Document 5xjMYd1YmRYmERyZRo06ZxEe

C E N T KR FOR T H F BIOLOGY OF NATURAL SYSTEMS WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63130 July 23, 1969 Dr. R obert A. Kehoe Kettering Laboratory College of Medicine University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio 45219 Dear Dr. Kehoe: Thank you very much for the com plim entary copy of the H arben L ectures sent in reply to M iss Webb's le tte r. It has been of trem endous help to her work in our pro g ram . However, Miss Webb who is a graduate student will be returning to school in the fall, therefore I am writing in reply to your in te re st in our lead poisoning study. In your le tte r you inquired as to the asp e c t of lead poisoning in which we w ere interested. Our p resen t in te re st centers a r o u n d le a d p o is o n in g in c h i l d r e n in the St. Louis a r e a . We wish to le n d assistance to neighborhood organizations and relevant agencies interested in the detection, treatm ent, and prevention of lead poisoning in ghetto a re a s . However, we eventually hope to s ta rt re s e a rc h in determ ining the health effects of exposure to low concentrations of lead. It is o u r hope to s t a r t a s c r e e n in g p r o g r a m using h a ir a s t h e s a m p l e f o r a n a l y s i s a c c o r d i n g to th e K o pito m e t h o d . Wre w o uld l i k e to continue the re sea rc h concerning the suitability of hair as a sample for m ass screening and the reliability of values obtained in this analysis. We would c e rta in ly a p p re c ia te any opinions o r suggestions you m ay have tow ards this end. I met with you briefly in New York at the Air Pollution Control Association Meeting and posed this re se a rc h possibility to you. H ow ever, at that tim e we were not able to talk in g re a t detail and thus you only indicated the difficulties of this line of research . Therefore, any ice I 00492  i Dr. Kehoe Page 2 July 23, 1969 su g g e stio n s you m ay have co n cern in g th is would be m o st h elp fu l. It m ay be p o ssib le that we could send for you la ter th is fall to speak with our group. Would you be in ter e sted ? In a r e c e n t co m m u n ic a tio n w ith D r. A g n e s L a ttim e r , C hairm an of the Chicago C om m ittee A gainst Lead P oisoning and a pediatrician at M ichael R eese H ospital, a lead poison ca se w as brought to m y attention which I thought you m ay be able to help in in terp retin g . The patient is a four year old fem ale who was adm itted to M ichael R e e se 's Mandel C linic on July 6, 1969. Two blood sam p les analyzed for lead both gave values of 413 mg % lead. The child had sym ptom s of vom iting and slig h t constipation, but no neurologic sym ptom s w ere evid en t. When treated with calciu m v e rsin a te, the child excreted 2. 6 mg of lead in the urine in the fir st 24 hou rs. T here is a h isto ry of pica, how ever when the child was screen ed le s s than a year ago, there was no evidence of elevated blood lead . Dr. L attim er is in terested in why there are no n eu rologic sym ptom s with such a high blood le v e l. We would lik e your opinion on this ca se. lie s 00493