Document Qg1JGRpZ1BErk7vE6eVDEk6bk

from fh Director of HtoM ond Sofofy lead |n<Ju*'rt+ A<ieti#n( l*C / / 292 Madiwwt Avo, / New York 17, H. f. loch Ahmd with Load i \ r ftbruftry lj l$6h To All Mcvbere of the Lead Industries Association, Inc.l LEAP Ut TEE OCSLWi CAITSCH KEPCST9 So vany cf you have celled and sent coplea of neve clipping* that I u taking till opportunity to apprise you of 4evlcpnects Hat have occurred since the Devi release lent out by tlo California Institute of Technology reporting c d the geochemical surrey of Dr. C. C. Pait erica (et al} on lead contained la oceanic vatera. A copy of the original releaae la attached for your laforaatloa. \ r *f ^ile report ha been vldely picked up In oevtpepere and other vedla usually vith acare headlines exaggerating Implications of the original CalTeck \ 1 study. To aooe of these ve have responded directly. for exssple, ve have i- vrltten to and talked vith Joseph R. Elxson, Science Editor of the Eev fork t Eerald Tribune, vfcoae colusa In the December 23 edition carried the headline "An Uhcaturel Tragedy*-Lethal Lead Rains co Lcod and Sea*. Other peracoal } contacts vith major science editors vlll be pursued as part of our nev Health i Inforcetioo Prograa. Objectives of these contacts la, essentially, to proculgata c. relative studies by Dr. Kehoe and others as veil as cur ovn vork vith health officials and our oca air pollution studies. Such contact la intended to ad it vance the knowledge of these specific audleocee and la not per Se directed against Dr. Pattersca. ! It should also be reported that direct personal contact baa been Bade vith Dr. Patterson both by the vrlter and Dooald Diggs of duPont, on January 13 and January IS respectivaly. While these vlelts to CalTech did open up a line of coaarjnlcstloo and an agreement to exchange nav pertinent Information, the net result, however, la llttla or no nodlflcatlona of Patterson's central cooclualcni "The liyvdlate prohibition of the use of leaded automotive fuels sews called for." This conclusion has been repeated and reeffirtaed by Patteraoa la a personal letter to ambers of the eclence coomunlty dated January 13* l?6fc. On January P? at Dr. Kehoe'a offlca la Cincinnati v* aet vith represeatatlrss of the lead alkyl aaoufacturers to discuss the 'Patteraoa Case*. The j primary purpose of the nesting was to discus* ratteraon'a th#or 1*, report cat J our aeetlegs vith hla and dstemlne a coarse of action. There vae and la DO question of Dr. Patterson's caapeteoce as a nuolaar plusbologleti the lsaue la the untenable extrapolation of hla data Into the area of public health. It vai the consensus of the vesting that Dr. Kehoe should Best and discuss vith Or. Patterson hla cooclualona In this lltfit. Olncs Dr. Patterscn haa already ex pressed hi* Interest la vesting Dr. Kehoe the date should not bedfflcult to aet up. Dr. Kehoe has agreed to sake axrangestaiata for aa early vaetlng and report back to us. & C*-C "V DOfivd Em. ; Doo 0. fowler 1 !, 'wwwi.Miffyeuy Buiffwaw)*.' ws.x nwyMmy-ww-miiiwi n LI A11519 <v 'Muis. jL Revs Bureau Ca l if o r n ia infirrnvrB o f t ec k mo l o o x Pasadena, California 795-6841 Ext. 2l4 681-7171 pea k evtxsz sisn*T, es c s <s r 22, 1963 Pasadena, Calif. -- Lead, apparently transported by tha staospher* frcn the exheuete of gasoline engine*, la `raining* Into the ocean* of the northern Hemisphere at 50 tlse# the rate that nature introduced It Into the** ocean* In the past, geochenlat* reported today. The evidence le that aoet of the lead In oceanic surface waters ha* been Introduced by nan and this nay be aerloualy disturb lag the earlne geocheolcal cycle In lead, said the researchers vfco carried out their lavestlgatlocus at ths California Institute at Technology. They are Dr. Tsalhva J. Chow, now at the University of California's Scrip?* Institution of Oceanography; Dr. M. Tatecaoto of the 0. 