Asbestos Textile Institute
Executive Summary
The Asbestos Textile Institute (ATI) was the trade association of the United States asbestos textile industry, founded in 1944.[1] Publicly, it functioned as an ordinary industry body — setting cloth specifications, promoting asbestos products, and representing manufacturers before regulators.[2] Its internal record, surfaced decades later through litigation discovery, documents a second role: the ATI was a coordinating forum where member companies tracked the emerging medical evidence linking asbestos to cancer and repeatedly chose to suppress it.[3][2] Institute minutes record members noting cancer evidence in 1949 and 1956, voting in 1957 against funding a study of the asbestos–cancer link because it "would stir up a hornet's nest and put the whole industry under suspicion," and moving in 1964 to block the distribution of press materials at the scientific conference where Dr. Irving Selikoff presented his landmark findings.[2][3] Those documents are now standard evidence of industry knowledge in asbestos litigation. This page covers the organization itself; for the broader campaign see Corporate_Asbestos_Coverup, and for the altered insurance-industry study see Metropolitan_Life_Lanza_Study.
At a Glance
The Asbestos Textile Institute at a glance:
- Founded 1944 — the trade association for U.S. asbestos textile manufacturers, stating it in its own filings to federal regulators[1]
- Members were the major asbestos firms — Johns-Manville, H.K. Porter, Raybestos-Manhattan, Tallman-McCluskey Fabrics, United States Rubber Company, and American Asbestos Textile, with overseas associate members[2]
- Tracked the cancer evidence internally — institute minutes recorded awareness of asbestos as a lung-cancer cause as early as 1949[2]
- Voted to suppress research (1957) — members rejected an asbestos–cancer study to avoid stirring up "a hornet's nest"[2][3]
- Moved against Selikoff (1964) — the ATI acted to block press distribution at the New York Academy of Sciences conference that made asbestos disease public[2][4]
- Documents now used in court — ATI minutes entered the public record through asbestos litigation discovery and are catalogued in archives such as Toxic Docs[5]
- Active into the mid-1970s — the institute was still filing with OSHA as late as 1976[1]
Key Facts
| Element | Detail (Source) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1944, per the ATI's own filing with OSHA[1] |
| Member companies | Johns-Manville, H.K. Porter, Raybestos-Manhattan, Tallman-McCluskey Fabrics, U.S. Rubber, American Asbestos Textile[2] |
| Associate (overseas) members | Cape Asbestos and Turner Brothers (UK), Société Anonyme Française du Ferodo (France), Asbestos Corporation (Canada)[2] |
| 1949 | Minutes note a published article citing asbestos as a lung-cancer cause[2] |
| 1957 | Members vote against an asbestos–cancer study ("a hornet's nest")[2][3] |
| 1964 | ATI moves to block press materials at the Selikoff conference[2][4] |
| Modern use | Minutes are standard "state of knowledge" evidence in asbestos litigation[5][6] |
When and Why Was the Asbestos Textile Institute Founded?
The Asbestos Textile Institute was founded in 1944 as the trade association of the American asbestos textile industry — the manufacturers who spun and wove asbestos fiber into cloth, tape, packing, and related products.[1] Its members were among the largest asbestos companies of the era: Johns-Manville, H.K. Porter, Raybestos-Manhattan, Tallman-McCluskey Fabrics, the United States Rubber Company, and American Asbestos Textile. Overseas associate members included Cape Asbestos and Turner Brothers in the United Kingdom, Société Anonyme Française du Ferodo in France, and the Asbestos Corporation in Canada.[2]
Like most trade bodies, the ATI did ordinary industry work — it maintained product specifications and a standardized cloth-designation system, promoted asbestos textiles commercially, and represented its members before government agencies.[2] The institute's internal structure included an Air Hygiene Committee nominally concerned with dust exposure in member plants — the same committee whose minutes would later document the industry's handling of the cancer question.[3]
What Was the Asbestos Textile Institute's Documented Role in Suppressing Health Research?
The gap between the ATI's public function and its private conduct is documented in its own meeting minutes, which entered the public record through litigation discovery. As early as 1949, institute minutes recorded a published article identifying asbestos as a cause of lung cancer, and by 1956 the minutes reflected awareness that even people living near asbestos factories faced elevated lung-cancer risk.[2]
Rather than act on that knowledge, the membership moved to contain it. In 1957, the institute voted against supporting an experimental study of the asbestos–cancer relationship, with the minutes recording the rationale that "such an investigation would stir up a hornet's nest and put the whole industry under suspicion."[2][3] This decision to forgo research it feared would confirm the hazard is a recurring feature of the documented industry record analyzed by historians of the asbestos cover-up.[6][4] The broader pattern of industry-funded research being shaped or withheld — including the earlier alteration of an insurance-industry study — is covered on Metropolitan_Life_Lanza_Study and Corporate_Asbestos_Coverup.
How Did the Asbestos Textile Institute Respond to Dr. Irving Selikoff?
