Document 2qrVzpDXLbaxMe3MGnejqvQnp
O w e n s -Il l in o is
GENERAL OFFICES ( | ) TO LEDO 1, OHIO
August 1U, 1956
D r. R obert A. Kehoe
'
K ettering Laboratory
C ollege of M edicine, Univ. of C in cin n ati
C in c in n a ti 19, Ohio
D ear Bob:
A t'in te rv a ls fo r som e.years your lab o rato ry has run u rin e leads and
blood, le a d s on a s m a ll group o f men a t o u r V in e la n d , New J e rs e y , p l a n t .
They expect to send you another batch of samples soon.
. ..
T h is q u e s tio n has b e en r a i s e d : why i s i t n e c e s s a ry to ru n b o th u r in e .
and le a d t e s t s on th e same in d iv id u a l?
. .:
Our im p ressio n i s you f e e l th e. b lo o d t e s t i s th e more r e l i a b l e , sin c e ,
i t i s l e s s s u b je c t to c o n tam in atio n . O thers seem to concur in t h i s . '
F o r exam ple, Frank P a tty , whose la b r u n s , tho u san d s o f t e s t s p e r y e a r ,
uses the blood lead te s t only, having given up u rin e an aly sis com plete
ly , i f our recollection is correct,
,
.
The p la n t ra ised the p o in t because they n a tu ra lly don't want to in c u r a ry u n n e c e s sa ry e^en se.;-: P r a c t i c a l l y a l l th e men i n th e group a re o ld tim ers and have been examined p e rio d ic a lly b e fo re . The p la n t wonders whether th e b lo o d le a d t e s t would s u f f i c e . We t o l d them we'd ask yo u .
I f there are v a lid .reasons fo r continuing to use both types o f te s ts , we want t o do s o . T here a re o n ly ab o u t ,20 men in v o lv e d . On th e o th e r hand i f th e p la n t can save $200, th e p la n t p h y sician would lik e to do so .
The men, i n c i d e n t a l l y , a re now m ixing a g la s s b a tc h w hich c o n ta in s a sm all
p e rc en t o f lith a r g e . Lead used to be in th e form o f th e m o n o silic ate.
However, t h i s i s n o t o rd in ary lith a r g e ; i t 's p e lle tiz e d in to l i t t l e b a l l s ,
and i s a c tu a lly q u ite d u s t-fr e e . This p la n t re c e n tly improved i t s d u st
e x h a u s t system t o o , and we d o n 't a n t i c i p a t e any u n u su a l le a d a b s o r p tio n
by th e men.
.
.
Personal regards.
M
N 6699