Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making

AsbestosPodcast.com
  • 5.0 (6)
  • HISTORY

They knew. They always knew. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Roman historian Pliny the Elder documented asbestos workers dying from "sickness of the lungs"—watching slaves fashion crude respirators from animal bladders while weaving what he called "funeral dress for kings." The people closest to the dust understood the danger. The people farthest away admired the spectacle, collected the profits, and buried the evidence. That pattern never changed. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making traces humanity's 4,500-year relationship with the mineral the ancient Greeks named "asbestos"—meaning indestructible. From Stone Age Finnish pottery (2500 BCE) to the $70+ billion in legal damages paid by modern corporations, we uncover how a material praised for safety became a source of sickness, litigation, and grief. Each episode explores: Ancient origins: The salamander myth that persisted for 2,000 years, the Roman tablecloths that cleaned themselves in fire, the sacred flames kept burning with asbestos wicks The industrial cover-up: Internal documents proving companies knew asbestos caused cancer since the 1930s—and suppressed the evidence for 40 years Modern consequences: Why mesothelioma claims 3,000 American lives annually, and why $30+ billion sits in asbestos trust funds waiting for victims who never file The science of denial: How manufactured doubt delayed regulation for decades, using the same tactics as the tobacco industry—sometimes with the same scientists Whether you're a history enthusiast, legal professional, medical researcher, or someone seeking answers after asbestos exposure, this podcast reveals the uncomfortable truth: the longest-running industrial cover-up in human history isn't ancient history. It's still happening. The History of Asbestos Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims.  If you or a loved one has mesothelioma, visit Dandell.com for a free consultation.

  1. Episode 26 — The Shipyards Never Sleep

    1D AGO

    Episode 26 — The Shipyards Never Sleep

    S1E26 — The Shipyards Never SleepThe Asbestos Podcast · Season 1 · Arc 6: The War Effort, 1942–1945 (consequences to present) Episode 26 — The Shipyards Never Sleep “The first time I walked out on the ways, I was walking into a kind of nightmare of sounds, noise, and smells.” Howard Zinn was nineteen years old when he walked through the gates of Brooklyn Navy Yard in December 1941. He’d later become one of America’s most influential historians. But first, he’d spend years crawling into four-by-four-by-four-foot compartments so full of asbestos dust that workers couldn’t see across them. By December 1943, 1.7 million shipyard workers labored around the clock — three shifts, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Each Iowa-class battleship contained 465 long tons of asbestos insulation. Each destroyer: 85,000 to 90,000 pounds. Over 5,500 ships built between 1939 and 1945. One Navy memo from 1944 called the dust concentrations “a dangerous hazard to personnel.” It never reached the workers on the floor. They thought the dust dissolved when they breathed it in — like sugar in water. Key Takeaways 465 long tons of asbestos insulation per Iowa-class battleship. Eighty-five thousand to ninety thousand pounds per destroyer. Over 5,500 vessels built 1939–1945 — Liberty ships, Victory ships, destroyers, battleships — each one packed with asbestos and built by workers who had no idea what they were breathing.Three shifts. Twenty-four hours. Seven days a week. At Brooklyn Navy Yard, 70,000 workers per day at peak production. Forty percent were logging more than 48 hours a week by 1942. The time-weighted averages industrial hygienists later used to define “safe” exposure were meaningless for workers logging 60–70-hour weeks in asbestos dust.Every trade was exposed. Pipe coverers handled felt insulation that was 85–95% asbestos by content. Welders wore asbestos gloves, aprons, leggings, and blankets. Boilermakers worked in compartments where insulators had just been. Electricians handled asbestos wire insulation. Carpenters cut Transite board (asbestos-cement). Court records: “Asbestos was essentially everywhere.”The 1944 Navy Bureau of Medicine letter. Dust counts during amosite felt insulation application were “well above the accepted maximum of eight million particles of dust per cubic foot.” Conclusion: “a dangerous hazard to personnel.” Written in 1944. Workers on the shipyard floor: never informed.Clarence Borel’s testimony. Industrial insulation worker, 33 years (1936–1969). Under oath: “I blowed this dust out of my nostrils by handfuls at the end of the day.” He thought it was “bothersome.” He “never realized it could cause any serious or terminal illness.” He believed the dust “dissolves as it hits your lungs.” He learned the truth in January 1969. He died June 3, 1970 — four months later. His case became Borel v. Fibreboard, the landmark asbestos liability decision.The information gap. 1930: British science establishes asbestos causes asbestosis. 1938: U.S. Public Health Service sets a 5-million-particle safe limit. 1941: Stephenson warns Admiral McIntire that “we are not protecting the men as we should.” 1944: Navy documents “dangerous hazard to personnel.” Workers’ knowledge throughout: the dust dissolves.30% of all mesothelioma diagnoses are veterans. Nearly 1,000 shipyard and Navy cases annually. The 20–50-year latency clock meant executives who signed the 1944 memos were retired before workers started dying. Cases from 1940s wartime exposure are still being diagnosed today. Featured at Danziger & De Llano Larry Gates, Senior Client Advocate & Military Veteran Specialist at Danziger & De Llano. His father died of mesothelioma after years at the Shell refinery in Pasadena, Texas. Larry is seventy-two and currently fighting his own battle with cancer. When he talks to veteran families, he’s not reading from a script. Resources Mesothelioma help: dandell.comVeterans and mesothelioma: dandell.com/mesothelioma/veterans/Episode notes and sources: mesotheliomalawyersnearme.com/podcast/episode-26-the-shipyards-never-sleep/Full transcript: wikimesothelioma.com/Asbestos_Podcast_EP26_TranscriptPrevious episode: EP25 — The Navy Comes CallingAsbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making — 52 episodes tracing asbestos from ancient pottery to the 2024 EPA ban. Produced by Danziger & De Llano. Next: Episode 27 — The Women of the Shipyards. By 1943, women made up 13% of shipyard production workers. They did the same jobs. They breathed the same dust. And when they went home, the dust came with them. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/  Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    16 min
  2. Episode 25: The Navy Comes Calling

