Asbestos and Pulmonary Cancer - Letters

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos and Pulmonary Cancer - Letters, by A.R. Fisher, J.P. Woodward, K.W. Smith, et al (1950).

The study

• Authors: A.R. Fisher, J.P. Woodward, K.W. Smith, A.J. Vorwald, A.J. Lanan, G.K. Foster, C.M. McCaw
• Published: 1950
• Type of article: Company document
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library.

In plain English

This item is not a research study. It is a set of confidential letters and memos from June to October 1950, plus a draft research contract. They passed among company staff, the Q.A.M.A., the Saranac Laboratory and New York University's Institute of Industrial Medicine, and concerned planning research on whether asbestos produces lung cancer. One letter is addressed to J. P. Woodard at the Johns-Manville Corporation. No data or findings are reported. The writers proposed two lines of research. One was a statistical survey of workers and the general population in two towns. The other was animal experiments using fibers named as Vimy, J-M or King, South African Blue, and Munroe. The draft contract had results sent to the funder at least 30 days before publication for comment. One memo called putting out truthful counter-propaganda a good idea. Another said the writer's company would pay 50% or more of the cost. A program was recorded as approved at a Q.A.M.A. directors' meeting on October 23, 1950.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Collection of internal correspondence (letters and memos) and a draft research agreement about planning research; not a research study
• Who was studied: No people or animals were studied. The letters discuss a proposed statistical survey of workers and the general population in the writers' two towns (Thetford and Asbestos are named).
• Exposure: Proposed test materials: three types of pure fiber named Vimy, J-M or King, and South African Blue and Munroe, each in short (2-3 microns) and long (15-50 microns) lengths. Also atmospheric asbestos and rock dust samples taken at the breathing level of mill workers.
• Main results:
  • A September 25, 1950 memo by Kenneth W. Smith recommended two lines of research. The first was a statistical study, preferably by a Canadian. The second was animal inhalation experiments at the Saranac Laboratory.
  • The Institute of Industrial Medicine (A. J. Lanza) suggested three steps: decide on an epidemiological study after a plant visit, defer inhalation plans for three or four months, and start screening studies by implantation and/or injection immediately.
  • J. P. Woodard noted that Saranac estimated a possible five-year program and suggested getting estimates beyond the second year, which was priced at $10,000.
  • Under the draft agreement, scientific results were to be given to the Donor at least thirty days before publication for comment or criticism.
  • Smith commented that the contract appeared to leave the Donor little choice if results unfavorable to company interests were submitted for publication.
  • Woodard wrote that putting out truthful counter-propaganda, to counteract what Woodard called wild statements made on the other side, was a good idea.
  • Woodard wrote that Lanza agreed they should avoid forming an institute for industrial chest diseases with other mining associations.
  • George K. Foster wrote that the writer's own company would pay 50% or more of the cost of the project.
  • An October 26, 1950 memo records that the statistical study and the second part of the recommended program were approved at the Q.A.M.A. Directors' Meeting at Skytop on October 23.
• The authors' conclusion: The documents report no scientific conclusion. Smith wrote that it may be advisable first to study the people who live and work in the dust.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Smith wrote that it is impossible to correlate absolutely the findings in animals and humans in this field.
  • Lanza's letter stated that no technique could evaluate the carcinogenicity of materials with certainty, and that one technique was of completely unknown reliability.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Saranac Laboratory, Lung Cancer, Johns-Manville.

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