Document 6RVVjM4BVNVVQJXvBMZJROmg3

St. Joseph Lead Company Josephville (Monaco),, Pa ? I KE 0018418 N19650 D ^ar M r. Oahagan: On M a r c h 3 0 , 1965. D r , a , A . X e h o e , D i r e c t o r o f the- K e tte r in g la b o ra to ry , U n iv ersity o f C in cin n ati, acco m p an ied m s in a v is it to the i. J o o e p h .Lead Z in c non a l t e r a t M o a a c a f o r th e p u r p o s e o f e v a lu a tin g a lead -xposure p ro b lem . A cco rd in g to M e s s r s , C onklin and. K unkie, P la n t S afety and In d u stria l H ygiene e n g in e e r a, re sp e c tiv e ly , the fact th at a p o ten tial h a za rd fro m ex c essiv e ex p o su re to lead e x ists is s e v e ra l a re a s in the leach and r o a s t p lan ts h as been co nfirm ed by atm o sp h eric sam pling and an aly sis. F u rth e rm o re , ;he em ployees" w orking in th e se p la n ts have been follow ed f o r a p e rio d of about eight y e a rs w ith u rine an aly sis fo r le a d e v ery six w eeks, and sev eral a p p ea r.to have been co n sig reatly ex cretin g e x cessiv e am ounts of lead in th e ir u rin e. No diagnosis of lead poisoning h a s e v e r been m ade in the w ork fo rce although the em ployees a re exam ined p erio d ic ally by D r. M itch ell, who se rv e s p a rt tim e a s p lan t p h y sician . No blood le ad d eterm in atio n -h ad been m ad e, and i t w a s c o n s id e r e d e s s e n t i a l , in D r , JS e h o e ' s o p in io n . So d e t e r m i n e i f th e w o rk fore w as actu ally ab so rb in g e x ce ssiv e q u a n titie s of lead b efo re suggesting sp ecific changes in the existing in d u stria l hygiene p ra c tic e s . It w as noted that approved re s p ira to rs w ere provided and ap p aren tly p ro p erly used and m aintained w here know s potential h azard from , inhalation of lead existed. On the o th e r hand* a ro u n d th e w o rk sit in b o th le a c h a n d r o a s te r p la n ts th e re w as ex cessiv e accum ulation of d u st, said to have significant lead content (up to 10% ), and i t w as com m on p ra c tic e fo r w o rk e rs to sm o k e, chew gum , ana d rin k coffee in the w ork a re a . A lthough a clean , a ttra c tiv e and convenient plant c afete ria is available and used by m any em ployees, som e bring lunches to w o rk and at a t o r n e a r th e jo b s ite . It w as re a d ily a p p a re n t to D r. K ehoe and m e that the opportunity for h azard o u s exposure to lead by ingestion w as definitely p re se n t, and th at the m e a su re s to p rev en t inhalation of lead dust ana fum e by use of approved re s p ira to ry p ro tectio n could be only p a rtia lly su ccessfu l, sim ila rly , the show er and change fa c ilitie s ap p eared adequate and in ex cellen t condition. T hese undoubtedly help lim it continued ex posure to lead from contam inated skin and clothing off the job; they cannot, how ever, offset the p o ssib ility of lead ingestion on the job. A thorough occupational m ed ical valuation of a sam p le of exposed w o rk e rs thus ap p eared m an d ato ry . HZ 00184.' 9 were examined by a s a t th e Falls C lin ic , Pittsburgh; ' Routine hem atological ana urinary laboratory te s ts, chest X -rays ..ad th e fo llo w in g s p e c ia liz e d 'la b o r a to r y d e t e r m in a tio n s w a r e p e r f o r m e d ! U rinary coproporphyria U rinary le a d analysis Blood le a d a n a ly sis _ c o m p le te r e p o r t o i f in d in g s w ill b e m a d e in th e n e a r f u t u r e . afce p u r p o s e .