Opinion ID: 3134558
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Results of the Saranac Laboratory Research

Text: Similarly, plaintiffs presented evidence that, due to the actions of certain asbestos product manufacturers other than defendants, information concerning the health hazards of asbestos exposure was omitted from a 1951 article discussing the results of a study conducted by the Saranac Laboratory. In 1936, a group of asbestos product manufacturers agreed to sponsor research on the health effects of asbestos dust. Members of this group included Johns-Manville and Unarco but not defendants. In their agreement with Saranac, the sponsoring companies required that the results of the research remain their property, that they maintain control over the disclosure of the results, and that any manuscript discussing the results be submitted to them for approval prior to publication. Consistent with this agreement, Saranac submitted a manuscript to the sponsoring companies. At a meeting, these companies agreed that certain changes should be made to the manuscript, and Saranac incorporated these changes. For example, at the request of the sponsoring companies, references to cancer and tumors were removed from the manuscript before publication. The published article nevertheless stated that it is a “complete survey” of the research and did not acknowledge the input of the sponsoring companies.