And so, Paul Brodeur began his journalism career investigating asbestos-related health hazards on October 12, 1968 with his article in the New Yorker Magazine. His following 3 books on asbestos included Asbestos and Enzymes in 1972 dedicated to Irving J. Selikoff, The Asbestos Hazard in 1980, and Outrageous Misconduct in 1985. After a long and…
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Emily Reinstein and I share a terrible bond; that is, the death of our respective fathers to a terrible disease named Mesothelioma. Emily and her mom Linda, through the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), honors Alan’s memory each year by granting the Alan Reinstein Award. For 2023, I am honored to share this award with…
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By 1966, many of the international asbestos companies such as Johns-Manville, Turner & Newell, James Hardie, Cape Asbestos, just to name a few, had undertaken a number of actions to hide the potential health hazards of asbestos. As some of my prior posts have pointed out, this includes settling cases upon the condition that the…
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Asbestos was mined extensively in many locations within the United States, including from the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana. This mine opened in 1923 and was operated by W.R. Grace until it was closed in 1990, but only after exposing the residents and the environment to extensive asbestos pollution and causing significant illnesses. Even to…
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I see from Raymond’s recent posts that Mavis is going through a tough time of it. As such, now would be a good time for me to repeat my August 5, 2021 blog entitled “Mavis Nye: A Force to be Reckoned with” originally posted at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=8406. Mavis is one of a kind and has done…
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The British government, and particularly its Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee, analyzed the German Asbestos Industry right after World War II and concluded that “The technical development of the German asbestos industry has been retarded during the war by the shortage of raw materials.” In summary, it made a difference. Rather than me read the pages to…
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This posting follows up on my research thesis on the asbestos exposures experienced by shipbreaking laborers in Bangladesh published in two of my May 2023 blogs which are at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10929 and https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=10943. This update becomes necessary based on the ratification of the Hong Kong Convention discussed below. The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe…
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This is big news to those of us who research Johns-Manville history. The JM Claims Research Facility in Denver, Colorado will no longer allow scheduled appointments for in-person research. Starting July 1, 2023, all contacts are by phone or email which means, of course, that getting your eyeballs on the correct documents will be a…
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If my discussion last week at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=11018 on asbestos containing products available one-hundred years ago wasn’t enough, I have attached at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/JM-Power-Users-1920-Material.pdf a 167 page publication by Johns-Manville from 1920 which discusses in exquisite detail all of its building materials. The Table of Contents is as follows: Also, for those of you who wonder whether…
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The 1920s saw a significant expansion in the use of asbestos containing products. For you to understand this history, I have attached the following three one-hundred year old articles from Raw Materials Magazine: (1) March 1920 article titled “Asbestos Manufactured Products and Uses,” (2) July 1922 article titled “Asbestos, An Ideal Insulating Material,” and (3)…
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