Document zQpqzJ1RL1pzqvgejr3X163g3

FILE NAME DuPont DUP DATE 1985 Jan 11 DOC DUP092 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Legal - Deposition of Gerrit W. H. Schepers M.D. 1 STATE OF MICHIGAN ; 2 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF WAYNE 3 MICHAEL A. ARCHIE Personal Representative of the Estate 4 of EUGENE ARCHIE Deceased 5 CLEOPHAS ARNOLD i Civil Action | No. 81-119119 | No. 81-109821 | . 6 JOE LOUIS BAILEY No. 81-110098 | 7 JOHNNIE GERMAN and MARY GERMAN his wife 8 HUSTON JONES 9 IRA JONES 10 LUELLA PACE Personal 11 Representative of the Estate of JOHNNIE 12 LEE PACE Deceased t No. 110448 No. 81-109825 No. 81-109-832 | No. 81-109827 13 | SOLOMON TURNER and MILDRED TURNER his wife 14 No. 81-109831 Plaintiffs ' | 15 16 CELOTEX CORPORATION et al 17 Defendants 18 / The deposition of 19 GERRIT W. H. SCHEPERS M.D. a witness in the entitled cause taken before Jo Anne M. 20 Kippert Certified Shorthand Reporter and Notary Public in and for Wayne County Michigan at 4000 21 Town Center Suite 909 Southfield Michigan on the 11th day of January 1985 commencing at 22 10:05 o'clock A.M. pursuant to the Michigan General Court Rules 23 24 * 233 B CHAPA & GIBLIN 220 West Congress Detroit Michigan 48226 = rm emcee cee te ete ee te ee ee w aese involved your beginning to discuss your employment with the DuPont Corporation A. Yes Could you explain what position you held with them and what your responsibilities were A. Yes MR FARRELL Can we get a year A. I spent five years with the Dupont Company 10 in the capacity as chief of their pathology and as 11 consultant on internal medicine for the medical 12 department 13 Q. BY MR JENNINGS Doctor what were the 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 22 23 24 precise years A. This was between 1958 and 1963. In the area of pathology my duties were to investigate company products new products to determine whether they would have an adverse biological action so that the company would be guided as to the risks to human beings if these products were marketed So we tested all the products before they were marketed and wrote technical reports to the different departments of the Dupont Company on what the biological propensities are of the different 20 234 220 West CHAPA & GIBLIN Congress Detroit Michigan 49226 products Another area involving e w toxicology concerned the examination of the tissues e ae ee and the body fluids and of employees of the company ee eee e and customers of the company In some cases these examinations of employees were on a routine basis because we were watching for specific disease manifestations which were anticipated Like for instance examining the urine samples on a regular 10 basis of all the employees in the betanaphylene 11 factory section e which 12 was known through experimental work to cause cancer 13 of the bladder And our job was to find proof of 14 the development of cancer by examining the urine 15 for cells and as soon as these cells were 16| identified and grading of three or four was 17 assigned to the type of cell then the next step 18 was to get the employee together with the urologist 19 to have the urinary bladder examined to find the 20 cancer and to treat it when found And then we 21 followed up on that patient for the rest of his 22 life to see whether the cancer was under control 23 That's an example 24 Customers would 21 235 ee 220 West CHAPA & GIBLIN Congress Detroit Michigan 48226 ee ee ot occasionally make a complaint that ill health had #6 experienced ... 2 been or a death had occurred as a = 3 result of exposure to a company product and then 4 under those circumstances I examined the tissues S and reported to the company management and the e attorneys what abnormalities had been found and to what extent these were attributable to the me company's products and to what extent not re te And then in the medical re e etmbie 10 field I advised the company doctors on diagnostic me smagtine neent Se 11 11 interpretation of rays particularly those of the 12 chest and the interpretation of electrocardiograms a m 13 of patients of working staff of the company 14 Q. Doctor during these years from 1958 ee you 15 through 1963 when were with the Dupont Company ee ee 16 did you have any involvement at that time with 17 issues involving induced disease or e 18 asbestos disease 19 A. Yes The company made quite a number of 20 products which were of a particulate nature in 21 other words little dust particles could result 22 from them and workers or customers could breathe 23 these materials So we had many studies to 24 determine the specific effects of all these 22 236 220 West CHAPA & GIBLIN Congress Detroit Michigan 48226 e 1 materials The company also was interested in ee ee 2 making competative products competitive with 3 asbestos as an insulating material And for that 4 purpose since asbestos had been used for many decades successfully commercially successfully in 6 this country and overseas the company tried to 7 make an artificial product that would have the ee oe 8 commercial physical and chemical properties of e 9 asbestos but not the toxic or injurious effects of e 10 asbestos And so for that purpose these 11 experimental products had to be studied and 12 compared with what asbestos is likely to do 13 Q. In going over your professional career 14 you mentioned you spent a year in Michigan before 15 you went with the DuPont Corporation but I don't 16 believe you discussed what you studied in Michigan 17 Could you outline what the nature of your research 18 or study was during that time 19 A. Yes The year spent in Michigan was in 20 the capacity of a fellowship that I held here at 21 the University of Michigan I believe I was called 22 a research associate or something of that sort 23 And the purpose was to review pathology general 24 pathology and familiarize myself with the criteria 1 t 237 | CHAPA & GIBLIN 220 West Congress Detroit Michigan 48226 es tte ce er ce ee ee ee ee ee eee eee ed