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A Quick Guide to the Castleman Papers

The addition of Barry Castleman’s papers makes Toxic Docs the world’s largest collection of freely accessible digital materials. You can read more about the papers here. Accessing them is easy. The Basics 1. Go to www.toxicdocs.org 2. Hit advanced search on the right of the white

Pedagogy

Gender, Safety, and the EEOC

Roison Casey The submission on toxic docs that I found (https://www.toxicdocs.org/d/G5r0EX4xjmb0j1E3na5njvz8V) included two documents. First, on May 12 1978, George P. Sape, a lawyer who served as vice president for the Organization Resources Counselors Inc. (ORC), sent a memorandum to the ORC's Equal

Pedagogy

Food Waste and American Society

Margaret Meyerson The phenomenon of food waste is predicated on having food to waste, a phenomenon only available since the industrialization of food production in the 19th century. Both the impact of the disposal of excess food on public health (particularly the absence of suitable disposal systems leaving discarded food

Pedagogy

Asbestos and Trade Associations

Machaela Parkin I chose to read the minutes of the first annual meeting of the Asbestos Cement Products Assocation from 1969 (3-23-2012 Ex. 02 ACPA November 21 1969-1), a 1970 meeting report from the Environmental Health Task Force (3-23-2012 Ex. 03 Env Health Task force October 1970), and a 1971

Pedagogy

Ethyl Gas Safety in the Interwar Period

Kate Tadeo Of the two documents I read, I was most interested in the order in which I read the articles and the dates they were produced. The first document I read was a small collection of letters, the first from December 1935 to Ethyl Gas Corp (presumably from the

Pedagogy

A critique of the Bureau of Mines and leaded gasoline studies

Kairaluchi Oraedu I chose a letter from 1925 in which Yale professor, Yandell Henderson, is writing to Mrs. Grace Burnham of the Workers’ Health Bureau. In this document Yandell criticizes the Bureau of Mines report on ethyl gas as inaccurate. He reveals that experiments done by the Bureau of Mines

Pedagogy

Regulators and Lead

I was most taken aback by the candor found in many of the documents on the website. We have this image in our heads of corporate malfeasance that is insulated and clandestine. Actions disclosed to a limited number of corrupt individuals and hidden from the regulators intended to protect us.

Pedagogy

The Health of Miners

Hannah George I took a look at an interesting 1968 document entitled "Let's Get Cracking," by W.W. Nelson, the Assistant Public Relations Adviser for Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines (upon my own searching, I discovered this to be based in Johannesburg, South

Pedagogy

Toxins and Food Politics

Amanda Armstrong In their article "Farm Chemicals Said Vital," Marge Davenport, a journal medical writer for the Oregon Journal, discusses the debates surrounding the ongoing use of pesticides and insecticides in the agricultural sector, as discussed during the August 1969 symposium at Oregon State University. Attendees, including Kenneth

Pedagogy

Monsanto PR

By Anastasia Hendricks The document I found does not have an explicit title, and seems to be part of a larger document. It is sourced to Monsanto and is written in a question-and-answer format -- likely an FAQ drafted by Monsanto, addressing clients and the general public. It begins with

Pedagogy

Toxic Docs in the Classroom

For the next two weeks, we'll be highlighting uses of Toxic Docs in the classroom. Co-PI David Rosner has been teaching a class called "Poisoned Worlds" at the Mailman School of Health/Department of History (Columbia University) for years, using the database to give students direct

Pedagogy

Lead poisoning and trade associations

By Sophia Abrahamson As scientists stumbled upon cheaper, more effective chemicals throughout the 20th century, lead increasingly appeared in daily products. Lead poisoning became a risk of the general public, and not just specialists working in industry (i.e., manufacturing workers, painters). Tetraethyl lead in gasoline, for example, caught the

Featured

Introduction: The Barry Castleman Files

Toxic Docs is pleased to host the papers of Barry Castleman. Castleman is an expert on the risks of asbestos who has published pathbreaking work on the topic. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be dropping the entire collection, highlighting documents of note each time we do.

The Poison Papers (Part Two)

We've just uploaded a second batch of the Poison Papers to our site. Read more about the collection here [http://www.toxicdocs.org/blog/the-poison-papers-come-to-toxic-docs/].

The Poison Papers Come to Toxic Docs (Part One)

Today, Toxic Docs is pleased to announce that it is hosting the Poison Papers on its site. You can browse them by clicking here. And you can search them by choosing "Poison Papers" [https://www.toxicdocs.org/search?page=1&collection_id=5b8ed67e4523b82f8c8e76bd] under the "Special

Asbestos Information Association: The Birth of a Front Group

It sounds innocuous, neutral, and legitimate enough to the undiscerning eye: Asbestos Information Association (AIA). But it was in fact a front group founded by the asbestos industry in the late-20th century to push back against impending regulation, especially at the federal level from the EPA. These documents are membership

The Asbestos Industry Fights Back

[https://www.toxicdocs.org/d/99rREbkYQvOJdL0VjBEeJ7wd7?lightbox=1] In the 1970s, facing mounting bad publicity and regulatory crunch, the asbestos industry regrouped, forming trade associations and devising public relations campaigns. In this closed-door Executive Committee meeting [https://www.toxicdocs.org/d/99rREbkYQvOJdL0VjBEeJ7wd7?lightbox=1] of the International Asbestos Information Conference,

NSF Grant to Toxic Docs!

Recently, Toxic Docs was pleased to learn from the National Science Foundation that it won a $457,649 grant to support its work. Yeah! Merlin Chowkwanyun will serve as PI of the project, David Rosner as Co-PI, and Gerald Markowitz and Alex Farrill as collaborators. The NSF is one of

Lead Lawsuit Twist: Flatulence, Cows, and Lead

A few months ago, we happily reported that the California Supreme Court ordered companies that had once manufactured lead paint to pay $1 billion towards helping remediate a residual mess we're all still living with. The State's case was largely anchored in the painstaking historical work

PFASs in Minnesota

We've just added about 90 new documents on 3M and PFASs in Minnesota. 3M recently settled [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/3m-is-said-to-settle-minnesota-lawsuit-for-up-to-1-billion] a case brought by the state for $850 million. Among other issues, these documents show deliberation by 3M and pollution control agencies on threats

The PFAS Project and Toxic Docs

[http://www.pfasproject.com] Toxic Docs has always seen itself as part of a larger environmental health community. We freely provide our resources to those looking to house documents on environmental health and to take advantage of the tools we’ve developed or that are coming down the road. Today,

Roundup Cameo in Toxic Docs

This week, a California jury found Monsanto liable in a case around its weed killer Roundup. A groundskeeper claimed exposure to Roundup contributed to development of his cancer. It ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million. The debate over Roundup and glyphosate, its chief ingredient, will continue for years, along with

Asbestos Regulation: Pushing Back Against Zero

Asbestos has been in the news all this summer. First came notice of a multi-billion dollar judgment against Johnson and Johnson for asbestos in talc that plaintiffs claim contributed to development of ovarian cancer. Then there was a pipe explosion in mid-town Manhattan that sent asbestos onto surfaces and in

Asbestos in Talc: The View from History

Last month, a jury handed down a huge $4.6 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson, finding it liable for ovarian cancer that plaintiffs claim was associated with asbestos in talc. Most people who read the story were puzzled over talc and asbestos appearing in the same sentence. But questions

Meet Karuna Vikram, our social media intern!

This summer, Karuna Vikram, a NYC high school student, has helped author a series of posts about material in Toxic Docs. You can read them here here [https://www.toxicdocs.org/blog/author/karuna/]. We decided to get to know her more, and our interview is below. Q: Who are