Document 15K5RgknEKLngGLDnL0b0G8EE

March 10, 1955 Dr. R. E. Eckardt E sso R esearch and E ngineering Company P . O. B ox 51 Linden, N, J. D ear D octor Eckardt: The problem of the concentration of lead in the atm osphere of various a r e a s, including the str e e ts and highw ays,of A m erican c itie s is one which we have investigated both in ten sively and exten sively over a period of years, - indeed long before the concern about a ir pollution becam e the popular pastim e it now is . I send you certain fa irly recent publications of the L aboratory on this subject in illu stra tio n of so m e of the things we have been doing. Much of the work, esp ecia lly as it relates to lead, has been published. We have a lso a considerab le body of data on the lead excretion of p erson s who m ay be expected to be subjected to the m axim um inten sity of expo sure to lead derived from the exhausts of m otor v eh icles, and we are planning a further exten sive su rvey of th is - which is rea lly the crux of the problem - during the p resen t y ea r. T here a r e, th erefo re, m ore data and m ore pertinent data on this subject in our hands than in th o se of the com bined group of investigators elsew h ere. C ertainly there is room for further study of the problem , but it can be said fairly that it is w ell in hand. I m ight point out that this problem , in one asp ect of another, has been reco g n ised by u s for m ore than tw en ty-five y e a rs, as the p ri m ary problem of the entire tetraeth yl lead industry. We should have been culpably sh ort-sigh ted if we had not done so. This has been the essen tia l background of our in vestigation of the b a sic m etab olism of lead in the human organism over th is period of tim e, and'although this work has served other purposes, this has been its econom ic justification and its central hygienic purpose. With th is introduction I m ay sa y that our frien d fro m F ra n ce is a ll w et, u n less th ere is som e situation in F ran ce which is totally different, b a s ic a lly , fr o m th at in th e IT, S .A . C e r ta in ly ho su ch c o n c e n tr a tio n s of lead as he is talking about are derived from the exhausts of French a u to m o b ile s. It m a y be that the s o il and road w ays of F r a n c e a r e so im pregnated with lead en m is s ile s , in conseq uence of w a rs, as to give r ise to clouds of leaden dust. H ow ever, u n less this or som e other unusual KH 0015378 Enc. The N ature of A tm o sp h er ic P o llu tio n in a N um ber of Indu C om m unities - Cholak M easurem ent of A ir Pollution - Cholak R esu lts of a F iv e-Y ea r Investigation of A ir P ollution in Cincim i Sch^afer and Hoffer C uX <or LU C/ oLU: D r. R. E. E ckardt - (2) - M arch 10, 1955 set o f fa c to r s - and th is is not im p o s s ib le , but u n lik e ly - h a s su sp en d ed lead in the atm osph ere of F ran ce to a rem arkable d egree, tee figu res provided on lead a re a lm o st two d ecim al p la ces rem oved from the truth The general le v el of lead concentration in the a ir of L os A n geles, duriig p eriod s of severe in version, is of the o rd er {by range) of 0. 3 tc about 1 4 .0 m icrogram s per cubic m eter, the m ean value, fo r som e hundreds of observations,being som ething le s s than 4 .5 m icrogram s per cubic m eter. T hese are the h igh est valu es we have found, g en era lly , in the c itie s of the U .S .A . , of which ten or tw elve have been in vestigated with varying degrees of intensity. It is worth w hile to r e c o g n ise that the q u an tities of lea d being d ealt with in this w ork a re sm a ll, that the m ethods of sam pling and a n a ly sis are v ery exacting, and that the opportunities for erro r of even a g ro ss type are ev erp resen t. F ragm en tary r e su lts, th erefo re, a re le s s than u s e le s s , sin c e they a r e m islea d in g . {As to the CO in the a ir , m uch depends upon how and where one takes his sa m p les. If one gets at a ll near the tail pipe, the resu lts are obviously quite high, but without hygienic sign ifican ce. ) A fu rth er m a tter of grea t in ter e st and im p ortance is found in the fa ir ly com p reh en sive in vestigation of the nature and quantity of the lead which escap es from the ta il pipe of autom obiles under varying conditions of op eration on variou s fu e ls . On m y urging th is in v estig a tio n was undertaken in the D e tro it L a b o ra to ries .of E thyl C orp oration . It is now n ea rly co m p le te d . It a id s v e r y m u ch , in d ee d , in e x p la in in g why it is th at the q u a n tities of lead found suspended in the atm osph ere - Insofar as th ese quantities a re derived from autom obile fuel - are so com paratively sm all. Lead from other so u rces is of great sign ifican ce in this total problem ., F or exam p le, when the city ordinance which reg u la tes the burning of coal in C incinnati w as brought into en forcem en t at the end of W orld War II, the lead in the C incinnati atm osp h ere, gen era lly , des cra s ed to a little m ore than half its p reviou s le v e l. This is not, then, the sim p le problem that it m ight be thought to be. Thig som ew hat length y le tte r m ay or m ay not have been fu lly ju stified by your q u ery, but it se e m s to m e that you, in p a rticu la r, ought to be acquainted w ith what we have been doing to guide Ethyl C orporation in th is cru cia l m atter. With k in d est reg a rd s, MB' 0015379 Sincerely yours,