National Gypsum (Gold Bond)
March 11, 1953
"Asbestosis is the name of a respiratory disease that is caused by
the inhalation of asbestos dust. A fibrotic condition is formed in the
lungs with results usually worse than those produced by
silicosis." Draft of letter by National Gypsum
Operations Manager (Pollard) to be sent to Indiana State Board of
Health regarding Gold Bond Thermacoustic.
March 11, 1953
"Your letter dated March 11, 1953 is full of dynamite. If it comes
to pass that the Indiana State Division of Industrial Hygiene insists
that Thermacoustic cannot be applied unless men wear respirators, [the
contractor] will not be able to find any men to apply Thermacoustic. .
. . We have asked your secretary to retrieve the letter from the mail.
Perhaps it would be better to write a letter listing the ingredients of
Thermacoustic without your opinion that the applicators should wear
respirators. I am concerned that National Gypsum Company is on record
that Thermacoustic is hazardous business. If this snowballs, we are out
of the Thermacoustic business." Internal Memo to
Pollard by G.W. Handy with handwritten notation on bottom reading:
"3/13/53. Handy succeeded in stopping letter... Will be
modified."
Sept. 22, 1958
". . . The greatest hazard in your plant is with men handling
asbestos. Because just as certain as death and taxes is the fact that
if you inhale asbestos dust you get asbestosis."
Internal National Gypsum Memo between Gold Bond Operations Manager
and Plant Manager in New Orleans.