the company has "numerous potential health hazards" but that he has seen no concrete evidence linking asbestos to cancer. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 10, 1966. At a J-M managers' conference, every discussion group reports adverse working conditions at its plants, blaming low priority and unwillingness to spend money. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 7, 1966. Joe Goldfield of J-M's research center reports on his visit to Turner Brothers in England, whose health program dates from the 1931 British regulations. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 24, 1966. J-M's hygiene staff report that the Marrero pipe plant's wet end looked "quite dusty" even though most dust counts fell below the limit. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 21, 1966. After visiting Turner Brothers, Joe Goldfield urges J-M to set up health committees and treat asbestos fiber as a harmful material in all its plants. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 5, 1966. After a doctor tells Marrero worker Steve Cedotal to leave his job, the plant instructs its doctors to report such findings to the company instead. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 11, 1966. Answering Joe Goldfield, J-M's health staff reject a health committee and warn against pressing the "panic button" about how dangerous asbestos is. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 28, 1966. J-M's health task force finds no written record behind claims of low cancer rates among its workers and asks Dr. Smith to compile one to counter Selikoff. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 8, 1966. California insulator Vernon Lumbattis, found totally disabled by probable asbestosis, settles his claim against J-M and dozens of other employers for $30,000. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 26, 1966. An asbestosis and lung cancer death claim is filed for Kenneth Frederick, whose employers include J-M; it settles in 1972 for $13,500. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 3, 1966. F. H. Edwards urges Owens-Corning to track lung disease among its insulation contracting workers so it knows as much as Dr. Selikoff. Read it (Motley 1000)
• August 18, 1966. Dr. Kenneth Smith assures a customer's research center that asbestos hazards can be eliminated by simple controls and dismisses the insulator cancer study. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 19, 1966. F. H. Edwards proposes an industry X-ray program for insulation workers, partly to check Dr. Selikoff's findings and contest compensation claims. Read it (Motley 1000)
• August 22, 1966. Dr. Kenneth Smith asks Saranac's Dr. Leonard Bristol to read the chest X-rays of about 2,500 workers at J-M's Jeffrey mine in Quebec. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 30, 1966. J-M's public relations staff record a dinner with Dr. Selikoff, who says he is holding back asbestos papers for fear of sensational press coverage. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 24, 1966. J-M's public relations department issues a position paper saying the asbestos–lung cancer theory is unproved and should be regarded with skepticism. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 21, 1966. J-M's insurer tells the company it has nothing to contradict Dr. Selikoff's testimony linking asbestos to cancer, after an insulator's colon cancer death is held compensable. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 23, 1966. Insulator Claude Tomplait sues J-M and other insulation makers in Texas; Eagle-Picher's examining doctor later confirms asbestosis. Read it (Motley 1000)

1967

• January 1967. Forwarding an insulator's compensation summons, a J-M manager writes, "It looks as though the wave is breaking. Is there anything we can do?" Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 30, 1967. A California insulator's widow claims his 1966 lung cancer death came from asbestos; a doctor's report calls the evidence "almost overwhelming," and the claim settles in 1969. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 17, 1967. Preparing to defend an insulator's claim, J-M's lawyer finds a reference to a 1954 J-M manual warning applicators not to breathe the dust, but cannot locate it. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 28, 1967. R. L. Moore tells Dr. S. Holmes of Turner Brothers Asbestos that no one can find the old dust count report on American asbestos textile mills. Read it (Simpson Papers)
• September 5, 1967. J-M's Lompoc plant reports that its Celite silica dust caution notice is printed on domestic bags but not used on export shipments. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 12, 1967. J-M's research center tells 14 plant managers that everyone entering dusty or noisy areas, including visitors, must be given a respirator or ear muffs. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 16, 1967. J-M plans silica caution labels for its diatomaceous earth insulation products, but notes that labels should not go on products shipped to Canada or abroad. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 16, 1967. A J-M district sales bulletin tells salesmen to sell to private architects and engineers rather than to federal agencies. Read it (J-M chronology)

1968

• 1968. Dr. Enrico Vigliani proposes studying cancer and mesothelioma among Balangero chrysotile miners and Genoa and La Spezia shipyard insulation workers. Read it (Motley 1000)
• 1968. The Quebec mining industry's research institute lists outside asbestos studies its scientific committee declined to support, including work on non-occupational exposure and brake dust. Read it (Motley 1000)
