Document DD5bmgR1L5rBrqxZ7M4V1Kjen

February 22, 1974 Theodore E. Robinson, M.D., I.M.D. Plant Medical Director Ethyl Corporation Box 341 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821 Dear Doctor Robinson: Please accept my thanks for your full letter of February 19. I have heard of some of the changes which have occurred in the Medical Department of the manufacturing area, but was not told previously, just what had come to pass. You know, of course, that 1 have no responsibility for specific activities and affairs in Ethyl Corporation. However, I am a salaried consultant of the management and I also have, as you know, a continuing interest in the operations at all levels of the activities of the Corporation which relate in any manner to the health and welfare of employees of the Corporation, as well as the hazard, if my , to all persons who use or handle in any way the products. This is not .to say that I know, off hand, all of the answers. It does mean, however, that I might be expected to do so, by responsible persons in the Corporation. In any case, I would like you to know that I am entirely willing to be of any help to you that I can in almost any way. I say this because it might be assumed otherwise by you, or by Dr. Bock, or by any other person, doctor or laymen, in Corporate affairs, that I should be dealt with only by the top management. This generally may be true. However, it should not deter any of the Company's physicians from dealing with me directly. Especially is this true of the person, who like yourself, is responsible for the people engaged in the manufacture of the alkyl lead compounds, and/or any of the other products being manufactured or handled in relation to any of the manufacturing operations. Ethyl Corporation is on the way to becoming a manufacturer of many chemical products, which are likely to have quite a variety of harmful properties. There is little doubt, I believe, that the Corporate Medical Department will have to be expanded to deal with all of the problems which may arise among its employees and its customers. It is neither wise nor likely that a Medical Department can go along doing a good and " intensive job in connection with hazardous products such as the alkyl lead compounds and yet ignore all or most of the other products. Other manufacturing companies have run into disasters by ignoring products which may have insidious or utterly unknown properties, and this almost certainly will come to Ethyl Corporation unless it sets up the means of learning about all of the properties of the products of its manufacturing, marketing, distribution and use. Every large chemical manufacturer has run into this situation and all are likely to do so, ana this must be prevented by technical and medical means which have been developed in response to serious troubles or in order to avoid such troubles. Every large HE 0006144 N7499 / Theodore R. Robinson, M.D., I.M.D. Page 2 February 22, 1974 chemical company in the United States, under present laws and official practices, must carry out extensive toxicological investigations, numerous medical observations and investigations of great variety and high quality. The days of old-fashioned physicians in the top echelon of industry, who are versed only in the common practice of medicine, without special knowledge of Occupational Medicine, are over, in this country, and the sooner our industrial organizations learn this at the top, the better things will be in both industry and medical practice in industry. This is a refrain which we shall have to sing in industry in this country with such frequency and emphasis as to have it adopted as a major principle of modern industrial activity. Sincerely yours, RAK:wb Robert A. Kehoe, M.D. Professor Emeritus of Occupational Medicine H B 0006145 ETH YL COR P OR ATION Ma nuf a ct ur ing Depa r t ment February 19, 1974 PLEASE ADDRESS REPLY TO: -0 OX 341 BATON ROUGE. LA. 70821 Robert A . Kehoe, M .D . Kettering Laboratory Eden & Bethesda Avenues Cincinnati, Ohio 45219 Dear Dr. Kehoe: I am happy to hear that you are feeling better. As far as my own communications to you over the past year are concerned, they were thought to be of possible interest to you, but have not been intended to evoke any particular action or response on your part. The Medical Department in Baton Rouge has undergone a good deal of change in physician personnel in recent years. Dr. George Dicks, who had been here many years, elected early retirement in 1969 because o f poor health. He is now living in Natchez, Mississippi and is in and out of the hospital for hypertension and cardiac arrhythmia problems. Dr. Roy Bock is scheduled to retire on May 1 of this year. In anticipation o f this event and because he didn't want to spend his last few months struggling with O .S .H .A . matters - he insisted on taking a step to the side last July and had me appointed as Plant Medical Director. He has continued to work away each day and has gotten a great deal o f enjoyment out o f watching my trials and tribulations in his old job. Last week he suddenly developed an arterial occlusion in one leg and had to have a by-pass procedure done on an ilia c artery. He is still in the hospital, but everything went well and complete recovery is anticipated. It seems unlikely that he w ill be able to return to work before his retirement date. About a month ago, Dr. Edward LaCour, a native of New Orleans and a surgeon for some 18 years in Beaumont, Texas, tired o f the 'Vat fb c e " o f private practice, joined the Department as staff physician. He has found this to be a new world, but is beginning to discover that interesting problems do exist in the industrial setting. I am hoping to be able to maintain this interest. HJr 00G6 146 N7499.01 ,, a. Kehoe, M .D . Rob p u a ry 19, 1974 At the moment, Dr. LaCour and I constitute the physician staff here in Baton Rouge. I anticipate a need for a b it more physician time than two doctors can supply as mandatory examinations (per O .S .H .A . requirements) increase. I am in hopes that Dr. Bock w ill be w illing and able to help us on a consultant basis. You are aware, o f course, that Dr. M itchell Zavon w ill become Medical Director for Ethyl on March 1. At this particular point in time, I know of no one who would be a better choice for the job. He certainly faces a multitude of problems, both within the Company and from outside. I am surprised that he is w illing to take up this particular burden. I w ill do whatever I can to help him, o f course. It was nice to hear from you. I hope you w ill be able to attend some of the Kettering luncheons in the meetings to come. I w ill not be at the A .A .O .M . Meeting in San Francisco, but I w ill be at the I.M .A . Meeting in Miami this A pril-M ay (and w ill present the data from the TEL mortality study at one o f the scientific sessions). I hope to see you again soon. Sincerely, Theodore R. Robinson, M .D .,I.M .D . Plant Medical Director TRR-.jd K T 0G6147