Document LpYjDXo4Q5L032ZMpLYV7R9xX

FILE NAME: Raybestos-Manhattan (RBM) DATE: 1946 DOC#: RBM093 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letters RE Dr. Gardner of Saranac Labs and His Asbestos Experiments J G ATE JE C O R P OMRr A T I ON - AUTOMOTIVE & INDUSTRIAL BR A K E L IN E R S FRICTIO N S NON-METALLIC BEARINGS & GEARS HIM PHONE STATE 0 0 81 2 2 8 N. LA SALLE ST icacjo t M Mr. J. F. D. Rohrbach, Executive Vice President, Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. Stratford, Connecticut. Dear John: I am glad to have your letter of August 9th, and especially glad that you are going after Vandiver Brown with the idea of getting some action from Dr. Gardner. Dr. Gardner's delay has extended over a period of years, and with hisy plan which will call for increased activity, I see no possibility of his being in any better shape when winter comes than he might be at the present time. I do not know how much money our Industry spent with Dr. Gardner but it must be a considerable sum. I think we started out with a five year plan which was extended, and althougn promises have been made I see no indication on the part of Dr. Gardner that he will live up to his responsibilities, and if it is going to take him two months to prepare the report I have much doubt that we will ever get the report. I think we should in3iist, therefore, on getting a report of his findings which he should be able to prepare on the basis of his previous report which we understood was not final. In this report he established that dust of a particle size less than 5 microns was not injurious. In the same report he did establish that damage was caused by the heavier fibres, which we know can be arrested through the use of approved types of respirators. With these tv/o facts established, and without injec tions of possibilities of cancer, etc., etc., we would nave something definite and worthwhile to combat the claims of these country doctors who set themselves up as experts but who actually have had no experience beyond what they read in books, and whose statements have been accepted by the courts as more or less authentic because we have had no expert testimony based on such experience as Dr. Gardner's.I I state finally that if Dr. Gardner will give us a report similar to what he has already reported, and 3how in this GATKE CORPORATION hr. X. -t1'. D. Rohrbach, Raybestos-kanhattan, Inc. August 12, 1946 - 2- report just what his experience lias proven, that dust particles less than 5 microns are not injurious, or, should I say, have been found by his tests not to be injurious, then I would be satisfied to wait until Dr. Gardner can make a report such as he would like to make. It is my opinion, however, that once we get the report he is in a position to furnish we could let the rest of it go by the board. Dr. Gardner certainly should feel some obligation to give us something quite soon for fear he might be incapacitated before the work is done. They have been soliciting funds for a laboratory extension to which I have not yet subscribed, and gave as my reason their apparent lack of interest in the affairs of our Industry. I am writing this letter just before taking a train to the Indiana Plant. It may be rather disjointed because I am trying fto give you my innermost feelings regarding the whole matter which I hope you can make good use of. With kind personal regards. Yours very truly, GATKE ORPORAT^^^ TLG;PP President , November 12, 1946 Mr. Manfred Bowditch Field Director The Saranac Laboratory Saranac Lake, If. Y. Dear Mr. Bowditch: . . -; ' ' ' . . . , -;- r As a member of the group who advanced certain sums of money to The Saranac Laboratory for asbestos dust experi- .nents conducted by Dr. Gardner and which were completed some time ago, wq are interested in knowing whether other members of your staff are in a position to assemble the accumulated data and prepare a final report thereon. As you are aware from earlier conversations, the preparation of this report was unavoidably delayed during the war period, although our most recent correspondence indicated that Dr. Gardner believed it would be completed this winter. Several interim reports were prepared by Dr. Gardner and distributed to various members of the underwritics;; group and under date of February 24, 1943 ' he submitted an Outline of Proposed Monograph on Asbestosis** which indicated that his development of his thesis v<as fairly well matuxfed. These lead me to believe that anyone fairly closely associated with, him in the conduct of these experiments or who, being an expert in the field, might review the accumu lated data could'give the Industry a report that would be valuable. . v';'. - \ \,--L . . , ^ 1 At your convenience, I would appreciate receiving your comments on the foregoing and I would also like to refer you to ay letter of November 20, 1936 to Dr. Gardner and his reply of liovembor 23 which initiated these experiments, with particular reference to the paragrap^sjshlch'state that the results of these studies are to be the property of the contri butors and that manuscripts of any reports thereon are to be submitted for approval before publication. Although you will note fro-3 these letters the arrangement originally contemplated three years of experimentcvl work at $5,000 per year, they were actually prolonged for.two additional years. . - Sincerely yours, VB;S CC Mr. Ernest iiuelileck Keasbey <1 Mattison Co. Ambler, Pa. / Mr. Sumner Simpson^/ Raybestos-Manhattan,Inc Bridgeport, Conn. . .Vandiver Brown . Secretary