Document 2ja89E49L5nmkBLxwzE2LR5aN

February 21, 1938 Mr. R. H. Parson s Leavenworth Fr u it and Cold St or age Co. Leavenworth, W ashington, Dear Mr. P ar son s:- I have your le t t e r of February 15th with I t s d iscu ssio n of the d i ffi c u l t i e s imposed, upon apple growers by th e r e gu lat io n s of the Pure Food and Drug Bureau of the Department of Agri c u lt u r e . I r e a liz e th ese d i f f i c u l t i e s and I am somewhat sym path etic w ith th e problem of the apple grow er. On the oth er hand I th in k you are goin g r at h e r beyond th e im p licat ion s of our work in b e lie v in g th at they ju st ify the r e laxat io n of the a c t iv it ie s of the Food and Drug Bureau. A gr e at d eal more e xp e r i mental woik w ill be r equ ir ed b efor e one can presen t any r eason ab le eviden ce th at the pr esen t t oler an ce on load i s too low. Obviously In a m atter of t h is soi't , i f th ere I s to be any e r r o r , i t sh ould he on the sid e of sa fe t y . I can not soc a t presen t where th ere is at a0n.0y25morgi-r lo ain g s ical per b a sis pound for t h an sobb at, in g sh th all e to we leran sa y , c0e.01 gr ain s per pound. My own opinion i s t h at tbo presen t sit u a t io n is not an e sp e c ia lly dangerous one, and I f I were r e sp o n sib le , I would not change i t w ith out adequate evidence. You may be in t e r e st e d in knowing th at we ar e engaged in some st u d ie s which bear r at h e r h eavily on t h is problem* Sometime we may he able t o obtain eviden ce which w ill prove th at the t oler an ce could be In cr eased . I f so , we sh a ll pu blish our r e su lt s and poin t out such con clu sion s. With regard t o your qu estion as to the absorption or n eu t r alizat ion of lead by 3ome subdtan ce In the ap p le, I can say only one or two t h in gs. F ir itt , the lead is nob absorbed by the apple to any very lar ge e xt e n t . P r a c t ic a lly the en t ir e su r face lead remain s upon the su r fa c e , wh ile t h at which i s found w ith in the su bstan ce of the apple i s Imparted to i t by the p h y siologic p r ocesses which go on w ith in the t r e e and which permit some of the lead In the so i l to be in cor porated In every p ar t of the t r e e , In clu din g i t s f r u i t . Such lead i s only presen t in minute t r ace s and so fa r as I know, th ere is n oth in g in or on the apple which would be expected to n e u t r aliz e the le a d . Even N13957 2 in solu b le compounds of lead are absorbed bo 3ome degree from the alim en tary t r a c t so th at any lead compound in an apple must be regarded as capable of some degree of ab sor p t ion * The exten t of the absor ption of var iou s compounds, even of lead ar sen at e I t s e l f , h as n ot been determ in ed, but i t seems h igh ly improbable th at any le s3 solu b le compound is formed as a consequence of the con t act of lead ar sen at e with the ap p le * R a in fa ll washes away the compound to some degree and removes more ar sen ic than i t does le a d , presumably leavin g a somewhat l e ss so lu b le compound of lead beh in d* Th is fa c t may have some .sign ifican o e from a t o xico lo gic p oin t of view , bu t I doubt it. Very t r u ly you r s, RAKsis &oberbTM/1,". 'K"eii"oe,' Ivf.'b'. KE 0012227