• 1968. Boston University doctors report a fatal mesothelioma in a factory worker exposed, as far as was known, only to chrysotile asbestos. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 29, 1968. A J-M salesman reports that a sprayed-fiber competitor has labeled its asbestos bags for years and that J-M's own J-Spray bags carried a caution. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 29, 1968. R. S. Coleman sends H. A. Berg Johns-Manville's position paper on asbestos and health, which says finished asbestos products pose no shown risk to the public. Read it (Motley 1000)
• February 15, 1968. J-M's fiber division orders stronger 3-ply paper bags for asbestos shipments in February, then returns to 2-ply bags in May. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 22, 1968. At a Manville union meeting, a union official protests that J-M does not tell workers their examination results until it is too late to act. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 23, 1968. Owens-Corning notes record Johns-Manville saying it uses no amosite in Thermobestos because of cost and health problems, calling amosite a health "bad actor." Read it (Motley 1000)
• March 15, 1968. C. L. Sheckler warns J-M's general counsel that plants are selling uncleaned asbestos fiber bags that buyers reuse for cattle feed and nursery stock. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 20, 1968. H. M. Jackson approves the wording of a caution label for J-M's bags of raw asbestos fiber. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 22, 1968. Reviewing the draft fiber-bag label, Deutsch says it should go on the front of the bag, not the back, and carry J-M's name. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 25, 1968. J-M's Manville pipe plant makes respirators mandatory at fiber-handling and dusty jobs from April 1. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 28, 1968. Quebec asbestos miners propose caution labels on fiber bags to limit legal responsibility, and hear that all three asbestos types "are in the same boat." Read it (Motley 1000)
• April 4, 1968. National Gypsum's safety director reports that J-M is pressing an industry health safety booklet for asbestos-cement products and will publish it with or without agreement. Read it (Motley 1000)
• April 8, 1968. Selikoff, Hammond and Churg report that insulators who smoke have about 92 times the lung cancer risk of men who neither smoke nor work with asbestos. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 17, 1968. National Gypsum tells Johns-Manville it strongly opposes an industry safety booklet on asbestos-cement products because it would create fear among buyers and workers. Read it (Motley 1000)
• April 22, 1968. J-M's senior officers order vacuuming, sealed disposal of used fiber bags, and an end to paving with Transite pipe scrap. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 3, 1968. Hutcheson tells Hendry that J-M will put a caution label on its asbestos fiber bags whether or not the other Quebec mining companies do. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 8, 1968. J-M's C. L. Sheckler answers National Gypsum's objections to the asbestos-cement safety booklet and seeks unanimous industry agreement. Read it (Motley 1000)
• May 16, 1968. Sheckler drafts silica and asbestos caution labels for J-M insulation products and assumes international shipments will not be labeled. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 16, 1968. J-M's C. L. Sheckler calls a joint industry meeting on asbestos-cement health problems and circulates a draft health safety booklet. Read it (Motley 1000)
• May 24, 1968. J-M's Texas defense lawyer asks why, if the insulator hazard was recognized in 1962, the industry waited until 1964 to put warnings on its products. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 29, 1968. J-M's Edward Cerny confirms a June 17 industry seminar on asbestos environmental control and sends J-M's position paper and insulation safety pamphlets. Read it (Motley 1000)
• June 3, 1968. At a Quebec Asbestos Mining Association meeting, a member proposes putting the caution label on shipping papers instead of bags; J-M's offer of $100,000 to Selikoff's group is reported. Read it (Motley 1000)
• July 25, 1968. J-M's legal department expects asbestosis lawsuits to grow over the next decade and proposes an "Asbestosis Defense Task Force." Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 30, 1968. J-M managers recommend quietly settling two workers' lung cancer compensation claims to avoid publicity and keep them off the public record. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 1968. The insulators' union president reports a J-M commitment to fund Selikoff's research, saying the union had talked about the same problems "for forty years." Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 2, 1968. J-M's legal department names the members of its proposed Asbestosis Defense Task Force, including C. L. Sheckler as "our overall asbestos expert." Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 20, 1968. Dr. George Wright tells J-M's general counsel to expect twenty-five years of asbestos cases, including lung cancer and mesothelioma in all divisions. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 19, 1968. J-M's public relations firm plans the announcement of Selikoff's insulator research, stressing cooperation and steering questions away from mesothelioma, brake linings and public risk. