Document LpdpO5NYdXDk38mMr2Lgzjk1Q

ft \ O ctob er 20, 1955 M r. B. C. Lucas A ssistan t Ch ief In d u st r ial San itation Section D epartm en t of P u blic H ealth D iv isio n o f A ir P ollu tion Con trol an d En vir on m en tal San itation Boom 6iG, City H all An nex P h ilad elph ia 7, P en n sylvan ia D ear M r, Lu cas: I am som ew h at slow in r ep ly in g to you r le t t e r of Sep tem b er 28 b e cau se of th e p r e ssu r e of w or k w h ich gav e m e t io t im e fo r c o r r e sp o n d e n c e . I h ave con su lted M r . Ch clak on th e tech n ical asp e c t s of you r in qu iry, sin ce I am no e x p e r t in su ch m a t t e r s excep t by p r o xy . It w as m y opin ion , h ow ever , w h ich ho c o n fir m s, th at no d ifficu lt y sh ou ld a r ise in an aly sin g fo r e it h e r le ad o r flu o r id e in the at m o so h e r s u n d er th e con d ition s w h ich you h ave d e sc r ib e d . Th e p r o b lem in e it h e r c a se w ill Ci tiliit of ap p ly in g th e sp e c ific m eth od w ith c a r e an d p r e c isio n , to sa m p le s th at a r e ad eq u at e in n u m b er an d ty p e. I th ink it m ay be p ertin en t to poin t cu t th at the b e st m eth od of d eterm in in g the actu al sign ifican ce of the h azard to w orkm en of th eir exposu re to eith er le ad o r flu o r id e is th at of m e asu r in g th e con cen tr at ion of le ad in th e blood (it is a lso ad v an t age o u s, bu t not so im p or tan t, to m e asu r e the lead con cen t r a t io n o r ou t p u t in, t h e u r in e ), an d th e r a t e c e lim in a t io n o f flu o r id e in t h e u r in e . A s you a r e aw ar e , no dou bt, th e a n a ly sis of th e a ir d o es n ot, in it se lf, provide the in form ation that is requ ired fo r the safety of the p erson n el in m an y in d u st r ial o p e r a t io n s, no m at t e r how w ell it is don e, A ct u ally it d oes so on ly in th o se situ atio n s in w h ich th e r e su lt s a r e so low a s to d em on str at e th e virtu al ab sen ce of h azard , and even th en , it som etim es fails to p or tr ay the facts of the situ ation . I tak e the lib e r t y of callin g atten tion to th ese poin t ', sin ce in d u str ial o r gan i sa t io n s o ft e n n ee d to. b e fu lly in fo r m e d o f t h e sh o r t c o m in g s, on th e on e h an d , an d the ad van tages, on the oth er, of som e of th e av ailab le m eth ods of in d u st r ial h ygien e a s ap p lied to t h e ir sp e c ific p r o b le m s. C e r t ain ly in h azar d o u s o r b o r d e r lin e occu p ation s in th e le ad - u sin g o p e r at io n s, t h er e is no ad equ ate su b stitu te fo r an aly t ical o b se r v at io n s of th e p er so n n el a s a m ean s of know in g N 14006 KE 0012309 M r . B . C . Lu c a s - (2) - O ct o b e r 20, 1955 th e actu al h asar d an d in preven tin g c a se s of lead in toxication . Very tru ly you rs, RAK sf R o b e r t A . Ke h o e , vi. D, y H 00123x0