Document NeOQRZmLDeYKRm2mxgnbX73Zg

April 22, 1939 Dr. G* H. Gehrnann E* I . duPont de Nemours and Company DuPont Buildin g Wilmington, Delaware Dear Doctor Gehrmann: A few days ago I saw a somewhat unusual type of i ll n e ss, at le a st in my experien ce, in a man who has been engaged for a period of years in sprayin g lacqu ers in the manufacture of x-ray equipment* I am disposed to fe e l th at h la illn e ss i s th e r e su lt of h is occupation . Br ie fly h is symptoms con sist of at t ack s of d izzin ess with vascu lar disturban ce at tim es, weakness and tremor which come on from time to tim e, often without any stim ulus and again as the r e su lt e it h e r of e ffo r t or some degree o f an xiety. As an example of the l a t t e r , when he v isit e d me at the lab or at or y , he was very muoh upset by the experien ce and to a very unusual degree. This I at t r ib u t ed in some measure to ) an xiety over h is con dition and to u n fam iliar it y with , doctor s. He became dizzy, fo r a time thought he would fa in t , but did n ot, and t h is was asso ciat ed with rath er unusual var iat ion In the blood pressu re and in oth er vasomotor res. on se. I could fin d no organ ic d isease as respon sible for t h is con dition , and in as much as the h ist or y went back over a period of years while engaged in work with laoqu ers, i t seems probable th at he I s one of th ose persons somewhat more su scep t ib le than u su al to the e ffe c t s of laoquer solven t s. The con dition r ecen t ly became much more severe and he found i t n ecessary, tem porarily at l e a s t , to discon tin ue h is work. At the time I saw h in , i t had been more than a week sin ce he had any exposure of any kin d, but the "sp e lls" of weakness and d izzin ess con tin ued from time to t in e. I w rite you about t h is because I th in k you have had much more experien ce with lacqu ers than I have h ad, and i t may be th at you have seen oth er cases of t h is type, and e sp e cially in asso ciat io n with oth er types of solven t s. I would appr eciate It very much indeed I f you would give me the b en efit of your opinion and experien ce as to which of sever al m ater ials used as solven ts might moat lik e ly be r espon sible for t h is c lin ic a l N 24640 2 p ict u r e . For your fu rth er In form ation , I would lik e to t e l l you the m ater ials th at are in use In t h is p lan t . The lacqu er * most commonly used are a glossy black enamel - #32 of the Egyptian Lacquer Company o f New York Cit y , a black laoquer which gives a leat h er lik e crackle su r face - the produot of the Zapon Brevolite Division of the Atlas Powder Company with the tr ade name of Black Bretrokrak* (I b elieve t h is produot i s made by one of your su b sid iar ie s and you may be en t ir ely fam iliar with i t , ) In ad d ition a white lead-con tain in g laoquer togeth er with an ivory one i s v.aed r ar e ly . Undoubtedly the gr eat est exposure was to the two black lacq u er s. Solven ts were used as th in n era, These mere obtain ed from the Lowe Broth ers in Dayton and from Pieroe and Stevene in Bu ffalo. These solven t * or th in n er* were used in t er oh an geably. I f you oan give me any l^gbtr on t h is problem, I should appreciate i t very much indeed. Perhaps I should say fu r th er th at the v e n t ilat in g fa c i l i t i e s in 't h is establish m en t are rath er p r im it ive, and t h at exposure to vapors occurs In fa ir ly h igh 'oon.qentration. I. With kin dest person al regards and the hope th at t h is is not too much of a n uisan ce to you, I am Cordially yours, PAKi i s Robert A ,, t eh ee, M.b.