Document NGbLa01xRV4kvo0zNjyOm1v2b

BOARD Q F -D I' C T O 'RS One Year Term E. L. Overholser .- Pullman Ralph Sundqtust - Yakima Two- Year Term Fred DeSellem - Wenatchee Rodger Hamilton - .Okanogan Three Year Term Grover Israel - - Dayton Leslie Morgan - - Yakima Three cheers for the Apple; let its praises ring With power ofits sway; o'er all fru its the King. Washington jetais ifortiralin ral March 23, 1938 OFFICERS President Roy Smith Chelan First Vice-President C. L. Robinson - Yakima Second Vice-President Roy Larson - Okanogan Secretary-Treasurer John C, Snyder - Pullman Dr. Robert A. Keyhoe Kettering LaboratoryUniversity of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio Dear Sir: At the instigation of Dr. ?/. A. Ruth, Chief in Fomological Physiology, University of Illinois, I am writing for your opinion relative to the possible toxic effect on human beings from eating apples which have been sprayed with lead arsenate. Ihat is your opinion as to the possibility of any person being poisoned from eating apples or other fruits sprayed with arsenate of lead? If you have an opinion as to the maximum that may be ingested with food without harmful effects, please state that maximum in your answer if you care to answer this question. He have a statement from the Chelan County Medical Association signed by 25 prominent physicians and medical men located in the county, mostly at /enatchee, a city of 16,000 people, in which they state: "The undersigned members of the Chelan county Medical Society have never observed or treated a case of arsenic or lead poisoning in which the history indicated that there was any con nection with the ingestion of apples, pears, or any of the other tree fruits grown in this locality." Possibly this expresses the experience of a great many medical men located in the apple producing sections of the United States. ' In this North Central Washington region, approximately 5 million pounds of arsenate of lead are supplied to orchardists annually. . Certainly it is possible that these men applying this vast quantity of lead arsenate would be subjected to considerable exposure by absorption or irielation. It would likewise be quite evident, and we here have to assume it would be a fact, that the per capital con sumption of apples is greater here in the largest apple producing section, than that of any other area equal in population. Many apples are eaten by growers, orchard workers, and children with practically none of the residue removed. This practice has been prevalent for many years. KE" 0015106 Dr. Robert A. Keyhoe March 23, 1938 , Page 2 It is logical to assume that if lead arsenate where as poisonous as some presume it to he that cases of poisoning would come to the attention of some of the 25 medical men that1signed the report. If from no other cause, it would seem that industrial exposure would have supplied enough lead in the systems of orchard workers so that eating apples would have overbalanced the normal equilibrium and poisoning would have occurred in some instance. This committee will certainly appreciate your prompt reply, and if you so wish, we will treat it as confidential. However, we should like to have the privilege of quoting it if the case demands. PACI P. A. COMBELIC, Secretary Washington State Horticulture Ass'n. Spray Residue Committee 0015107