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 19, 1968. An outside X-ray reader tells J-M he found an "unforeseen relatively large number of abnormalities" in chest films of Billerica plant workers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 1, 1968. After British importers protest, Canadian Johns-Manville drops its plan to put caution labels on asbestos fiber bags for overseas customers, and its sales manager urges dropping them at home too. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 17, 1968. For marine Marinite panels, a J-M manager proposes "the smallest possible label," on the sheet edge, saying asbestos "may or may not be hazardous." Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 26, 1968. In a worker's compensation case, J-M's Long Beach plant tells its lawyers it will not present dust counts: "we do not want any information as a matter of public record." Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 7, 1968. Before a compensation hearing, J-M's Long Beach plant sends its dust records to headquarters so they "will not be available" there, and suggests a post-dated request for them. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 15, 1968. J-M headquarters orders the Manville plant to send it every outside request for medical information, and calls workers' exposure histories for internal use only. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 19, 1968. A customer asks Canadian Johns-Manville to leave the new caution label off its fiber bags, calling it "unduly alarming to our employees." Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 17, 1968. After British objections, J-M's health policy committee decides to put caution labels on fiber bags only for U.S. and Canadian customers; overseas buyers get a leaflet. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 23, 1968. After J-M announces caution labels on its fiber bags, customer Hooker Chemical asks J-M to explain what precautions it should take; J-M offers its environmental control director. Read it (J-M chronology)

1969

• 1969. A Selikoff and J-M research paper finds few insulation workers ever wear masks and reports field trials of a J-M prototype respirator designed for them. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 7, 1969. J-M's Advocate asbestos mine reports 23 of 53 dust stations over the limit in 1968, up from 12 the year before; headquarters cannot say why. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 15, 1969. J-M's board is told plant doctors have found X-ray lung changes in 295 current workers, "potential claims over a number of future years." Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 29, 1969. J-M International reports that short-fiber export bags sometimes break in transit, and that dust control in many overseas customers' factories gets little attention. Read it (J-M chronology)
• January 29, 1969. H. K. Porter acquires Tallman-McCluskey Fabrics Company of St. Louis, takes over its property and liabilities, and liquidates it. Read it (Motley 1000)
• February 10, 1969. J-M tells its plant managers it will begin measuring asbestos dust by the membrane filter method, which British producers had used "for many years." Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 10, 1969. A J-M plant manager asks headquarters whether he may tell a worker that his chest X-ray "did show a deviation." Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 17, 1969. J-M's scientific subcommittee hears that chest X-rays show asbestosis in 30% of current Billerica workers and 24% of 500 Manville workers. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 18, 1969. J-M's health policy committee hears that the Industrial Hygiene Foundation is distrusted for its industry ties, and tells British producers it will keep caution labels in North America. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 18, 1969. A J-M division manager notes that Marinite, high in asbestos, carries no warning label, and asks that the situation be "completely" corrected by March 15. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 19, 1969. J-M's public relations staff circulates a transcript of a taped talk with Dr. George Wright on mesothelioma, to build a "work book" and a Hill & Knowlton background paper. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 20, 1969. Because J-M has no stated labeling policy, a manager recommends no health hazard labels "at this time" on Marinite, Flat Transite and other asbestos sheet products. Read it (J-M chronology)
• February 25, 1969. After visiting General Dynamics at Groton, J-M tells the company's medical director its insulation fabrication does not appear to create "any substantial asbestosis hazard." Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 3, 1969. Asked about foreign labeling laws, J-M's lawyer lists dockworkers, customers' workers and neighbors as exposed to export fiber and urges consulting counsel abroad. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 7, 1969. J-M sets the end of 1969 as the deadline to move its last loose jute bag customers, including Bendix and Raybestos, to pressure-packed fiber. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 18, 1969. J-M's environmental control subcommittee expresses "great concern" that its dust stations out of control are increasing rather than decreasing. Read it (J-M chronology)
• March 21, 1969. J-M's lawyers confirm there will be no caution labels on fiber shipped outside North America for now, and plan how to answer a federal asbestos worker safety bill. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 22, 1969. C. L. Sheckler tells F. W. Matthews that J-M's paper slitting makes little dust but that he does not know how customers cut asbestos paper, and asks for dust counts. Read it (Motley 1000)
