Document Ev7d4aOpZ9DxJoQeN1ggdw7Jb

October 30, 1957 Ivir. J. C . M alone Ethyl Corporation 100 fa r k Avenue l ^ w Y ork C ity 17 : . ... . . f ' : " ' _ ' o. . ' ' : h ea r Mr. M alone: I have s e e n fit to m od ify tire sta te m e n t quoted in you r le tte r of Septem ber 13. S o t one tiling it contained a gram m atical error which I third; rrxbt have b een ty p o g ra p h ica l, sin c e I h ard ly think I h ave p e r irdtted "data is" to get by m e. This is one of the red fla g s to which I r e se t ed ito ria lly with a vigor which is probably out of proportion to its real im portance, largely i suppose, because it is so common a m istake. My suggested m odification follow s: ' "The fa cto r of lead discharged into the a ir from the exhausts of auto m ob iles has been investigated in a variety, of w ays, p eriod ically, over the y e a r s, beginning in i9A3, and the resu lts of such in vestigation s have been published from tim e ic tim e, as the work reached the appropriate sta g e . The status of the m a tter can be e x p r e sse d m o st sim p ly by saying that no th reat to the health of the public has been found to e x ist, either in term s of the lead content of the atm osphere or on the b asis of dem onstrable changes in the lead content of the tis s u e s.o r excreta of p erson s whose o c cu p a tio n s or places o f abod e h a v e b e e n su c h a s to su b je c t tnern to m o r e than Average exposure to the fum es from the exhausts of autom obiles. , The fa cto r cz sa fety , with r e sp e c t to the lea d content of the atm osp h ere o f urhun c a n te r s,is m ore than ten to one, as com pared with that which is g en era lly accepted a s the th reshold of danger for occupational exposure to le a d . M oreover the quantity of lead taken, into the hum an r esp ir a to r y sy ste m from th i a tm o sp h ere under the m o st s e v e r e conditions that have b een found in A m erican c itie s, is le ss than.one third of that which is taken into the stom ach d aily with ord in ary food and b ev era g es by the average A m erican adult. The evidence is that the total quantity of lead in the atm osphere of A m erica n c itie s g e n e ra lly , net a ll o f which* by any m e a n s, ow es its p r e se n c e to the com b u stion 'of leaded g a so lin e in a u to m o b iles, does not co n stitu te a health hasnrd m the co u rse of the human lifetim e?" T his m a y be m o re tl an is n e c e s s a r y to sa y , but it s ta te s th e fa c ts a s th ey ,are. . . Sincerely yours, 0004243 Robert A . Kehoe, M. D.