Document DdBNOVbdkLz0xme02aj6jV764
Mrch 3, 1965
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To All MMbr* of th* Health aad Safety Ccoaltt**! Through th* court**/ of Mr. B. I. Be**lh*r of th*
Xthyl Corporation, v* in able to *od you th* attached. Thl* la for your l&foraatloe. Vry truly run,
s-- Don 0. fouler, Secretary B*alth and Safety Cocnltt**
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"Ibe Breath of Llfet Ths Problem of Polsooed Air" by Dooald I. Carrj to be published la March, 196% by V. V. Horton A Company* Inc.)
Prleoi $3*95
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Donald Baton Carr, s Los Angel*s research che*it, Iodic*tss
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r* dlstsst* for tvo organisations tbst bear ths sea* Initial*! AMA. B*
rides both of the** herd la "tbs Breath of Lift." Tbs principal theses of
bis first book srsi
(1) 0rowing sir pollution over 0, 3. metropolitan *r*ss Is
* potent 1*1 sod, probably, s prsssnt health b*s*rd. Yet ths "notoriously
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nugvuxpLgi Aoerlcsa Medical Assoc 1st loo* pays llttls attention to dangers that nayb* caused by chronic lov-level poisoning fro* nitrogen sod sulfur
dioxides, otooe, and carbcn monoxide la ths atmoepber*.
(2) Crankcase bicvby devices, exhaust afterburners, special tuasups sad the as -yet -untested nan 1 fold sir oxidation (MmAlrOx) systems under developoent Is Detroit are sere stopgaps. Kven If used together they can eliminate only a fraction of notor cals tiers. Tet tbs ccapanie* and their AHA, ths Automobile Manufacturers Association, delay production of dies*! and turbine engines that sight do a respectable portion SkL- of ths cleanup Job.
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V; (3) Tinkering vlth olefins and other hydrocarbon compounds
In gasoline, es both AMA's have proposed at one tins or another, can bare
bo effect on vbat ccees out of tailpipes. Present types of auto engines
set as cracking plants that nanufseture olefins and other noxious gases
froa any type of fuel.
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(b) finally, Carr gives It as his conviction that only * svltcb to battery or fuel cell-operated electric autos for city driving vlll.
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In the long run, solve ths pollution probleas. Be Makes quite an argment for these little second cards. Including the point that a large part of tbs
electricity needed to charge their batteries or cells vould have to be
j generated .Trcn petroleua.
Tbs author vae a newspaperman before he obtained bis B.3.
degree froa the tfelverslty of California. Be Joined the Union Oil Company
of California as s research chemist and becaoe Its Director of Research
frees lJ^O until I9V7. PTcai then until 1962 be vms Assistant Director sad
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then Deputy Director of Research for the FMlllp# Petroleun Ccopacy. Bow be le a consultant la air pollution and related fields.
Carr takes a frv pokes at the Industry of which he was once a part. Be botes that California oilmen seea completely unable to perceive a Loe Angeles snog, even when their eyes are streaming fren it. Bs adds that "doctors in the staffs of large petroleum and autoaoblla companies.... are paid to believe only such not lens as are favorable to ths Interests of the companies who hire them."
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On the other hand, when talking of early effort* to solve southern California's snog problem, he saysi
"...oil refineries became the standard scapegoats, and during the early postwar period there were serious propose1* actually to shut down the refin*rise...The oil companies mads major and eaowndabl* efforts to
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talc* the cura* off by eliminating *11 trace of sulfuro** fumes and amok* from their operation* but nothing seemed to *atlafy...9ut alaoat overnight
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the monkey vu suddenly oo the beck of the autcnob 11#(Thl* *witch we*
not too draetle for the anti-petroleum people, eiace they could atill
bine the oil caepanies for producing fuel that the eutaeoblle couldn't digest.)
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the automobile had been e villain 'oo deck,' ao to apeak, ell along aloe*
ea early ee World War Z day*...."
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Be take* e eccevfcat Jaundiced view of the eqfulpoeot companies that epeot large amount* of eooey developing afterburner* that Detroit refuse* to lnetall oo new car*, end add*:
"With the *lngle exception of Xthyl Corporation, the llet of experimental muffler manufacturer*, uaually backed a* noted by e Big Brother la the fora of a catalyat manufacturer or a chemical company, la rather pathetic.*
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It la when be taka* out after Detroit, however, that Mr. Carr'a temper rl*e*. Sere ere a few choice exaapleai
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"...It he* become fashionable for Detroit-polarlied bodies euch aa the AM* (although I refer to the Autcaoblle Manufacturer* Association the ease la disgracefully true of another AMI, the American Medical Aaaoclatloa) to pooh-pooh the danger of nitrogen dioxide In a fashion ecmevhat parallel to the pooh-poohing of chronic carbon monoxide poisoning."
"Bor are the California air pollution authorIt lea very pleased with the Automobile Manufacturer* Aaaoclatloa itand. With acse Juatiflcatlcoa they claim that Detroit has not kept them Informed, and one can wonder whether. In the present phase of a problem of such monstrous complexity, Detroit Itself 1* Informed."
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Like "all respectable ehemlete," Carr cloeea hie "report* with a aeveoteeo-pag# bibliography of tourcea and the followlog reeim*.
(1) Za non-coal-burning urban centers the auto 1* the prim* caue* of saeg.
(?) "Solution*" euch as blovby device*, tuneupe, after burner* and MukAlrOx, or even diesel and turbine engines, must fall because none 1* sufficiently efficient and also because their installation and main' tananc* cannot be enforced.
(3) The only solution la the substitution, for city dr1wing, of electric cars for those driven by Internal ccntoustloo engines.
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(A) Oil companies could go along with this change because "they are la business to provide fuel, aod the simpler the speciflcatlcoa, the better their long-range comfort* but auto manufacturer* "will not consider euch a change."
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(5) The final decision Is up to the cltlaena of Am*rice.
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