Document MGO123VLJxky97XZJeYJkwwbV

CENTER FOR THE BIOLOGY OF NATURAL SYSTEMS W A SH I N GT ON UNI V ERSI TY ST. L OUI S, M I SSOURI 63130 Jul y 23, 1969 D r. R obert A . K ehoe K etteri ng L aboratory Col l ege of M edi ci ne U ni v ersi ty of Ci nci nnati Ci nci nnati , Ohio 45219 D ear D r. K ehoe: T hank you v ery much f or the com pl i m entary copy of the H arben L ectures sent i n repl y to M i ss W ebb's l et t er . I t has been of trem endous hel p to h er w ork i n our program . H ow ever, M i ss Webb who i s a graduate student w i l l be returni ng to school i n the f al l , ther ef ore I am w ri ti ng in repl y to y our i n ter est i n our l ead poi soni ng study. In y our l et t er you i nqui red as to the aspect of l ead poi soni ng i n w hich we w ere i nter ested. Our pr esent i n ter est center s around l ead poi soni ng in chi l dren i n the St. L ouis ar ea. We w i sh to l end assi stance to nei ghborhood organi zati ons and rel ev ant agenci es i nter ested i n the detecti on, treatm ent, and prev enti on of l ead poi soni ng i n ghetto ar eas. H ow ever, we ev entual l y hope to st ar t r esear ch in determ i ni ng the heal th ef f ects of ex posure to low concentrati ons of l ead. I t i s our hope to st ar t a screeni ng program usi ng h ai r as the sam pl e f or anal y si s accordi ng to the K opito method. We w ould l i k e to conti nue the r esear ch concerni ng the sui tabi l i ty of h ai r as a sam pl e f or m ass screeni ng and the r el i abi l i ty of v al ues obtai ned in thi s anal y si s. We would certai nl y appreci ate any opi ni ons or suggesti ons you may have tow ards thi s end. I m et w i th you br i ef l y i n New Y ork at the A i r Pol l uti on Control A ssoci ati on M eeti ng and posed thi s r esear ch possi bi l i ty to you. H ow ever, at that ti m e we w ere, not abl e to tal k i n g r eat detai l and thus you only i ndi cated the di f f i cul ti es of thi s l i ne of r esear ch . T heref ore, any HE 0007459 D r. K ehoe Page 2 Jul y 23, 1969 suggesti ons you m ay have concerni ng thi s w ould be m ost hel pf ul . I t may be possi bl e that we could send f or you l at er thi s f al l to speak w i th our group. W ould you be i n ter ested ? In a r ecent com m uni cati on w ith D r. A gnes L atti m er C hai rm an of the Chi cago Com m i ttee A gai nst L ead Poi soni ng and a pedi atri ci an at M i chael R eese H ospi tal , a l ead poi son case w as brought to my attenti on which I thought you may be abl e to hel p i n i nter pr eti ng. T he pati ent i s a f our y ear ol d f em al e who w as adm i tted to M i chael R eese's M andel Cl i ni c on Jul y 6, 1969. Two bl ood sam pl es anal y zed f or l ead both gave v al ues of 413 mg % l ead. T he chi l d had sy m ptom s of vom i ti ng and sl i ght consti pati on, but no neurol ogi c sy m ptom s w ere ev i dent. When tr eated w i th cal ci um v er si n ate, the chi l d ex creted 2. 6 mg of l ead i n the uri ne i n the f i r st 24 hours. T here i s a hi stor y of pi ca, how ev er when the chi l d w as screened l ess than a y ear ago, ther e w as no evi dence of el ev ated bl ood l ead. D r. L atti m er, i s i nter ested in why there ar e no neurol ogi c sy m ptom s w i th such a hi gh bl ood l ev el . We would l i k e y our opi nion on thi s case. A gai n thank you f or the l ectu r es.