Document MoazBq1xJkM3weo0DYeqjo05y

October 30, 1956 Dr, R. R, Sayers O ffice of in d u st r ial Hygiene and San itation U, 3. Pul)lie Health Service Washington, D, C, Dear Dr, Sayer st From time to time I have reported to you eases of complaints or of alleged in ju r ie s from tli handlin g and us of leaded gasolin e, Th& purpose of t h is le t t e r Is to make a r epor t on a se r ie s of cases of poisoning which occurred In connection with the clean in g of a blen ding tank a t the Savannah r efin er y of the Standard Oil Company of Kentucky* Vl have mad a rath er d et ailed study of t h is sit u at io n , and I i l l pro* vide you with the d e t a ils of our study when a l l of the work lias been completed. For your presen t in formation , however, i t seems d esir ab le to acquain t you with the circuiaa tan cos , On August 18th , seven men were sen t in to clean a tank which'had bean used fo r leaded gasolin e and in -which leaded gasolin e had been blended, The tank had been steamed fo r n in et y- six h ours, cooled for for t y - eigh t hours and then air ed out by forced circu lation of s i r fo r th irty-sis: hours In addition . The regu lation s which we have issu ed her not followed la carryin g out the clean in g a c t iv it ie s* These a c t iv it ie s required fou r to s i s hours durin g which time the men mad no complaints of su b ject ive symptoms* One man showed evidences o f illn e ss a ft e r twenty-four hours and the oth ers became 111 In from fo r t y - eigh t to slxty-tw o h ours, The symptoms developed slow ly, reach in g t h e ir peak eigh t to ten d ay s;la t e r , a t which time th ree of the tmn succumbed to an acute cen t r al nervous system In t oxicat ion , the eth er four slow ly recoverin g u n t il they are now apparen tly en t ir ely w ell. Because of the p ecu liar it y of the i n i t i a l symptoms, th ese cases ero not reported, to us fo r 3erne days, but ay asso ciat e,D r , Klt zm lllor , ar r ived on the seen a t the h eigh t of the acute illn e ss and sh or t ly before the death of one of the men, cropstea were performed on the three fa t a l cases and excretory st u d ies were mad on a l l of the men. The m at er ials from the tank were obtain ed fo r an aly sis in order to determine, HE 000921C Sayers (eonfc) 2- I f p ossib le, the precis cau3 of the acuten ess of the In toxication * I t Is apparen t from the Incomplete an alyses th at th ese men were h eavily exposed to load compounds of an organic type, while the c lin ic a l course of t h eir illn e ss was such as d e fin it e ly to ju st ify th at d iagn osis. Cases of t h is type have been reported to you before by U3 and we have been aware fo r some time of the hazards associat ed with the clean in g of th ese tan ks. However th ese are the f i r s t fa t a l cases although n ot the f i r s t severe ones which we have 3eon. Without going Into d e t ails as to the background of t h is l a st occurrence, v;e have come to the con clusion th at the handling of t h is hazard is not adequate in the hands of the d ist r ib u t in g caneanios, and th at wo ourselves w ill have to take a hand In the su pervision of t h is operation . Accordingly, with the assist an ce of tech n ical r epr esen tatives of the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation , we have undertaken to make a thorough in vest igat ion of the en tir e problem. We are making a complete survey of con dition s In the fie ld with referen ce to the number of tank3 in volved, t h eir locat ion , t h eir previous use and t h eir en t ir e h ist or y . '.Ye expect to obtain r epresen tative samples of m aterial from the sid es of the tanks and from the sludge a t the bottom In order to assu re ou rselves in r elat ion to the h ist o r ie s of use of th ese tanks an to what are the fact o r s which give r ise to decomposition of tetr aeth yl lead in the gaso lin e , and what qu an t it ies of lead are in volved. Vie are not cer tain th at the hazard Is of any moment in connection with tanks which have been used fo r storage alon e. However vie are making no assumptoms and we expect to spend the next sever al months in determining the fa c t s. On the b a sis of such fa c t s we w ill be In p osit ion to make recommendations as to what should bo done throughout the fie ld in carin g fo r th is problem. I nay say at th is poin t th at i f gen eral refin er y r egu lation s are enforced and i f the regu lation s which we have made with referen ce to loaded gasolin e storage tanks are follow ed, th ere should be no cases of poison in g. However, we do not fe e l a t presen t th at we can count on the applicat ion of regu lation s now in exist en ce, and we sh all attempt to set up a mechanism which w ill brin g t h is about. In cid en t ally we are beginning the la t t e r process by puttin g a metal warning sign on a l l tanks which have been used fo r blen din g gasolin e con tain in g lead . Y/e expect to study a l l tanks which are clean ed for some time to come not only through the an aly sis of m ater ials from the tan ks, but also by the determination of the dust concentra tion s which occur In the atmosphere in such tanks at the time of clean in g. I f you have any suggestion s to o ffe r or I f you wish any fu r th er Information at t h is time, do K 0009217 *Dr, Sayers 3 not h e sit at e to w rite to me. For my par t 1 sh a ll keep you in touch with the information which develops out of our 3tudy, and I sh all con fer with you on the methods which we w ill u lt im at ely employ In the solu tion of th is distu rbin g problem. The worst d ifficu lt y # of cou rse, is associat ed with the infrequency and ir r e gu lar it y of the clean in g operation s* Thors i s also the problem# of which you are oil aware# of the wide var iat ion in safe t y methods in the r efin er ies# Some of them operate on very r igid ru les# while many of them have very l i t t l e in the nay of safe t y organ ization s and p r act ice s* ~ 71thin a few days sh all bo sending you 3ome fu rth er information on cases of complaint# and p ar t icu lar ly on a case which recen tly earn to a h earin g in the Federal Court in Wilson* llorth Carolin a. With kin d est person al regards# Cor d ially youro# 7U\K: i s cc Dr. Edgar Holier^r'A#' te'iioe#' M.i). K i 0009218