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MINUTES of the Asbestos Textile Institute held June U thru June 7, 1956 in Ilew Yorkj Thetford Mines and Asbestos, P, Q., Canada IN ATTENDANCE! F. J. Wakem, President JQHNS-MANVILLE COUP. . PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT 1 ry/nsb^ ASBESTOS CGRPGLATICN, LTD. I, C, Campbell O, E, Jenkins P. E. LeClere J. A. Marcotts BELL ASBESTOS MINES, LTD. Geo. Smith H. A. Smith F. P. Smith CASSIAS ASBESTOS CORP., LID. J. D. Christian T. T. Tigert JOHNSON *S COfiPAirY, LTD. A, S. Johnson U, J. Johnson Carl Bindman Geo. Robinson johns-manvule corp. of Canada J, C, Kelleher JOHNS-HANVILLE CORP. E. A. Schumaa V. Atkinson W. S, Hough KEASBE7 & HATTLSON CO. R. L. Lana A. E. Whitfield RAYBESTGS-MANHATTAN, INC. M. S. Maier J. A. Brown R. 3. Smith H. W, Oliver S. R. Zimmerman, Jr. 0. W. Marshall, Jr. SOUTHERN ASBESTOS CO. J. T. Griffis Geo. Griswold J. D. McCluer ASBESTOS TEXTILE INSTITUTE M. C. Shaw QUESTS: Frank Gatke Dr. Paul Cartier Maurice LaChance The second quarterly meeting of the Asbestos Textile Institute was held Jointly* in New York City on June Uth and in Thetford Mines and Asbestos, P, Q., Canada from June 5th through June 7. The meetings in New York on June Lth were devoted to committee discussions by the Air Hygiene, Sales Promotion and Technical Committee and the minutes of these several meetings are herewith attached. On June 5* a group of fifteen Members of the Institute journeyed .to Thetford Mines by rail, being.delayed sene eight hours on arrival due to track washouts, however, the reception tendered by our Canadian members and friends effectively served to ease the tensions of many shattered nerves. V/ *v IiUIUTES OF THE ASBESTOS TEXTILE IUSTITUTE AIR IIZQIEHE COI'DHTTEE HEETING June U, 1956 IN ATTENDANCE WIRE: D, R. Holme3 Ralph Smith, General Asbestos Dr. Kenneth Smith, Johns-iianville Hr. George Griswold, Southern Asbestos HORDING SESSION a The first item on the agenda was the discussion of Asbestosis and Cancer in relation to the Taylor case at Lancaster, Pa., in which a state referee decided the case in favor of the employee on the basis of finding an Asbestosis-Cancer relationship. This decision was made by the referee on the basis of writings ^ by Dr. Hueper of the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, iiaryland. It is Dr. Kenneth Smith's opinion that most medical men consider that a normal X-Ray pattern must be shown in order to establish an Asbestosis-Cancer^ relationship* Prior to this meeting a memorandum was received from Industrial Hygiene Foundation entitled PROPOSED EPIDEJIOLOGICAL STtDT OF LUNG CANCER IH ASBESTOS ^ WQRKIRS FOR THE ASBESTOS TEXTILE INSTITUTE. There are two questions raised in reference to this memorandum - 1. VJhether there is a relation between Cancer and Asbestosis, and ^ 2, VIhetlier a relationship exists between Lung Cancer and considerable exposure to asbestos fibres and dust* There are about 2,000 workers in this industry whose employment records could be a basis for such a survey* During the weeks of April 23rd and Hay 7th, visits were made to seven plants of the Asbestos Textile Institute. Conferences were/ held with representatives of management from each plant. The purpose of this visit was to determine the extent of availability of medical records and employ ment records in a period of time covered by them. Each plant was questioned regarding the number of knoun cases of Asbestosis and Lung Cancer, if any* The I.H.F. advises that there are at least 1,800 asbestos textile workers employed under observable conditions for periods sufficiently long to get a total of no less than 15,000 person-years. 'They also advise that this should be an adequate basis on which to predict with 9055 accuracy, providing the plant incidence is actually higher than that in the general population* It is anticipated that the field work for such a study would consume ap proximately six months. An analysis of the data and any necessary review in preparation of the report an additional six mouths. On this basis, cost of tlft Air Hygiene Committee iieeting Pate 2 study is estimated at -17,500,00 including travel and out-of-pocket expenses. The cost of the initial fact finding survey was ,,<86U,00, This was slightly less than the ..>1,000*00 estimated. It was the desire of the committee that a copy of this memorandum from the I.H.F. be sent to each member of the Air Hygiene Committee along with a letter urging that each member of the committee impress the importance of this program to the Officers of his Company, This has already been done, I had a long discussion with Dr, Kenneth Smith in reference to this program covering the relationship of Asbestosis to Cancer, It is his opinion that it is of primary importance that this program be adopted as soon as possible, so that the I.H.F, could publish the results of this survey along with the results from a survey undertaken by them for the Quebec mining association. On Nay 11, 1956, a letter was received by the Chairman from a Dr, Kenneth li. Lynch, President, of the iledical College of South Carolina, Dr, Lynch is doing some work in relation to the effect of Asbestos dust on laboratory animals ex posed for prolonged periods in dusting chambers. He is primarily interested in enlisting the aid of the Asbestos Industry in this- effort, which for the past eight years has been and is presently being supported by the national Cancer Institute of the U, S, Public Health Service. This letter was discussed at the meeting with Dr, Kenneth Smith, who has worked along with Dr. Lynch for many years. Dr, Lynch is also doing work for another member of the Institute and has been doing so for come tine. Dr, Lynch is performing this work in an effort ^ to clarify the relation of Asbestosis and Cancer of the Lung, It was the opinion of the committee that the Chairman should write Dr, Lynch and thank him for his interest in Industry and its problems, however, ^ advising him that we havo other programs being instig:ted at this time and can not, therefore, enter into any programs for the support of his work, ti2 We had a discussion on the Spencer Stock Conditioner. lie all agreed that this type of conditioner is probably the best on the market and that it was to operate on small percentages of oil - less than 1*, providing the humidity is under control, as Stock will ordinarily not run with more than 5( relative humidity, John Weber now has a heavy type bag loader in operation and is very well satisfied with it. It is practically dust free. The next discussion was in reference to the amount of dust in asbestos fibres received from the nanes. However, at a later date we should receive some figures on these dust percentages and at that time we hope to take the subject up with the mines. We next talked on the Wheelobratcr Dust Collection system, Ralph Smith and George Griswold related their experiences in the installation and operation of this type unit. As we have said before, the Industry now has several Wheelobrater collectors in operation and to our knowledge all are operating in a satisfactory manner. This type of unit is comparatively maintenance free. Air Hygiene Committee Meeting Page 3 Our next discussion concerned compensation as it is handled in several states. This discussion was informative to each one of u3 as it gives an opportunity to compare one state systum against the other* AGE'DA FOR THE KBIT MEETING jfl - Continuing the discussion of the memorandum from the I.H.F. on Asbestosis and Cancer. 2 - Continuing the discussion of spraying fibres with oil with a viev; toward the elimination of dust at the source. 3 - Report on general improvements and elimination of dust by whatever means. D. R. Holmes, Chairman Air Hygiene Committee Asbestos Textile Institute