8. Geological Surrey, Denver, and Dr. C. C. Patterson at the Caltech Division of Geological Science*. Their work has been supported by the American Petroleum Institute, Atonic Energy Coealsaioo, Rational Science Foundation and 0. S. Public Health Service. They cited the poealbla benefit at using such load coctsninatlcc* as tracer# to study the circulation pattema of current* In the oceans. i The geochealet* calculated that at present nearly 500.000 tons of lead are going Into the ocean* In the northern Healpfc*re every year. They also pointed out that of this aacunt, 275.000 ten# are fran rain and acne 200,000 too# are froo rivers. Centuries ago lead was naturally Introduced Into the oceans Is ths northern Bealaphers at the rate of only 10,000 tens per year. The ancroat of lead entering the Southern Hemisphere oceans ha* Increased very little over the 10,000 tons per year that they received Is the past. It 1* believed thet all of the lead brought cart of the ataoept.re by rain 1* frcn auto and truck exhaust fvsa*i, the geochemists said. In ths past y> years ths burning of lead 1s prvaiua and regular gasollot* ha* Increased froo near tero to about 175,000 ton* a year In the Ublted State* alone. The lead eecepes fro* sotor vehicle exhauete ae acall particle* of lead oxide vblcb can be carried bylh* ataoepher* for hundred* of alias. In urban areas where exhaust fvsaet are sot dl**lpated rapidly, the scleotlet* aald, Measured lead concentration* In ths I atsoepher* are very high and cay constitute s eerlou* health hatard. --or#-* I N 366.01  vwwjjgjiJIJ niiym.;ti.yi!B>|iil. LIA11520 l -2- Pert of the 14 fed into the ocean* by river* also 1* fro* thl* *oure*. la add It loo, river* transport lead fro* Industrial chemical*, tuch a* paint* and Insecticide*, and fro* th* weathering of rock. Vldely distributed over the earth a* the decay and* product of radioactive aloe rale, lead normally la oce of the rarest eleaenta la tha oceaa vater, occurring only la extremely mlnut* concentration*. It force chemical coepouod* that precipitate fra* oceaa eater onto the oceaa floor*. In their atudle* of hoe faat lead 1* being Introduced Into the ocean*, Dr. Patterson and bla colleague# determined the average rate at vhlch It la accvasulatlng at the botto* of the oceaa*. Also available to thea vaa Information aa to the rate at which lead la entering the oceaa* via tha river*. They sampled vater* of the Pacific aad Atlantic oceaa* and the Mediterranean Sea at various depth* frea the aurface down to nor* thaa 15,000 feet. The sample* vere collected la lead-free container* aad Mail known amount* of a apeclal kind (laotope) of lead vere added aa tracer*. Tb* lead In the vater, mixed vlth the tracer (lead 206), vaa removed chemically by a very precise Method known aa laotope dilution. The resulting lead realduea then vere analyzed by a meet spectrometer vblch separated the varloua laotope* of lead end disclosed the proportion of apeclal tracer lead to sea vater lead is each aasple. Heeulte of the Pacific and Mediterranean sample* vere quite similar. They shewed that the heaviest concentration* of lead were at the vater*a aurface and that the concentration* decreased rapidly vlth depth until about 1,000 feet vaa reached. Thereafter, the snailsr concentration* rvcalned rather constant for the regain ing thousand* of feet of ocean depths. This finding vaa interpreted to Dean that lead vaa being Introduced into the ocean *ueh acre rapidly oov than 20 yean ago, even faster than plankton and larger varieties of ** life can gobble it up. Adding weight to this interpretation la the foot that barlua and radius, which are similar chemically to lead but h*v# not been added to the ocean* by nan, show no such decrease 1* concen tration vlth depth, but Instead shew an actual lncreaee vlth depth. In the young surface vater* of the oceans, lead mi fcxjnd to occur In concentration* of *c*a tvo part* per ten blllloa part* of eea vater. Although this 1* email flgur*, It 1* still ecne 20 tlsw* larger than the concentration found In the anotaot deep vater* of tb ocean*, Aa further evidence that tetraethyl lead *ero*ol* ar* transported by th* atmosphere, the geochemist* fennd 10,000 time* nor* lead in anew sample* fro* California's lasses Volcanic batlocal *-*or* t* LIA11521 3 Park than would be exited Trca ordin&ry toll duet, and to aaounta that vould eaaily account for the excel lead found In the ocean*. To further raflna the figure# oo the eaount of lead being tran*ported in the ataoejhere, Dr. Pattereon want* to eacpl* "foaall" anew in Greenland. Be plana to tunnel into Greenland'a upper few hundred feet of anov Layer* and compare tha Lead ccocentratlooa in tha recent anova vlth theaa all tha way back to 1900. Ordinary corIns technique# cannot ba uaad becauaa very Large eaaplea of anew axe required. ;` ' !-