Document MJKwjzzg1Vy07x892jR65Dqya

April 1 , 1955 CONFIDENTIAL Mr. L. A. Lohman Superintendet - Administrative Wood River Refinery Shell Oil Company P. 0. B o x 262 Wood River > Illinois . Dear Mr. Lohmani I send you herewith two copies of the analytical report on the sample of rust and scale which you forwarded to us recently. You will note that the steam-distillable lead (which is that portion of the lead which was present as tetraethyl lead or asorganic decomposition products of tetraethyl lead) was present ' only in a minute t r a c e . T h i s , from the hygienic viewpoint, as I indicated in my letter of March 12, is wholly insignificant, unless a very large quantity of the scale containing it were to be suspended in the atmosphere as a d u s t , in the course of a mechanical (scraping or sand-blasting) operation for the removal of the rust in a dry state. The inorganic lead in this sample of scale is a bit higher than it Is usually found to be, but it would not be a source of any danger at all under the conditions of exposure which you described, since this is not volatile and cannot get distributed into the atmosphere so long as it is wet. I believe that this information, plus that in m y letter of March 12 should answer all of your questions and those of your people, except for that which concerned the handling of their clothes. Clothes contaminated with sludge which happened to be relatively high in its content of tetraethyl lead, might well be a source of hazard to anyone who had to handle i t . H o w e v e r , if the clothing were handled with a reasonable degree of prudence and were cleaned promptly rather than being left to lie around the house, it should not give rise to any serious danger. Clothing contaminated with dust containing inorganic lead com pounds in low concentration cannot be regarded as a source of hazard to the housewife, laundress or any other person, under ordinary conditions of handling. It Is conceivable that such dusty clothes handled daily and regularly 5n large volume, such as In a commercial laundry, would have to be handled with reasonable care to avoid suspending the dust in the atmosphere of the laundry. However, this is the worst situation that 000.9754 Mr. L. A. Lobman - (2) - April 1, 1953 could be f conditions nrSe5and GVen Lt W Uld be of ordinary, sensible, and of rea no importance sonably cleanly under handling. Sincerely yours, RAK ef Enc. Robert A.-'Kehoe, M. D.' K r 0009755 Materials Submitted! Requiredt T&nk goal *^%***^ by Hr* h * Lohaan* Superintendent. Administrative, tood Hivar nsfTnary, shall oil Company, ** o* Sox 262,- iood minla lead Analyst* . BBB - ' Analysis lumber ' Steam Diatiliable lead I n o r a n t e Lead - . 55&*l85lt . Q*2# O*5336 Heporfced 5* 551.55 H r 0009756 Material Subsiitfcaiit Hoqalrocii taufe seti* ky &*% I* A* Lohmmn, up***lats*dt* *6iiiitt*tlv# &!* 8flftryt steli Oli Q&&v*ny, ?* ?* So* aa# temi W w , misiol* **< Analyst* m mm- O.ly*l* SUMter Stoa Piatiilabi taa . taopgttsilo 1* 4 $J&<*1054 * Q*QQ3 * 0*55^ .' HoportoOt fr*51 55 RB 0009757