Document Rja05vrMY5Kadp3Y2MnQ0BoRk

July 24, 1957 D r, R. E. Eckardt, D irector M edical R esearch D ivision E sso R esearch and E ngineering Company P . O. 3off 45 Linden, New J ersey D ear D octor Eckardt: In con n ection with th e w ork w hich we a r e doing fo r E ss o R e se a r c h and E ngineering Company, it has o ccu rred to m e to look into w hether or not any sp ecific or gen eral form of agreem en t ob tain s, I do not find that such is the c a se , and w hile the m atter m igh t be i*egarded a s a m ere fo rm a lity , in view of the p ro fessio n a l relation sh ip s that e x ist betw een o u rselv es and m em bers of your staff, I b elieve that som e type of w ritten agreem ent is desirab le as betw een your adm inistrative heads and ou rs. T here are two p o ssib ilitie s in this regard; one that of a gen eral a greem en t which would cover a ll of our a c tiv itie s on behalf of your o rgan ization , and th e e th e r that of a s p e c if ic a g r e e m e n t in c o n n e c tio n with ea ch p r o je c t. It m a t te r s lit t le to trie w h ich c th e s e p r o c e d u r e s is e m p lo y e d , s in c e th e d eta ils in the sp e cific in sta n ce would be record ed in our file s and y o u rs. With th is id ea in m ind I am sending you a copy of our standard a g r ee m e n t. T h is, as you w ill se e , is e ssen tia lly a statem ent of the p o licies of the U n iv ersity in th ese m a tte r s . It can be rew ord ed in o rd er to m e e t s p e c ific situ ation s or to fit the ta ste s of the le g a l rep resen ta tiv es of sp o n so rs of the w ork, so lon g as no v io le n c e is done to the b a sic p o lic ie s . If you o r your a s s o c ia t e s and le g a l a d v is o r s w ish to adapt th is into generad t e r m s , or if. you and they w ish to u se it to co v er sp ecific and individual p ro jects, p lease do so and return signed copies to m e for consideration, and for execution by th e B oard of D ir ec to r of th e-U n iv ersity , If th ere is any q u estion of policy betw een u s, som e form al agreem ent is certain ly n ecessa ry , and if th ere is none,then we shall be-in better p osition , perhaps, and certain ly so for the record . We have been p resen ted with leg a l and p ro fessio n a l situ ation s from tim e to tim e in which our form al relation sh ip s have been b rou gh t into q u e s tio n . In su c h in s ta n c e s ou r fo r m a l a g r e e m e n ts h a v e e s t a b lish ed the resp o n sib ility of the U n iv ersity a u th o rities, and have cla rified the issu e. - If you and your people should fe e l that no agreem en t of eith er of the types 0020516 Dr. R. E. Eckardt - (2) - July 24, *957 are d irect and sa tisfa cto ry ,as they are in this in stan ce, how ever, the execution of a form al agreem en t is a s ern ^ their true e sp e c ia lly when we have to deal with in d u strial m anagem ent or th eir 13 te c h n ic a l repres entatives w ith ou t the help of m edical p e o p le . I s h a ll n ot be b a ck in m y o ff i^c e a ft e r A u g u st 1 u n til S e p te m b e r 1, so th at there is no urgency about this m atter Sincerely yours, Robert A. Kehoe, M. D. RAX ef Enc. ? . S. D r. G erarde telephoned m e today about the toxic p rop erties of E thyl's new antiknock compound (AK33X). We have p relim in ary inform ation which I ha.4.1 g e t to you when it h a s b e e n put in p r o p e r f o r m . We a r e a ls o en g a g in g in an ex ten siv e in v estig a tio n of the com pound in its e lf and in a sso c ia tio n vdth the m a te r ia ls with which it w ill be form u lated and u sed . A s I told h im , and without supporting data at th is tim e, th is m an gan ese com pound is quite to x ic, it s t o x ic it y b ein g c o m p a r a b le to th at o f o th e r m e t a ]q0 ..0 r ,7an?c c o m p o u n d s, including tetraeth yl lead . It is , we b e lie v e , som ew h at le s s dangerous than TEL to h an dle, but th ere se e m s not to be m uch c h o ice b etw een them if actu al exp o su re leadin g to a b so r p tio n ,o c c u r s. In a p p ro p ria te v e h ic le s the com pound is a b so rb ed fa ir ly r ea d ily through the sk in . Our p r e se n t data, r e la te to im m ediate toxicity, w hereas we are m uch m ore concerned about the effects of prolonged absoi*ption of sm a ll q u an tities. Thus w e a re m e r e ly undertaking to preven t any ea rly to x ic ep isod es w hile we a re in vestigatin g its future poten tia litie s fo r h a rm . So long a s your p eop le handle the m a te r ia l a s th ey would TEL or ETHYL fluid, there w ill be no difficulty. . R.A.K.