Document 8VbemYOE1k4reRX76Grk5DJJB

December 5, 1950 Mr. E. W. Webb, Ethyl Gasoline Corp., Chrysler Bldg*, New York, N. Y. > a . Dear Mr. Webbj . I have your letter of November 25 enclosing Mr. Chiquoines letter with a copy of the syndicated article by Dr. Brady. ;: I do not believe that articles of thi3 sort should be taken seriously by the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation, Furthermore I do not believe that such a letter or such a state ment would be regarded as of any consequence by a physician or even lay people. It is not surprising that people in general and physicians should bo looking about for possible causes for the increase of a number of diseases. It is true that *the causes are not likely to be found by the sort of looking around that Is described in this article* At the same time, It is equally true that those of us who are interested In medical problems are casting about everywhere to see if we can find something which might be held responsible for this Increase, real or apparent. I believe that the Ethyl Gasoline Corpora tion should be quit willing to content itself with the fact that no evidence has been collected which would indicate that its product is in any way injurious. Occupying a position of this sort which has been based on a serious attempt to discover such evidence, I do not believe that It would be either digni fied or politic procedure to attempt to discredit newspaper articles of this sort which are of little more consequence than the commonest rumor. There Is some reason to believe that a num ber of more or less chronic diseases such as diabetes, nephritis, blood vessel diseases, heart diseases, and also peptic ulcer are on the Increase in our midst. It is quite commonly believed that this is an apparent rather than an actual Increase, due to the fact that more Individuals are saved in childhood and in babyhood and consequently-there are more persons left to develop the diseases of middle life. That is to say, more persons reach middle life now than ever before, and it is not altogether sur prising therefore that some of the diseases of middle life should have shown a relative increase in their occurrence. . 0001201 / Mr* Wbb -2~ There Is nothing to lead one to believe that lead absorption or even lead poisoning has anything to do with peptic ulOer*- We Have found some suggestive indications however* that an unusually large proportions of persons who are working around running gasoline engines have a tendency to gastro Intestinal difficulties, including peptic ulcer* ,We do not have enough evidence upon which to make any statement, but It Is a curious fact that among men who are engaged In knock testing work and dynamometer work entirely unrelated to the advent of Ethyl work in my opinion, there is a fairly high incidence of persons with symptoms resembling peptic ulcer or duodenal ulcer. Whether this is a matter of exhaust gas absorption or gasoline exposure or whathpt, I cannot say* 1 am quite certain it bears no relationship to lead exposure* and I only mentioned it be* cause we have been somewhat surprised at the number of men in our own laboratories for example* who have Complained In this way* , I repeat that I regard it as our best policy to avoid any possible controversy* and especially In newspapers, over random remarks of the type seen in this article. Very truly yours, RAK:EJ ;t' W 0001202 i n t e r -o f f i c e CORRESPONDENCE E t h y l Ga s o l i n e C o r p o r a t i o n C hrysler Bu il d in g 1 35 Ea s t 4 2 n d St r e e t NEW YORK November 25, 1950. Dr- Robert A. ^-ehoe, College of Medicine, Eden & Bethesda Aves., Cincinnati,,Ohio. Dear Dr. Kehoe; ' Enclosed is a letter from Mr. Chiquoine, together with t h e .syndicated article from the Atlanta Constitution which ws attached to it; also copy of my reply to Mr. Chiquoine. I would be interested to receive your comments in respect to peptic ulcer or any other phase of the article and to have the benefit of your suggestions and advice. Very truly i- A:H 0001203 November 25, 1950. S3? A B. Chiouoin, Jr*, Batten, Barton, Darstiae & Osborn, SSS Sadison Avenue, fee fork, N.X* Beer Lex: . - There is indeed so rest for the weary* Poor Ethyl is picked on sow and then in as attempt to account for some isexplainabls situation. Now we ere suspected of causing peptic ulcer, whatever that is* A letter from Br* Kehoe to Br* Brady might straighten the latter out. Os the other hand, he might use it as an instrument with which to stir up a controversy* However, I aa very glad you sent me the article and I am for warding it