Document 4azd796gY2o2vJ6ryOJVjm2qQ

See Mr. L ewis* l e t t e r of May 11th , 1937. May 19# 193? -Mr. B. W. Webb . E thy l G asol i ne Corporati on C hry sl er B ui l di ng Mew Y ork C i ty Hew Y ork D ear Mr* Webbs M r. L ewis has r ai sed a questi on on which, he has had some r ec en t correspondence from the f i el d * and which I th i nk i t w i se, perhaps* to r ef er to you. V ari ous persons, and sp ec i f i c al l y * and r ec en tl y r ep r esen t at i v es of the C ol oni al Beacon O i l Company, have ask ed f o r a suppl y of l e a f l e t s f o r d i st r i b u t i o n to the publ i c on r eq u est , i n accordance w i th the o r i g i n al proposed r eg u l ati o n s' of the Surgeon G eneral f o r publ i c h eal t h . I had thought t h i s i ssu e was a dead one, and I see no p ar t i c u l ar reason .why an e f f o r t shoul d be made to, c i r c u l ar i se the publ i c i n t h i s r eg ar d * We have now reached a p o i n t where i t seems to me a di scu ssi o n of the p o t en t i al dangers asso ci ated w i th th e o r d i n ar y use of l eaded g aso l i n e as a motor f u el becomes somewhat h y p o c r i t i c al . My own opi ni on, as you v ery w el l know, i s t h at l ead poi soni ng from co n tact or ex posure to l eaded gasol i ne i s v i r t u al l y an i m p o ssi b i l i ty * T heref ore I coul d not tak e any v ery honest p ar t i n the p r ep ar ati o n of a l e a f l e t f o r t h i s purpose, unl ess i t were f e l t t h at our f ai l u r e to do so i s i n ef f ec t a- v i o l at i o n of the p r esen t requi rem ents of the Surgeon G eneral *s o f f i c e* I n t h i s connecti on I shoul d l i k e to know w hether th er e has been any o f f i c i a l or I nf orm al communication w i th the Surgeon G eneral *s o f f i c e which would i n d i c at e t h at they share bur f eel i n g t h at th ese l e af l et s are i m p r acti cal and unneessary . I have a vague r ec o l l ec t i o n of some d i scu ssi o n of the m atter some y ears ago when i t was f ound t h at no one requested these l e a f l e t s nor was anyone ap p ar en tl y i n t er est ed i n them. I have ev ery w i sh, of course to cooperate w i th the d esi r es of th e f u b l l c H eal th Serv i ce even though t h e i r p o i n t o f view may n o t be the same as my own. T heref ore I shoul d not w i sh to adv i se any procedure to which they i g h t have even a t en t at i v e obj ecti on} c er t ai n l y not w i thout d i scu ssi o n w i th them. Sometime when i t I s conv eni ent, I shoul d be gl ad to have you ex press t Mr , Wet f o ,,2 your p o i n t of v i e about t h i s hol e m atter * Por the p r esen t, i t seems to me the b e t t e r p ar t o f Isdom f o r you to adv i se M r. L ewis on t h i s p o i n t . With k i n d est personal r egar ds, C or di al l y y ours, RAX: i s Robert A* l i ehoe, M.D* KK 0001158