October 19, 2007

Following up on our earlier correspondence, attorney Nathan Schachtman of Phillips Lytle LLP writes:

There is a widespread misconception that the dangerousness of asbestos to end users was somehow not known before Dr. Irving Selikoff publicized it with his work in 1964. Not so. The insulators union's publication, Asbestos Worker, shows an awareness of the hazard before then; indeed, that's why the union approached Selikoff to conduct studies on their membership. The U.S. Navy was also well aware of the hazards (and thus did not need to be warned by anyone), as can be seen in an article entitled "Asbestosis" by Capt. H.M. Robbins & W.T. Marr in the October 1962 issue of the Navy's Safety Review.

We've posted the Robbins/Marr article as a two-page PDF here.