    MAY 18

    Episode 25: The Navy Comes Calling

    Episode 25: The Navy Comes Calling At the 1939 World's Fair, Johns-Manville's Asbestos Man posed for photographs while the company's chief counsel managed the Saranac coverup. Two months later, Congress passed the Strategic Materials Act — one hundred million dollars to stockpile asbestos for a war not yet entered. The Congressional Record contains zero worker safety provisions. Key Takeaways June 7, 1939 — Strategic Materials Act stockpiles asbestos; zero safety language in the entire floor record despite documented hazardsBrooklyn Navy Yard: 9,195 workers (Oct 1939) → 27,258 (Oct 1941). National shipyards: 168,000 (June 1940) → 1.7 million (Dec 1943). ~300 asbestos products per vessel.Fleischer study (1946): dust measured at 142 million particles/cubic foot — 28× the 5-million safe limit. Conclusion: “relatively safe occupation.” Published by permission of the U.S. Navy.Commander Stephenson to Surgeon General McIntire, 1941: “I am certain we are not protecting the men as we should.” No written response in the record.McIntire was FDR's personal physician, selected for his ability to “keep a close mouth.” The Navy inspected itself. A federal court later called this “official connivance at a coverup.”FAQ Where does the “Navy knew in 1922” claim come from? It doesn't hold up. The Naval Medical Bulletins are digitized. No article on asbestos exists. A 2011 Inhalation Toxicology study found no U.S. government documents on asbestos hazards before 1929. The first verified Navy document is the 1939 Jenkins memo recommending respirators. How did Fleischer conclude the work was safe at 28× the dust limit? 95% of the 1,074 workers had fewer than 10 years' exposure. Asbestosis takes 10–25 years to appear. The Fifth Circuit in Borel v. Fibreboard called the “safe occupation” conclusion “misleading.” Expert Source Larry Gates — Senior Client Advocate & Military Veteran Specialist, Danziger & De Llano. His father died of mesothelioma after years at a Shell refinery in Pasadena, Texas. dandell.com/about/larry-gates/ Resources Veterans and mesothelioma: dandell.com/mesothelioma/veterans/Trust fund claims: dandell.com/mesothelioma/mesothelioma-asbestos-trust-fund-payouts/Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making — 52 episodes from ancient pottery to the 2024 EPA ban. Produced by Danziger & De Llano. Next: Episode 26 — “The Dust They Couldn't See Through.” Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/  Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    18 min
  3. Special Episode: The Magic Mineral At War

