Document JNL3aDV91ndG3D74aX9xGzynK

0-C O W ENS'CORNIN G FIBERGLAS CORPORATION INTRA-COMPANY CORRESPONDENCE General Offices - Toledo, Ohio July 8, 1944 Attention of y.r. W. C, Winterhalter - Los Angeles Subject Dossier on Health Aspects of Fiberries Materials Used in Aircraft (With special reference to itch complaints on XM-PF.) cc - Mr. V.'. p. Zinnermnn Mr. E. C. Ames Mr. F. G. Baechle Mr. Ben S. Wright Mr. II. H. Eirby Mr. J. G. Lei senring Mr. A. C. Wilson We are getting an increasing number of itch complaints on XM-PF. The situation calls for your immediate attention and action because XM-PF production is reaching large scale proportions and is being increasingly specified and used in aircraft. You know the story of' why it is being engineered in the planes -- because of its light weight, non-inflam mability, lack of moisture pick-up, and other physical properties. It has been specified and is being used on that basis, but in many plants, it still must be sold to production people ifoo have to handle it. Loose, uninformed talk is being spread. We are taking steps to track down libelous statements and to institute measures to put an end to that sort of thing. In the meantime, our health story must be gotten across on a personal basis to safety engineers, plant physicians and nurses, and industrial hygienists in the aircraft industry. Biesa are the professionally trained people to whom production foremen and supervisors turn when workers complain of itch. It does not solve the problem to pooh-pooh such complaints. By contrast Tilth Kapok, Milkweed, and XAA-PF, the XM-PF is brash because of structural strength imparted to the fibers by the phenolic resin and because of lack of uniformity of distribution of the binder. We are working on the latter and expect some improvements. We know that we have nothing to conceal. Our health story is straight forward and authentic. ACTION.' Your selling job in the aircraft industry, therefore, now calls for immediate personal approach in each aircraft plant in your territory to: a. The plant physician and his plant dispensary staff (Nurses are important factors.) b. The safety engineers and/or industrial hygienists. Arrange personal calls on these people. Study the health Dossier beforehand. Go over the health story with them. Leave a copy of the Dossier with them for reference. Offer copies of the Leaflet (Item No. 2 in the Dossier) for distribution to their production people. Please furnish details of these calls in your trip reports. Moreover, if you have not had any complaints, take these steps anyway -- as an ounce of performance that will save you a pound of headeche later on. J. H. THOMAS 0 [ 6^30. El emk PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT CONTENTS 1. Fiberglas in Aircraft. Diagram illustrating types of uses. 2. Leaflet prepared for distribution to Foremen and Supervisors handling Fiberglas materials. (Additional copies will be supplied to safety engineers upon request to D've ns-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, Toledo 1, Ohio). 3. Health Aspects of Fiberglas Materials. This 8-page brochure, published in April, 1943, was prepared for distribution to plant physicians, industrial hygienists, safety engineers, and others interested in a documented summation of facts relating to the health aspects of Fiberglas materials. 4. Transcript of Romarks on "Health Aspects of Fiberglas 'Materials " by Yf.G. HAZARD, U.S.P.H.S., acting chief. Division of Industrial Hygiene, Ueiv Jersey Department of Health, Trenton, N.J. This is an Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Rhode Island Industrial Health Institute held in Providence on 1.1ay 19, 1943. (Reprint) 5. "The Effects of Fiberglas on Animal and Human Skin," report of an experimental investigation by MARION B. SULZBERGER, M.D., and RUDOLF L. BAER, H.D., in Industrial Medicine, XI, 10 (October, 1942), pp. 482-484. (Reprint) 6. "Fiberglas Health Hazard Investigation" by WALTER J. SIEBERT, M.D., in Indus trial Me dieine, XI, 1 (January, 1942), pp. 6-9. (Reprint) 7. "Hazards of Exposure to Glass Wool, Glass Frit or Foam-Glass" by B. J. HEIN, M.D., in Journal of the American Medical Association, CXXIV, 3 (January 15, 1944), pp~ 187-183. '(Reprint) 8. "Fibrous Glass Insulation: Health Aspects of," joint memorandum (December 30, 1942) of the Bureau of Ships (BUSHIPS S38-1 (3638) EN28/A2-11) and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED FS/S38-1 (103). (Copy) 9. "Payable Gauze as a Factor of Safety in Surgical Operations" by EDWARD F. LEWISON, TI.D., in Bulletin of the Timer icon College of Surgeons, XXVII, 1 (January, 1942), pp. 39-40. Describes use of Fiberglas yarn as a tracer thread in surgical sponges. (Reprint) 10. "Fiberglas Suture Material" by ROY PHILIP SCHOLZ, M.D., and PHILIP S. MOUNTJOY, H.D., in The American Journal of Surgery, LVI, 3 (June, 1942), pp. 619-621. Describes experimental use of braided PTberglas yarn as a suture material. (Reprint) 11. Photograph showing use of Fiberglas cloth (ECC-11-108) on patient in Detroit Receiving Hospital in special bandage devised to measure nitrogen loss in the exudate from surface burns, described by DR. JOHN V. HIRSHFELD, et al., in article cited below. "Significance of the Nitrogen Loss in the Exudate from Surface Burns" by John W. Ilirshfeld, K.D., Harold H. Y.illiams, Ph. D., YYilliam E. Abbott, M.D., Carl G. Heller, U.D., Ph. D., and Matthew A. Pilling, K.D., in Surgery,1 XV, 5 (May 1944), pp. 766-773. Describes the use of Fiberglas cloth in direct contact with burned skin surfaces as part of a newly developed technique to measure protein losses in the exudate. (Reprint) 6 i ^ / 0 7 3 7, fc>2-  12.. GARDNER, LEROY U., K.D., "Report of the Director of The Trudeau Foundation 1941" in The Fifty-Seventh Annual Medical Report of the Trudeau Sanatorium and the Thirty-Seventh Medical Supplement For the Year Ending September 30, 1941. Last page, (Reprint). Dr. Gardner reports that work carried on at the Saranac Laboratories in 1941 has demonstrated that exposure to dust of glass wool involves no hazard for the lungs because this fibrous material is not inhalable. 13. "Fiberglas Yarns," published as Fiberglas Standards G9.2.1, (December 8, 1943) by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation. 14. "Fiberglas Tapes," published as Fiberglas Standards G9.4.1 (August 2, 1943) by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation. 15. "Fiberglas Cloths," published as Fiberglas Standards G9.6.1 (September 3, 1943) by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation. 16. "Fiberglas Cloths and Tapes," Type N - Navy Dept, Specification 32C15; Cloth, Tape and Thread, Glass, Fibrous, for Lagging Insulation - published as' Fiberglas Standards G10.8.2 (August 9, 1943) by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation. 17. REISER, HUBERT D., Major, A.U.S., "Use of Fibrous Glass by the Amy and Navy," in Mining Technology, Volume VII, No. 3 (May, 1943), Technical Publication No. 1598 (Class H, Industrial Minerals Division, Nc. 107), pp. 1-14, This is a reprint of an address delivered by Major Reiser in New York City on February 15, 1943, before a joint session of the Timerican Society of Economic Geologists and the Industrial Minorals Division 'of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. The article contains a comprehensive description of manufacturing processes. 18. Fiberglas - A New Basic Material, published in 1943 by Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation. This is a 24-page booklet describing development, properties, manufacture, and uses of Fiberglas materials. (M 56V i