to Br* Kehoe today for his comments sad.any suggestions he say have to offer. thank you for bringing the matter to our attention* Sincerely yours. E. J. Webb A:H Kr 0001204 * C Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn INCORPORATED 3 8 3 Mad is o n Ave n u e , N e w Yo rk ' t A d v e rtisin g riEAD BY E .w .v v ______ November^24, 1930 J .C.T, Mr. Earle W. Webb Ethyl Gasoline Corporation Chrysler Building New York City E.M . W... H .W.K. T.,R,._ L, P.L._ ... Dear Earle: --- V, One of our good friends in Atlanta sent us the attached syndicated article from the Atlanta Constitution. , Dr. Brady's articles on health are syndi cated by the National Newspaper Service, 326 Yfest Madison Street, Chicago, John E. Dille, President. They appear on Sundays usually under the heading "Eftjoy Your Health" and are about 1,000 words long. We have tried to find out what papers use Dr. Brady's articles but without result. Only the National Newspaper Servibe itself knows and they won't consider a request for information unless the reason for the request is given. The syndicate is apparently a first rater because other people they are using are Dr. Shailer Matthews, Milton Work, Chic Sales and Sir Harry Lauder. I wonder if it would not be a good thing if Dr. Keogh could get in touch with Dr. Brady either 10 through professional acquaintance or in care of the National Newspaper Service? The chances are that he may never mention Ethyl again, but I think he should be straightened out in his understanding of the case -- and undoubtedly a communication from Dr. Keogh, who is himself a physician, would have far more weight than from any one else. ' Sincerely yours, 021000 3X N 5781.03 / CONSTITUTION November 1 9 , 1930 ATX THIS ETHY L ON TH E AIR. .You might think .that the scanning --I em frank about-it, you sec-- the (daily scanning of a. fe w hundred let *' * * * ` complaints, -references *to -' ppti?'ulcers ;';Pi^know many .people-' iu this-vicinity have the same complaint^: I t seems like a'm ild epidemic, and"! 'wonder 'if,-it has not some basic 'endemic cause. \ Having been in th e smelting busi ness where n ot infrequently ,workmen and even executives .or* clerical help are "plumbated" o r ``leaded," . it oc curred to me th a t th e endemic cause might be inhalation;-of the fums of " ethyl gasoline." The symptoms .are similar. .. ' / ' Of course this is a .b jg country, and there is a good chance-that all the lead from this source may be dissi pated in the a ir without- doing real harm . A t the same time, according to the la st reports, . billion gallons of "ethyl gas" were.^used last -year. As each gallon contains' abont 3 gram s (nearly ,one-half, teaspdonful) of lead figured as 'm etal, th a t means' that more than 3,100 tons of lead were dif fused in,: the- atmosphere, from this so u rce.alone in si year.: I believe ex perts spy .,,that isM ittle !as. 10CT milli grams 'of lead would i'he enough to poison any oner if-absorbed into the bodywSo there is enough lead, in the atmosphere to poison 250 times over, .very, inhabitant ^of the ,country. In-view of thse f a c ts 'I would ask th a t you give .'-your, opinion, in .the matter. I am riot worrying about my self, for . ! live; well away front the traffic, b u t I 'th in k it may. become a m atter.of publi interest. .. % ..Very,tru ly -yours, .r --O u r Andover^- friend's estimate of the; quantity of-lead in ethyl gasoline is startling to:pie. I had assumed that, there might be A Jeaspoonful of lead in. a tankful of ethyl/gas. .Even so. I have been careful to avoid iuhaling ethyl gas, when I'u se d it as motor fuel.- B u t the suggestion Hfiat 'm ild un recognized lead poisoning may have a bearing -on th e apparently, increasing prevalence of peptic ulcer is something to think about. Come to think of it, there-is Some little similarity in the feymptoms--b u t ;don't ask ' me to -tell j you the symptoms of either condition. I f you have any such symptoms, you *tell 'em to your doctor'and don't ever j mention them to anybody else or J e t 1anybody else supply you with 'em. ; W orkers exposed to lead have lonj believed, the drinking ro t. considerable milk every day protected them from lead . poisoning.';-I t does. .M ilk ; is- a high calcium food,, ^nd a.high .calciuml I (lime) 'dietvcnablw the hody-lo .store! 1 : the lead in-:the.'!bones Whece-it does1 ^Tr,.-5f'^o^ham?*'OH#K>usly-enough.; milk is a :prominent p a r t of m ost diets for peptic ulcer. ; - The medicai and health authoride? so far appear to find no evidence of any poisoning from all this ethyl lead N 5781.04 9021000 3M