Corporate Documents

Early industry-funded studies showed a link between asbestos and cancer – a revelation that, if made known to the public, could have saved countless lives. Tragically, the asbestos industry, to protect their profits, made the conscious decision to keep this information from the public.

One of the principal research contractors used by the asbestos industry was the Saranac Laboratory for Research on Tuberculosis. The Saranac Laboratory had originally been started as an adjunct to a sanatorium in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. The Saranac Laboratory already had facilities in place for animal experimentation on dusts to study the synergistic effects of silicosis and tuberculosis in the early 1920s. As a result, the laboratory was well prepared to investigate the effects of other dusts, as well.

Some of the earliest published work on asbestos at Saranac was funded by the asbestos industry, and it resulted in a series of documents now known as the “Sumner Simpson Papers.” In 1936, several asbestos companies joined together to fund a research contract at Saranac, a contract that was subsequently renewed yearly for 10 years. The revelations of the Saranac studies included a demonstrated link between asbestos exposure and cancer. However, a January 1947 meeting between members of the companies that funded this research concluded that “there would be no publication of the research of experiments without [the group’s] consent,” and that any publication “would not include any objectionable material. . .as, for example, any relation between asbestos and cancer.” As a result, the final publication regarding these asbestos dust experiments suppressed evidence linking asbestos exposure to cancer, and the final agreement between the asbestos conglomerate that funded the studies was that “the reference to cancer and tumors should be deleted.” Unfortunately, this information that would have proven invaluable to American workers was instead buried and hidden from the public.

Sumner Simpson was the president of Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. in the 1930s and 1940s. His correspondence with other heads in the asbestos industry demonstrates the industry’s many efforts to suppress evidence regarding the hazards of asbestos exposure. For example, in 1935, Mr. Simpson wrote Vandiver Brown, attorney for Johns-Manville Corporation, that “the less said about asbestos, the better off we [the asbestos industry] are.” Companies such as Raybestos-Manhattan and individuals such as Mr. Simpson also placed great pressure on trade industry publications, including Asbestos Magazine. Letters from Asbestos Magazine to Mr. Simpson document the magazine’s acquiescence to Mr. Simpson’s request that the magazine publish nothing about the hazards of asbestos. In 1939, the publisher of Asbestos Magazine wrote in a letter to Sumner Simpson, “You may see all that we have written you on several occasions concerning the publishing of information, or discussion of, asbestosis and the work which has been, and is being done, to eliminate or at least reduce it. Always you have requested that for certain obvious reasons we publish nothing, and naturally, your wishes have been respected. . . .” In a letter from Johns-Manville Corporation to Mr. Simpson in 1941, Johns-Manville corporate officer Vandiver Brown exemplified the cavalier attitude of the industry and the lack of concern for its employees when he wrote, “I felt there was considerable likelihood that a number of subscribers would dislike an article on this subject in the trade magazine of the asbestos industry. I had in mind the ostrich-like attitude which has been evidenced from time to time by members of the industry.”

The corporate cover-up continued when the Saranac Laboratory tested the dust from the Owens-Illinois thermal insulation product known as “Kaylo.” In 1948, the Saranac Lab reported to Owens-Illinois that Kaylo was capable of causing asbestosis and should be handled as a hazardous industrial dust. Unfortunately, Owens-Illinois never issued any brochure or warning of any nature about Kaylo’s health hazards.

These are just a sampling of the almost endless supply of documents evidencing the callous attitude of American industry toward asbestos hazards and its conscious disregard for the safety of the American worker. The asbestos industry’s unconscionable attitude toward the safety of the American worker and the public is perhaps most poignantly described in a September 12, 1966 document by E.A. Martin, Director of Purchases for Bendix Corporation:

“My answer to the problem is: if you have enjoyed a good life while working with asbestos products why not die from it. There’s got to be some cause.”

The asbestos tragedy was preventable, had the asbestos industry acted to protect the American worker. The unfortunate legacy of the asbestos industry’s actions is the public health crisis that continues to plague the U.S. today.