• April 23, 1969. J-M asks the Public Health Service what "significant data" from its asbestos worker study will go to workers' own doctors, citing compensation claims, and urges sending findings to company doctors. Read it (J-M chronology)
• April 23, 1969. Dr. Lewis J. Cralley of the U.S. Public Health Service explains to an international conference why the American asbestos dust standard is moving to a fiber count. Read it (Motley 1000)
• April 30, 1969. The Navy tells Ingalls Shipbuilding its shipyards have long known of asbestos hazards and asks how the yard protects insulation workers; Ingalls answers in the fall. Read it (Motley 1000)
• May 19, 1969. Johns-Manville's environmental control director, Edmund Fenner, tells New Jersey doctors how J-M has controlled asbestos dust since the Saranac research of the 1930s. Read it (Motley 1000)
• May 19, 1969. J-M's first fiber-count survey of its Manville textile plant finds 79 of 89 stations above the company's own limit, and 33 above the national limit. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 25, 1969. Lou Hemerda circulates to J-M health and legal staff Dr. Selikoff's letter on an insulator's death, flagging a passage on mesothelioma from light exposure. Read it (J-M chronology)
• May 27, 1969. J-M headquarters sends its Denver sales office stockholder reports stating company asbestos-health policy, after a Colorado state official raises the issue. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 6, 1969. Waukegan's medical department, unchanged since 1935, is running routine examinations every 28 months instead of the scheduled 19 to 24, with a 25-year-old X-ray unit. Read it (J-M chronology)
• June 13, 1969. A J-M survey of the Manville textile plant finds many jobs above 12 fibers/cc and recommends holding off on mandatory respirators pending a pay-standards review. Read it (J-M chronology)
• July 25, 1969. C. L. Sheckler calls mass compensation filings at the Manville plant a problem of major importance and seeks a plan to "retard the number of claims filed." Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 7, 1969. E. M. Fenner proposes labeling J-M insulation products that give off harmful asbestos or silica dust, listing which products would and would not carry labels. Read it (J-M chronology)
• August 18, 1969. J-M's health policy committee proposes a profitability study of the Marshville textile plant before buying costly dust control, and decides to handle plant health problems without union help. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 8, 1969. A California insulator's asbestosis claim, filed in 1966 against J-M and some 30 other employers, ends in an award for 64 percent permanent disability. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 10, 1969. The Industrial Hygiene Foundation sends J-M and other sponsors a confidential draft Public Health Service document, offering to have corrections made through committee member Dr. Paul Gross. Read it (Motley 1000)
• September 11, 1969. W. M. Deutsch proposes New York's sanitary code definition of "hazard" as J-M's guide to which asbestos insulation products need warning labels. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 16, 1969. J-M issues revised Executive Bulletin 312-3, requiring new or rebuilt dust control systems to keep asbestos below a company limit of 2 fibers per cubic centimeter. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 16, 1969. In notes of a meeting with J-M's Cliff Sheckler, he is recorded saying "we have had a dirty house and now we have to pay for it" and that respirators work less well than thought. Read it (J-M chronology)
• September 24, 1969. Owens-Corning's Dr. Jon Konzen advises that a worker's case be accepted as asbestosis, though plant asbestos levels had not been excessively high. Read it (Motley 1000)
• October 2, 1969. J-M's Environmental Control Subcommittee reviews new full-shift dust samples, with a Manville card room worker at up to 27 fibers/cc and a Jeffrey mine bulldozer operator at 125. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 3, 1969. E. M. Fenner writes that J-M has a "moral responsibility" to warn customers of product hazards, noting that Superex and Thermobestos have carried warning labels for years. Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 10, 1969. H. M. Jackson tells J-M's president that plant doctors at most plants are under-reading workers' X-rays and that past dust levels have caused "a substantial frequency of disease." Read it (J-M chronology)
• October 20, 1969. Insulator Clarence Borel sues Johns-Manville, Fibreboard and nine other insulation makers in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, for asbestosis and failure to warn. Read it (J-M chronology)
• November 5, 1969. H. M. Jackson sends Dr. Bristol's X-ray readings to the Marrero plant, telling it to act on newly found occupational disease rather than file the reports. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 16, 1969. J-M attorney R. R. Standel Jr. rejects a small "short form" Marinite caution label as legally unacceptable and proposes asking customers to relabel faced boards. Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 18, 1969. C. L. Sheckler proposes that J-M's insulation labels warn of dust when products are "machined, installed, or dismantled" and add "avoid breathing the dust." Read it (J-M chronology)
• December 22, 1969. After Eternit complains of labeled fiber bags, J-M International says that as standard procedure no shipment to overseas customers should carry caution labels. Read it (J-M chronology)