Document 5k51v8ZeyoXOdmgnqdE5KygaJ

A October 16, 1961 Air Mail. r. Boyland, B.Sc. Professor of Biochemistry Chester Beatty Research Institute Institute of Cancer Research Royal Cancer Hospital " Fulham Road London, 3.W.3. E N G L A N, ti Dear Doctor-' Boy land: First, let me say that I, and my associates will be very much interested in having a detailed report of your experimental work on rats, whereby lead (in some form) induced carcinoma of the kidney. While I have seen other accounts of similar results, I must confess that I have been skeptical of them, if for no other reason than that lead has appeared to lack any such capacity for other common laboratory animals or for man. Moreover, lead has been employed in the treatment of cancer . (Blair Bell et al), unsuccessfully I believe, despite a^few _..F$),Pc V. o i< < suggestively beneficial effects,/partly because lead compounds are believed to be especially injurious to embryonic tissues, a n d "'w partly because of statistics (not very convincing), that indicate that workmen in lead trades have an unusually low incidence of cancer. - I believe I shall have to say that there is little in way of dependable evidence on one side or the other of this question, but the lack of evidence has, I think, some weight, but probably not overmuch. Sincerely yours, r? BAK:ss Robert A. Kehoe, M. D. KB 0018899