Document M4GOo85xv9m2Jr6qyBoeoVy

October 22, 1968 Mr. Evelio Lopez, Chairman Health Hazard Committee International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers 3900 N.W. 171st Terrace Opa Locka, Florida 33054 Dear Mr. Lopez: The report to which you refer in your letter of October 9 was published some time ago and is available in the Archives of Environmental Health. The work was done by George W. Wright, M.D., who is not a member of the Staff of the Kettering Laboratory, but is at St. Lukes Hospital, Department of Medical Research, 11311 Shaker Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44104. I give you his address, so that you can write to him for reprints, if you choose. We do not have them here. The complete reference, if you wish to see the Journal, is as follows: Wright, George W., M.D.: Airborne Fibrous Glass Particles; Archives of Environmental Health 16:175-181, 1968. It so happens that I arranged for Dr. Wright to make the investigation, because of his outstanding competence in this field, and because our staff man in this type of work, Frank Princi, M.D., had died suddenly and unexpectedly, and we had no man of comparable background and experience that I could call on. Dr. Wright, who was well-known to me, kindly agreed to carry out the work. It was his responsibility, therefore, to publish the results. This was delayed, somewhat,by his preoccupation with a heavy schedule of other work. Meanwhile, I came to the age of automatic retirement from the Direction of the Kettering Laboratory, and the contribution made by the staff of this Laboratory in investigating the conditions under which the men now work in this industry was not assembled for publication. (It was our original intention to put Dr. Wright's and our own reports together in one article, but the delay in completing the Laboratory's part of the report resulted in Dr. Wright's separate publication.) I explain this series of events only because the report did not tu; .it quite as I had expected it to, and also because it is doubtful that the report on the aerometric survey of certain plants will be published. The fact is that the conditions which were investigated by our people had been improved considerably since the earlier time, and therefore they do not represent the conditions that had existed during prior years. In other words, the men investigated by Dr. Wright had been exposed more severely than present conditions indicated, and therefore our observations would not tell the past story. I am sure that the results of the environmental survey can be reported to you, should you wish this to be done, but it is my opinion that they represent present conditions and not those of the past ten to twenty-five years. Little advantage will follow from their publication now. N13997 Mr. Evelio Lopez, Chairman Page 2 October 22, 1968 You may be surprised that this reply to your letter comes from me. a s it happens I have remained in the Laboratory, after a period of absence abroad, to carry on some long-term work in which I have been engaged, and your letter, naturally, was referred to me for reply. Very truly yours. Robert A. Kehoe, M.D. Professor Emeritus of Occupational Medicine KB 0012296