Short Blog For this Week. The 1930s: When Asbestos Companies Knew that they had a Health Problem.
The Blog this week is short as I am knee deep into organizing the draft for my Masters Thesis entitled “Asbestos Related Issues Impacting Bangladeshi Shipbreaking Laborers.” As I did with my first Masters Thesis on the involvement of an asbestos substitute in the January 28, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10618, I will be blogging about this new thesis when completed.
If you are interested in when the asbestos companies first knew that asbestos involved health related issues, look no further than the Manville Trust as its Denver, Colorado document repository has a 120 page electronic document entitled “Johns-Manville Asbestos Knowledge Chronology.” This document drafted by Manville pretty much lays out the historical warts, all the way back to its founder, H.W. Johns, dying of asbestosis on February 8, 1898.
Certainly, by the early 1930s, problems started popping up. By the late 1930s, all doubt was pretty much eliminated. Note the following:
Please note the 1932 entry about the Konocide Club (which dealt with the relationship between dust and health) which mentions a January 1939 meeting devoted exclusively to problems with the asbestos industry. Pretty tough for anyone to argue that health related problems were not known at the time.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments. My email address is TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com. Thanks. Marty
9 Responses
Only one word “wow”.
Unbelievable that with all the info back then nothing happened. Big business has always been too powerful and too close to government, be it asbestos, sugar, tobacco, oil or healthcare. Money talks as they say.
Mark, and this was before Manville had its in-house counsel take lungs from deceased workers in the Canadian mine over the U.S. border, with the lungs hidden in the car trunk, so that the Saranac Lab could examine them for disease.
Hi Martin, are these easily accessible documents? Would love to read more
Yes, and I just emailed you the entire knowledge chronology. Let me know if you did not receive it, or you want additional documents. Marty
Hi martin, I’m interested in the reference to the Pangborn respirator, do you have anything else on that? Thanks for all you do!
Not that I am aware of. Have you seen that reference before?
No, but after the last three years, I’m interested in hearing about the relative effectiveness (or lack therof) of respiratory protection devices prescribed against small particles.
Hi Vince. There is a lot of historical material which discusses the use of respirators to protect against asbestos exposure, although I don’t think that many were necessarily scientific. I did a quick search on the Hathi Digital Trust for “asbestos and respirators” and 32,753 publications were noted. A quick search of some titles tells me that you have a lot of material to work with if you have the time to play and learn. Starting with the Hathi Digital Trust could be a real time saver.
Thanks!
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