< th is , l e t t e r 'i s to. c o n f ir m i n w ritin g , th e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f th e m e d ic a l fin d in g e vhich have been given o v e r the phone in the p a st tw o w eeks a s la b o ra to ry .re p o rts have been received. In o rg an ic lead poisoning in ad u lt w o rk e rs today* acco rd in g to ii. X. Johnstone is m ainly c h a ra c te rise d by sever abdom inal co lic. N eurological changes (encephalopathy w rist and ankle d ro p , aad tre m o rs ) a re not now u su ally a sso c ia te d w ith le ad colic and Johnstone d isp e ls the o ld e r b e lie f of sequelae o f lead poisoning u n der p re s e n t day u su al conditions of ex p o su re on the b a sis o f Sound epidem iological stu d ies. ' in none of the above ate m en who w ere exam ined and carefu lly ques tio n e d concerning abdominal c o lic w a s .its p r e s e n c e ,e lic ite d, n o r w as th e r e evidence o w ris t o r an k le d ro p , o r g r o s s tr e m o r , la one ^ g j ^ j U I P h e r e w as definite cyanosis of the gum s adjacent to a re a s of extensive p y o rrh ea, but a w ell defined lead line w as not noted. The o th e rs had no clin ical findings w h a tso e v e r su g g estiv e of leading poisoning T he h em ato lo g ical study re v e a le d th at only M atthew s and C av en d er have siippied e ry th ro c y te s, a lthough a ll w ere noted to have o ccasio n al p o lychrom atic re d blood c e lls . A g a i n , a n u ^ H ^ H F w ere the only ones w hose hem o g lo b in w as le s s th an l b g m a. , b o th having 1 3 .8 -gm. w hich r e p r e s e n ts an em ia only re la tiv e ly , in co m p ariso n w ith-the o th er w o rk e rs. H em ato crit lev els,- a lso in d icativ e of d e g re e of anem ia'-w ere lo w er in ana K& 0018420 not remarkable and appeared w ithin norm al lim its, in every c a sa . C hest X -ra y s w ere in te rp re te d .b y the rad io lo g ist w ithout benefit of co m p ariso n w ith p rev io u s film a, T h ere w ere na findings of significance and the re p o rts and film s w ill be supplied to B r, M itchell. T he u rin a ry co p ro p o rp h y ria d eterm in atio n s showed th at only Sum m er s could he c o n sid e re d n eg ativ e' o r e n tire ly n o rm al.. had slight Novation* f l H H ^ p n o d e r a t e , a nd_______ an e x tre m e ly h ig h elev atio n .' .(This ^inform ation re g a rd in g supplied to M r. G ahag&n by m y office on M ay 3 by p h o n e .} T he results of the blood and u rin e a n a ly s e s fo r lead w e re n o t re c e iv e d until A p ril 13. T h e se in d ic a te d lead is g ro ssly elevated a n d w e ll in to the range w h ic h m a y b' a ss o c ia te d with sym p tom s. Further exposure to ex cessiv e lead sh o u ld be prevented and he sh ould be k e p t u n d e r m edical surveillance with re p e a te d determ inations .of blood le a d periodically to .e n s u r e , s a t i s f a c t o r y c o n tr o l of exposure and p r o g r essiv e r e c o v e r y . The c o n c e n tr a tio n s o f lead in th e b lo o d o rare in the high norm al ra n g e * -but that o f c u m m e r s i s only m o d e r a te ly fSove th e m ean c o n c e n tr a tio n o f th e unexposed p o p u la tio n . The concentration of load in hi! of the u rin e sam ples a re above the n o rm al range* excepting S ch rein er and S u m m ers. T here is thus no doubt of the exposure of th e se em ployees to ex cessiv e a m o u n ts o f le a d in so m ew h at v a ry in g d e g r e e s .' ' ^ ^ ^ H H H H ^ p c r s o n & i habits a re b e tte r than the o th e rs. KF 00184? 1 B ased upon th e above findings* it is e ss e n tia l th at e x c e s siv e e x p o s u r e to lo a d b c o n tr o lle d , a s r a p i d l y a n d e f f e c t iv e ly a s p o s s i b l e , b o th on a n d o ff fhci jo b . A s a m a t t e r o f p o lic y , e a ti n g , d r in k in g a n d s m o k in g o n th e ,,lob should be p ro h ib ited a t le a s t until developm ent of im proved housekeeping and e n g in e e rin g co n tro l , w h e re n e e d e d , and d e m o n s tra tio n o f a downward tre n d in load ab so rp tio n . T his policy m u st, of c o u rse , be en fo rced to be effectiv e. P e rio d ic m ed ical evaluation of th e se and o th e r exposed w o rk e rs w ill allow a check on the effectiv en ess of th ese p ro c e d u re s. A dditional d etails of a follow up p ro g r a m in c o rp o ra tin g re c o m m e n d a tio n s b y >r. K ehoe w ill b e su p p lie d a t a la te r date . ;. i n c e r a i y y o u r s , J a / \pCt~ I'f It'i re \/yyLL_ deT iarm f i e b e r t T . P . d e T r e v i Ilo* ;vi . c c i M r , C h arles JD. H e n d e r s o n M anaging d ire c to r