The turning point in public awareness came in October 1964, when Dr. Irving Selikoff of Mount Sinai presented mortality findings on asbestos insulation workers at a New York Academy of Sciences conference — research that made the asbestos–disease link impossible to ignore.[4] The asbestos industry treated Selikoff as a threat to be managed. Institute records document that ATI members protested and moved to prevent the distribution of press releases at the 1964 conference, part of a wider effort to keep the findings from reaching the public and customers.[2][3] In 1965, the institute's minutes noted the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association's strategy of partnering with McGill University to generate "authoritative background publicity" favorable to the industry — an example of the doubt-and-influence approach the trade bodies pursued in place of disclosure.[2]
How Did the Institute's Documents Become Public?
The ATI's internal minutes were not voluntarily disclosed; they surfaced through the discovery process in asbestos personal-injury litigation, where plaintiffs sought corporate records to establish what the industry knew and when. Courts admitted institute documents as evidence of the industry's "state of knowledge," and they appear in reported decisions such as Nutt v. AC&S Co. (Delaware Superior Court, 1986).[5] Researchers — most prominently Barry Castleman, whose work is the standard reference on industry knowledge — compiled and analyzed these records, and digitized copies of many ATI documents are now publicly accessible through litigation-document archives.[6][3]
What Happened to the Asbestos Textile Institute?
The institute remained active through the period when federal asbestos regulation took shape, and it was still filing submissions with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as late as 1976.[1] The sourced documentary record consulted for this page does not establish a precise date on which the ATI dissolved or was reorganized; that specific fact is not stated in the primary and peer-reviewed sources cited here. What is well documented is the institute's legacy: its minutes are now among the most-cited pieces of evidence that the asbestos industry understood the cancer hazard for decades while choosing not to disclose it — a record that underpins industry-knowledge arguments in modern mesothelioma and asbestos claims.[3][6]
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Asbestos Textile Institute?
The Asbestos Textile Institute (ATI) was the trade association of the U.S. asbestos textile industry, founded in 1944. It set product standards and promoted asbestos textiles, and its internal committees and minutes also document how member companies tracked and suppressed the emerging evidence that asbestos causes cancer.[1][2]
What did the Asbestos Textile Institute do with health research?
Institute minutes show members were aware of asbestos cancer evidence by 1949 and 1956, voted in 1957 against funding a study of the asbestos–cancer link to avoid "a hornet's nest," and moved in 1964 to block press coverage of Dr. Selikoff's findings. The organization repeatedly chose not to publicize or pursue the hazard.[2][3]
What companies were members of the ATI?
Documented members included Johns-Manville, H.K. Porter, Raybestos-Manhattan, Tallman-McCluskey Fabrics, the United States Rubber Company, and American Asbestos Textile, with overseas associate members such as Cape Asbestos and Turner Brothers, Société Anonyme Française du Ferodo, and the Asbestos Corporation of Canada.[2]
Are the Asbestos Textile Institute's documents available?
Yes. ATI minutes and correspondence entered the public record through asbestos-litigation discovery and appear in reported court decisions and in compiled archives of industry documents, where they are used as evidence of the industry's long-standing knowledge of the asbestos hazard.[5][6]
How are ATI documents used in asbestos lawsuits today?
They are core "state of knowledge" evidence — proof that the asbestos industry understood the cancer risk for decades while continuing to sell its products without adequate warning. That evidence supports claims for compensation by people diagnosed with mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases.[3][6]
See Also
- Corporate_Asbestos_Coverup
- Metropolitan_Life_Lanza_Study
- Asbestos_History_Timeline
- Asbestos_Manufacturers
- Mesothelioma
External Links
* Danziger & De Llano — mesothelioma legal representation and free case evaluation; (855) 699-5441.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Asbestos Textile Institute, Inc. — submission to OSHA (Docket OSHA-H033B), stating "Asbestos Textile Institute, Inc., Founded 1944"; filed February 2, 1976. U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration rulemaking record.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 Corporate cover-ups of asbestos dangers: what decades of litigation have revealed, Confront Power — documentary compilation of Asbestos Textile Institute minutes (1949, 1956, 1957, 1964, 1965) and membership.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Egilman D, Bird T, Lee C. Dust diseases and the legacy of corporate manipulation of science and law. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health. 2014;20(2):115-125. PubMed PMID 24999846.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 McCulloch J, Tweedale G. Defending the Indefensible: The Global Asbestos Industry and its Fight for Survival (Oxford University Press, 2008) — academic history of asbestos-industry trade bodies and their response to medical evidence.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Nutt v. A.C. & S. Co., Inc., 517 A.2d 690 (Del. Super. Ct. 1986) — reported decision discussing Asbestos Textile Institute Air Hygiene Committee minutes admitted as evidence of industry knowledge.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Castleman BI. Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects (4th ed., 1996) — the standard reference work compiling and analyzing asbestos-industry knowledge documents, including Asbestos Textile Institute records.