    MAY 11 ·  BONUS

    Special Episode: The Magic Mineral At War

    Asbestos genuinely helped the Allies win World War II. The U.S. government classified it as a strategic material in 1939. Over 300 asbestos-containing products were mandated for every Navy vessel. 1.7 million workers entered the shipyards. The proximity fuze — one of three classified secrets of the war — contained asbestos components built by women working on production lines they weren't told the purpose of. The production miracle was real. The workers were patriots. They were right to believe in what they were doing. And while they worked, the executives running the asbestos companies were sitting on years of suppressed evidence that their product was killing the people who made it. Key Takeaways The U.S. government listed asbestos as a strategic defense material in 1939, alongside rubber, tin, and chromium. Over 300 asbestos-containing products were mandated for U.S. Navy vessels.American shipyard employment grew from 168,000 workers in June 1940 to 1.7 million by December 1943 — the largest industrial workforce ever assembled in the United States.The proximity fuze — classified at the same level as the atomic bomb — contained four vacuum tubes per shell. More than 22 million fuzes were built; 88–90 million tubes manufactured for fuze production alone. It reduced rounds-per-kill from ~1,000 to ~200 against kamikazes, and raised V-1 intercept rates from 17% to 74%.In October 1935, Sumner Simpson (Raybestos-Manhattan) wrote to the Johns-Manville attorney: "I think the less said about asbestos, the better off we are." This was eight years before the E-Award ceremony at Keasbey & Mattison, where workers received government pins for their wartime service.The 1943 Saranac Laboratory mouse study — commissioned by asbestos companies — documented an 81.8% tumor rate. The results were suppressed. No warning labels appeared until 1964. Federal requirements came in 1972.Today, 30% of mesothelioma cases are veterans. Latency from first exposure runs 20–50 years. The betrayal hit decades after the service ended.Resources Danziger & De Llano — free mesothelioma consultations, 7 days a week: dandell.comAsbestos exposure history: dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/Mesothelioma compensation: dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/Contact: dandell.com/contact-us/WikiMesothelioma: wikimesothelioma.comNext episode: Episode 25 — The Navy Comes Calling. Arc 6 begins. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/  Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    25 min
  4. Episode 24: The Paper Trail

    MAY 4

    Episode 24: The Paper Trail

    In a locked safe at Raybestos-Manhattan Corporation headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut, approximately 6,000 documents sat undisturbed for forty-four years. They were filed alphabetically under a single label: DUST.  Episodes 20 through 23 documented what the asbestos industry did. Episode 24 — the Arc Five finale — proves it. Not through reconstruction or inference. Through the actual letters, internal memos, scientific studies, and federal court testimony that these companies wrote, signed, carbon-copied, and filed — believing no one outside the boardroom would ever read them. They used standard 1930s business practices. That’s what preserved the evidence of their own conspiracy. Key Takeaways 1933 — The first asbestos lawsuit is settled and silenced. Eleven workers sue Johns-Manville Corporation in New Jersey for failing to provide ventilation and safety equipment. Settlement: $30,000 total — $2,700 per worker. Conditions: their attorney agrees never to file another asbestos case, and the terms stay confidential. Internal Johns-Manville meeting minutes the same year: “Our past policy of keeping this matter confidential is to be pursued.” 11 human lung cancer cases from Quebec asbestos miners — including 2 mesotheliomas. Gardner dies in 1946 before publishing. At a January 1947 industry meeting, companies agree that “the reference to cancer and tumors should be deleted.” Brown documents his own instructions: “All references to cancers and tumors deleted.”1949 — The Smith memo: don’t tell the workers. Dr. Kenneth Smith, a Johns-Manville physician, recommends that workers with early asbestosis visible on chest X-rays “should not be told of his condition so that he can live and work in peace, and the company can benefit by his many years of experience.” April 25, 1984 — The federal court testimony. Johns-Manville Corporation v. The United States of America. Former Unarco employee Charles Roemer testifies that at a c. 1942–1943 meeting, he asked Vandiver Brown whether the company would really let sick workers keep working until they died. Brown’s response: “Yes. We save a lot of money that way.”Resources Mesothelioma help: dandell.comEpisode notes and sources: mesotheliomalawyersnearme.com/podcast/episode-24-the-paper-trail/Previous episode: EP23 — The Human ExperimentsAsbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/  Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    26 min
  5. Episode 23 — The Human Experiments

