Document 99OXjeBzbYwDx8J7Y8anXRQ3D

Hr. Wheatley Assistant Vice-President Welfare Division PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT MET-261 Ifi^Fe: Mortality from tuberculosis in Thetford Mines. P. Q,. I do not see that this adds much to what you have given them already. The facts as to sex and age incidence for this one year are roughly in agreement with what you showed for the period 1940-1942. As Dr. Cartier indicates, the occupation analysis is worthless. To find out anything regarding possible occupational influences from mortality statistics, beyond what may be inferred from the sex and age comparison, either of the following procedures might be attempted: (a) Secure death rates by broad occupational classes for men employed in the asbestos industry and for those employed in all other industries combined by a survey of the occupational histories of the working population of the city and of the deceased workers in a definite period. It would be necessary also to determine the age of these workers, so that significant death rates might be calculated. (b) Secure a rough measure from a careful study of the occupations of deceased workers alone by the "proportionate mortality" method. This would require that a complete list be obtained of workers in the asbestos industry who died from any cause in the survey period and the number of these who died from tuberculosis. The proportion of deaths from tuberculosis to total deaths at a given age could then be compared with the corresponding proportion for non-asbestos workers. The method has obvious faults but can be useful. It would be necessary to study the deaths for a number of years in order to obtain representative percentages. August 2, 1945 7-4 Occupational Bating 0728