Document NeMENVZBV4kRzyy3OY0ZKMGDQ

o Sam3 z S3 CD p < o~ " uz S' S' I. am S3 NATIO NAL LEAD COMPANY, ST. LOUTS May 25/1960 Q DC Mr. Henry J. Whitson National Lead Company 111 Broadway New York, New York Dear Mr* Whitson: I have been delayed by a number of unavoidable engagements and preoccupations since my visit with you at your Company's plant in St. Louis. Since that time, however, I have given*thought, to what could be done to obtain some answer to the question at issue in relation to your special paints. 1 am not very hopeful that we shall obtain information that will be useful in the direction desired. There are several reasons for my dark view of the situation. I shall not go into them at this time, for there is some chance that Z may be wrong and, therefore, I shall deal with shat we may do, rather than what I am led to believe as the result of purely visual evidence. If my proposal is carried out we shall have some valid evidence - not much and actually not enough, but some - of the extent of the exposure to, and the absorption of, lead associated with the work of your men in the manufacture of the pigment in which we are interest**!. This may be useful to you in relation to the potential hazard of this occupation even if nothing else comes of it. I propose that we obtain samples of the blood and urine of the men who work in the plant in which the pigment is manufactured, together with information on each man as follows: Name, age, specific job in plant, other jobs in same plant; length of time engaged in each Job; length of continuous employment in this set of operations; intervals of time during this period of employment (vacation, illness, lay offs etc) when off work and hence not subjected to exposure; other periods of employment in other operations of the over-all plant in which opportunities for exposure to lead (i.e., in manufacture of oxide or other lead containing products. The foregoing information could best be transmitted, I should think, in the form of the employment record, fully dated. In addition to the information indicated, the general occupational history - Jobs held according to dates - should be inquired into, with specific reference to other jobs or occupations that involved exposure to lead. From the information above and the analytical findings on each man, we Mr. Henry J. Whitson -2 - May 25, 1960 shall be able to determine whether or not further investigation is required or worth attempting. Until this has been done I hardly think we should ask you to make any other expenditures, if there is justification for so doing we can then make some determinations of the lead, content of the air in various parts of this plant so as to be able to correlate, in some degree, the environmental conditions with the responses of the workmen. The latter that is the correlation - will be difficult to see and interpret because of the small numbers of the men and the variable conditions of their work (for example, the fact that some of these men wear masks during some part of their working day, is a serious handicap). The cost of the analytical work on the blood and urine is easily estimated. It costs us approximately $12.50 per sample to carry out work of this kind, exclusive of shipping costs (which in this instance will not be much). Thus you can figure the cost per man and the total cost very readily. The cost of the survey of the air will be based on the time spent by the members of the staff in your plant, plus the expense of their travel to and from Cincinnati. One day for a principal investigator and an assistant, at their current salaries, should do the job, assuming that the plant is operating when they are at hand. The additional cost at so much per sample analysed (dependent upon the method to be used), will depend upon the number of samples taken. I believe it wise to have the samples of urine and blood taken by your physieiap at his office, to which the men would go in their street clothing without providing undue opportunity for the contamination of the samples. We shall provide containers and instructions for their collection. The containers could be sent directly to the physician's office. The physician could fill out the blanjs sheet which we require for information and identifi cation of the samples, label the. samples, and return everything directly back to us. It is possible, of course, to have the air analyses made without delay - that is, at about the same time that the samples of blood and urine are collected, but there is no harm in waiting (unless the plant is to he shut down for some reason) until the analyses of the blood and urine have been completed. It is convenient at this time, since I am writing, to send you a bill for my traveling expenses and for the day I spent with you. This can be paid later, if you prefer, after the other work has been agreed upon and done. I am just getting it to you while I have it at hand so as to simplify my part of the financial transactions. The remainder can follow along in due course if we proceed according to my proposal or some modification of it. Since I must go abroad on a quick and unexpected (but unavoidable) trip around Western Europe,leaving June 10th or 11th, I hope this work can be done in my absence, unless you decide against that course. I don't wish to be responsible for any unnecessary delay, and I believe, with your decision, we could get the first step in this job under way promptly. I shall discuss the air survey, as well as the analytical work, with KE 0018382 Mr. Henry J Whitson 3- May 25* 1960 Mr. J. Cholak who is responsible for such work. He could proceed with the survey at aliaost any time if you should decide that it should go ahead. He can be.reached here at the Laboratory whenever you wish to get in touch with him. Cordially yours. Robert A. Kehoe, M. D RAK:ss Enclosure cc: Mr. J. Cholak KE 0018383