    APR 27

    Episode 23 — The Human Experiments

    Episode 23 — The Human Experiments Gardner’s 81.8% wasn’t an anomaly. It was one data point in a thirty-year pattern. By 1960, at least six independent lines of animal evidence had documented that asbestos causes cancer — studies conducted in New York, Delaware, Britain, and South Africa. Every one of them was suppressed, ignored, or buried by the same industry. This is the episode where we count them all. In 1947, Vandiver Brown read a summary of Gardner’s findings and wrote to his colleague: “This looks like dynamite.” Not “we need to investigate.” Not “we need more data.” He knew. Eighteen months later, nine companies voted unanimously to delete every cancer reference from the published record. Meanwhile, 5,000 Quebec miners walked off the job — fighting for better wages and basic safety protections — not knowing that proof of asbestos’s lethality had been sitting in a locked filing cabinet for six years. Wilhelm Hueper listed asbestos as an established carcinogen in 1942 — one year before Gardner’s mouse tumors. The industry claimed they “didn’t know” for three more decades.Arthur Vorwald’s 1951 follow-up used cancer-resistant mice and still found a neoplasia risk ratio of 5.7. He terminated the study before tumors could fully develop.J.C. Wagner’s 1974 rat study proved that one day of asbestos exposure is sufficient to cause fatal mesothelioma. There is no safe threshold.“The mice knew before the miners.”Featured Experts Paul Danziger, founding partner at Danziger & De Llano. In 1998, Paul and his law partner took on hospital purchasing cartels. His partner died mid-case. Twelve years later, Paul wrote the screenplay that became Puncture — starring Chris Evans — which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. A film about a partner who died fighting for safer medical devices. Rod De Llano spent years at Jones Day — one of the largest law firms in the world — defending corporations in product liability cases. He walked away to represent people who needed it. Over a billion dollars recovered later, he calls it the best decision of his career. Larry Gates, Senior Client Advocate at Danziger & De Llano. His father Dan worked the Shell refinery in Pasadena, Texas for decades. In 1999, Dan was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Dead six months later. Resources Mesothelioma help: dandell.comEpisode notes and sources: mesotheliomalawyersnearme.com/podcast/episode-23-the-human-experiments/Previous episode: EP22 — The Saranac Coverup Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/  Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    28 min
  6. Episode 22: The Saranac Coverup

    APR 20

    Episode 22: The Saranac Coverup

    Episode 22: The Saranac Coverup In 1936, nine asbestos companies funded research at Saranac Laboratory with a contract clause making all results their "property" — publication only "if deemed desirable." When Dr. LeRoy Upson Gardner discovered an 81.8% tumor rate in asbestos-exposed mice, he couldn't publish. His own scientific integrity — recommending the cancer data be omitted until controlled experiments could confirm it — gave the industry exactly the cover it needed. Gardner applied for independent funding to escape the trap. The NCI rejected him. Six months after writing "I hope, before I die, the opportunity may be afforded us," he was dead at 57. The companies met, voted to delete all cancer references, and buried the findings for 52 years. Key Takeaways November 20, 1936: Nine companies — Johns-Manville, Raybestos-Manhattan, Keasbey & Mattison, U.S. Gypsum, and five others — signed a contract owning Gardner's research before he conducted it.February 1943: Gardner documented 8/11 mice with lung tumors, 9/11 total with cancer (81.8%) — 16x higher than controls. He also found 11 human lung cancer cases in Quebec miners, including 2 mesotheliomas.Gardner himself recommended omitting cancer from the report pending controlled experiments. After his death, his own words became the industry's "permission slip" for permanent suppression.January 1947: Sponsor companies voted that publications "would not include any objectionable material" — defined as "any relation between asbestos and cancer."1995: Dr. Gerrit Schepers finally published the suppressed findings — 52 years after Gardner's discovery (PMID: 7793430).Expert Source Anna Jackson — Director of Patient Support, Danziger & De Llano. Lost her husband to cancer. Walked away from advertising to join the fight for mesothelioma families. dandell.com/about/anna-jackson/ Resources Asbestos Exposure: dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/Mesothelioma Compensation: dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/Free Consultation: dandell.com/contact-us/Next: Episode 23 — The Human Experiments. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/  Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    21 min
  7. Episode 21: The Asbestos Textile Institute

    APR 13

    Episode 21: The Asbestos Textile Institute

    On March 7, 1957, the Asbestos Textile Institute's Air Hygiene subcommittee voted NOT to fund cancer research. Their minutes recorded three reasons: someone else was studying it, it would "stir up a hornet's nest," and they didn't believe there was enough evidence. Six companies. One vote. And the president of the trade association didn't even need to be in the room. Episode 21 reveals how the asbestos conspiracy moved from personal letters between executives to institutional infrastructure—formal committees, voting procedures, and trade associations designed to suppress what the industry already knew. In this episode: How conspiracy evolved from private correspondence (Episode 20) to institutional machinery with bylaws and subcommitteesThe Asbestos Textile Institute (founded 1944): a trade association with formal committees and voting procedures that made suppression routineFrancis J. Wakem—Johns-Manville VP who ran THREE asbestos trade associations simultaneously, centralizing industry controlThe March 7, 1957 vote: six companies declined to fund cancer research for three documented reasons preserved in their own minutesThe Industrial Hygiene Foundation—created in 1935 in response to the Hawks Nest tunnel disaster (764 workers dead, mostly Black)—then hired by the asbestos industryW.C.L. Hemeon's 1947 report questioning the safety standard the industry relied onWho this episode is for: Anyone researching how industries institutionalized the suppression of health evidence. Families investigating occupational exposure at asbestos textile plants. Legal professionals tracing the organizational structure behind industry-wide conspiracies. History enthusiasts studying how trade associations coordinated corporate misconduct. Expert perspective: "The industry built systems so no one person had to say no. This firm exists because families deserve someone who says yes." — Dave Foster, Executive Director of Patient Advocacy at Danziger & De Llano, whose father mixed asbestos into mortar and died in 1999—before Dave's children ever got to meet their grandfather. Resources: → Mesothelioma compensation options: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/ → Dave Foster, Executive Director of Patient Advocacy: https://dandell.com/david-foster/ → Understanding asbestos exposure: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Free consultation: https://dandell.com/contact-us/ Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/  Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    19 min
  8. Episode 20: The Less Said About Asbestos, the Better

