Document 588EL8k27Ev1bKvdro7QebGR

January 17* 1944 19 \ Mr. Charles E. Baxter, Coldbrook Post Office, Saint, John, H. B., Canada. Dear Mr. Baxter: I regret very much that I have had no opportunity to reply to your second letter, since 1 have been out of the country since the first of October. I shall have to say that in my opinion there is no reasonable or probable relationship between exposure to gasoline fumes and the development of a heart condition or high blood pres sure in a workman. Generally speaking, exposure to gasoline, while dangerous at the time, results in no permanent damage. One usually recovers completely within a few days even after exposure almost ,to the point of unconsciousness, and in my experience, repeated exposures of this type do not result in physical Injury to any very considerable degree. X know of no instance in which any man has suffered any damage to his heart, bXood vessels, or kidneys as a consequence of exposure to gasoline. I am afraid that anyone who told you that washing your hands in gasoline: would damage your kidneys, was either "stringing 11 you or else' he knew very little of what he was taikiiig about. In any case, it is not wise to consider very seriously the things that laymen say about medical matters and diseases. You may be quite right in believing that men who handle gaso line are not given enough warning of the dangers of handling i t . This is particularly true of men who handle it a great deal. Most of such men come to feel that gasoline is harmless, and they tend to forget that in an enclosed place., high concentra tion of vapors can produce unconsciousness and death. Un doubtedly the reason for this is that drunkenness and intoxica tion resulting from the inhalation of gasoline, pass.es off without much injury, just as it does in the case of alcohol. I believe this answers your questiers as well as I can. However, it i3 a little difficult for me to give you any advice without -- Mi*. Charles E. Baxter - (2 ) - January 17, 19^4 knoving much more than I do about your general physical condi tion. "if you have been consulting a doctor, and if you would bj-e t,o have me write to him about you, I should be pleased to give him any information of which I am in possession. Very truly yours, RAK ef Robert A . Kehoe, M . D . H E 0016239