Document xz4ZLe04jGo1E16e9RKDxe4p1

m #*! --------- ---------------- t * l Si*df * '***--"> "* *" w 0*lf ^Aa A I WA . i* `*< F..**<4 f7 tjvita Lrvixuvtg.s Tn ui*o i* 1AJJ ? C*uiC It.. SktkHkC UJ. Mw To*! <1 Jul7 27, 1556 PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT Si- 17 5 TiImkii UU*iu^7 I' Sir**!*. M Mr. X.D, Burch Director of Personnel tad Industrial delations Owena-Ccrsing Fiberglas Corporation U2 National Bank Building Toledo 1, Ohio t ___ * Boar Mr. Burch: . X believe 1 should point out to you that the art!cits which X published recently on the biological action of glass fibers vrs based on experiments . conducted at the Saranac laboratory during the period 1936 to 1917, all ini`tiatad by the late Dr. Leroy U. Gardner. Basically these sxperinent* Tell into teo categories, namely, infection studies and inhalation studies* lbs injection studies vere of an entirely artificial nature frss the point of view.of industrial aedielne. They vere conducted vith a glass fiber, produet whielj ve had artificially reduced to a dust state. X can foresee so eircusstanees under which a commercial glass fiber product -would, under normal industrial circumstances, be introduced into the human body in the fora of this dust. Our interest in this, product was purely academic. The inhalation phase of the research work was conducted on a product fur* niahed by Ovens Coming and, according to information furnished us, the glass fibers were reduced to particulate fora for the purposes of the experiment by a process of hamer allling at the Owens Corning plant prior to shipment to the Saranac laboratory. Xt is also ay understanding that fibers sueh as these hare no eccsereial use. The glass from which glass fibers are made, though It contains silica, is not to^,c beeause the siliea is combined with the other ingredients of the glass. Glass i a silicate. . In our various experiments in this laboratory silicates, with .-one exception, hart been found to be relatively.harmless com pared to ainertla^containing free siliea. The exceptional fora is asbestos* Our interest in the glass fiber arose out of the fact that it is fibrous and ve had previously shoves in this laboratory that asbestos duet is larmftl )Rly*t LT inhaled in a fibrous state, . The results of the experiments vith Tibsrs are of Interest in that they ahow*d that length of fiber is sot the ' aaly factor unearned ia the causation of lung fibrosis, inacmch as l ,.oes cause fibrosis and glass fibers cause no such fibroeia. 02 400 2028 i.".**'*! / S*f Ll^tt ;ftj, i Vi JfU M I *f**tt*J wrf/r 'in * !* if iSjf'* T.r 'aw. *,fl Mr. X.O. Surah Jul7 27, 1956 ! should point out, too, thst our xp*rianes with dusts of 4 pnst rsristy of kinds hsv saphsaittd ths fset th*t only dust particles sasilsr than 10 sierons 1a dliMtsr esn nauss lun* daaacs vhsraas particles frtatsr than 200 sierons eannot rran bo rstainsd in ths lungs, To ths bsst of ay teiovlodft ths glass fibsrs vhiek in currently earths asrkst in prcducsd In s filisentsd fora sacsssdlng 4 200-oieroa length asoy fold, Is you taovj a fiber 200 microns lone is so sim.1V that it is `barely -risibls, . Tours sine*rsly, 1 O.V.H* Schspsrs, H.S., D.ic, . Director GWKS: I i i 02 400 2029