    APR 6

    Episode 20: The Less Said About Asbestos, the Better

    "I think the less said about asbestos, the better off we are." On October 1, 1935, Sumner Simpson—president of Raybestos-Manhattan—wrote those thirteen words to the general counsel of Johns-Manville. This letter, hidden in a vault for 42 years, would eventually appear in thousands of lawsuits and cost the asbestos industry billions. Episode 20 reveals how the first American asbestos lawsuit (1929) didn't end with a verdict—it ended with a $30,000 settlement, a silenced attorney, and a template for decades of corporate suppression. In this episode: The 1929 Pirskowski lawsuit: 11 workers sued Johns-Manville and split $30,000—roughly $2,727 each (about $68,000 today)How attorney Samuel Greenstone was forced to agree he would never "directly or indirectly participate in the bringing of new actions against the Corporation"The editor of Asbestos magazine who agreed to publish nothing about asbestosis for "certain obvious reasons"Dr. Anthony Lanza's 1935 study showing 87% of long-term workers had lung fibrosis—and the sentence the companies deleted before publicationJohns-Manville executive Vandiver Brown's admission: "Yes. We save a lot of money that way"6,000 documents discovered in 1977 that proved industry-wide coordinationWho this episode is for: Anyone researching how corporations suppressed asbestos health information. Families investigating occupational exposure at Johns-Manville plants. Legal professionals studying the origins of asbestos litigation. History enthusiasts tracing the roots of modern corporate accountability. Expert perspective: "The industry said 'the less said, the better.' This firm has spent three decades saying more." — Larry Gates, Senior Client Advocate at Danziger & De Llano, whose father died of mesothelioma after working at the Shell refinery in Pasadena, Texas. Resources: → Mesothelioma compensation options: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/ → Larry Gates, Senior Client Advocate: https://dandell.com/larry-gates/ → Understanding asbestos exposure: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/ → Free consultation: https://dandell.com/contact-us/ Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano Mesothelioma Law Firm, a nationwide practice with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the exposure happened somewhere—and Paul Danziger and Rod De Llano know how to trace it back. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com. Resources: → Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/  → Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/  → Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/  → Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/  Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

    18 min
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They knew. They always knew. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Roman historian Pliny the Elder documented asbestos workers dying from "sickness of the lungs"—watching slaves fashion crude respirators from animal bladders while weaving what he called "funeral dress for kings." The people closest to the dust understood the danger. The people farthest away admired the spectacle, collected the profits, and buried the evidence. That pattern never changed. Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making traces humanity's 4,500-year relationship with the mineral the ancient Greeks named "asbestos"—meaning indestructible. From Stone Age Finnish pottery (2500 BCE) to the $70+ billion in legal damages paid by modern corporations, we uncover how a material praised for safety became a source of sickness, litigation, and grief. Each episode explores: Ancient origins: The salamander myth that persisted for 2,000 years, the Roman tablecloths that cleaned themselves in fire, the sacred flames kept burning with asbestos wicks The industrial cover-up: Internal documents proving companies knew asbestos caused cancer since the 1930s—and suppressed the evidence for 40 years Modern consequences: Why mesothelioma claims 3,000 American lives annually, and why $30+ billion sits in asbestos trust funds waiting for victims who never file The science of denial: How manufactured doubt delayed regulation for decades, using the same tactics as the tobacco industry—sometimes with the same scientists Whether you're a history enthusiast, legal professional, medical researcher, or someone seeking answers after asbestos exposure, this podcast reveals the uncomfortable truth: the longest-running industrial cover-up in human history isn't ancient history. It's still happening. The History of Asbestos Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims.  If you or a loved one has mesothelioma, visit Dandell.com for a free consultation.

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