In July 1934 the Du Pont Company established a medical research laboratory for toxicological research at its Wilmington, Del., Experimental Station. The laboratory was named in honor of Harry G. Haskell, a retired Du Pont executive who had established the company's medical division in 1915. Its first project was to investigate the causes of bladder cancer from which many of the company's chemical workers, particularly those employed at the dye works, were suffering. Laboratory workers soon discovered that beta was the tumor-causing chemical. The dye works then instituted new hygiene rules and moved most of the beta operations into one building. In 1951, Du Pont constructed a new building with a completely closed process for beta. In August 1953 the Haskell Laboratory, now renamed the Haskell Laboratory for Toxicology and Industrial Medicine, was moved to a new site near Newark, Del.
In addition to studying bladder tumors, the Executive Committee charged Haskell Laboratories with studying the "toxicity of all proposed new products in order to provide advice on the proper type of building and equipment." In 1954, a newly-expanded Haskell Laboratory was built in Newark, Delaware, as newer and stricter federal guidelines mandated longer-term longitudinal studies.
From the description of History files, 1945-1958 [photocopy]. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122503470
