Document Ev2xBm8DObmE5rjG7a7o8LnL
La w r e n c e C. B l a n c h a r d ,J r .
Exec ut ive Vice Pr e s id e n t
ETHYL CORPORATION
330 SOUTH FOURTH STREET RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23317
April 13, 1977
Dr. Robert A. Kehoe Professor Emeritus of Occupational Medicine University of Cincinnati Kettering Laboratory Eden & Bethesda Avenues Cincinnati, Ohio 45219
Dear Bob:
The letter from Cousteau about the lead drums is another chapter in an unfortunate incident that occurred back in 1974 when the "Cavtat", a Yugoslavian ship carrying Octel drums sank off of Italy following a collision with another ship.
The matter has been the subject of considerable official investigation by the Italian authorities and a considerable amount of work by Octel. While we are not directly involved, we have of course followed the matter with considerable interest.
For background, I am enclosing a fairly short but good summary of the matter consisting of a report by Octel dated Octo ber 20, 1976.
More recently, Cousteau himself has contacted Gary Ter Haar claiming that he had been retained by the Italian authorities to arrive at a solution. He purported to want to involve Ethyl on some international committee. We were generally impressed with his candid approach but decided that we should leave this problem up to Octel.
I must admit that I am quite disappointed to see that he seems to be using the incident in a flamboyant way to solicit sub scriptions to his magazine instead of trying to keep the matter in proper scientific focus. I am sure we have not heard the last of the incident.
With kindest personal regards, I am
Sincerely yours,
LEB :ab Enel. cc: Mr. H. E. Hesselberg