Document XRj6zE0v17mOkgjN6zjoZkG0G

FILE NAME: New York State & NY Times (NY) DATE: 1987 DOC#: NY001 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Barry Castleman Notes on Trial in NY in Letter to Friedman /u V-- ~ i f b o Ted Pricdman January 26, 198? The enclosed documents trace the development of knowledge on asbestos using a variety of sources. Additionally, I have asked your office to obtain other documents which have been used by me in trials else where and not returned by plaintiffs' attorneys to me. Sorry. The authorities in New York wrote a lot about asbestosis and cancer from it in the year 1950-52 (Drs. Silson, layers of NY State Dept, of Labor). Had anyone bothered to call these men, they '-ould doubtless have told what they knew- Mayers, in particular, not only said asbestos was a carcinogen in 1952 (Comp. Med paper), but also warned against reliance on Maximum Allowable Concentration guidelines based on other health effects where the substance in question is a carcinogen. This is a strong answer to the TLV defense since the TLY was aimed at minimizing risk of asbestosis(see Ch 4 of my book for elaboration). I have asked your people to obtain a paper by Tabershaw, who was at Columbia and worked for Liberty Mutual when he vrote about the Germans classifying lung cancer in combination with osbes- tosis as a compensable occupational disease (196I) Dr. Angrist, pathologist at Queens General, was an author o F papers on asbestosis and lung cancer in 19*+2 and 1951, enclosed. Dr Brahdy, whose widow told me he was with the compensation board, inclined toward the posi tion that asbestos caused cancer in l$k8 in the paper enclosed ('hich followed a presentation on the same subject by Lynch). In addition, there were Dr. Levin at MY Health Dept. (19*l4 article you're getting) the 193*1- editorial in NY's "Industrial Bulletin" (enclosed), and the well-known Saranac Laboratory in upstate NY (described at length in my book). Also v/k Smith at NYU (you're getting his 1952 writing) Reviewing my book, chapter 2, I count 62 published articles in print worldwide (incl. abstracts of articles counted in addition to the articles themselves) which comment in more or less positive terms on the carcinogenicity of asbestos, prior to 1950* My researcher is getting copies of the citations in Index Medicus throughout the 1950s to medical papers on asbestosis Please copy and return as a p , and also make me copies of the articles I"ye had to ask you to obtain on your own Sincerely, Now York (Connie;) further ref to NY ?tatc Oeo Co Comm foyers (Arch Inc1. Hyg . 5* 2?9, 1952) cites nullication of mailings sent to every doc in NY state (1950?) incl specific ref to carcinogens known & suspected Mo Rev CO: 37 and 99, 1991; and Come Med J: Q (1950). ' ' Committee formed in 19^7 incl. reps, from every prof category in NY, fed. experts, and some industry people (e g., Gehrmann) as well as MroM Lanza . NY notice to docs mentioned asbestos rs noss '11 c lung carcinogen (but not proven one). Reoullication o p notice in Como. Med, didn't have this info, but 1951 reprintings in Mo Rev had the tables Ind. Pull, appears to be an I.H. safety publication Connie will examine post-193^1' issues "or asbestos articles (apparently there are no ads). I also suggested College of Insurance library as special NY resource.