Document V3n8zYYD8NxXxNdYL1bw9E9D8

October 2V 1942. Dr . William 1!. Schmidt# Medical! Consultant # Industrial Division# TJ. S, apartment of Labor# Children1a Bureau# Washington* D* C. Dear Dr. Schmidtt I am very glad to make an additional comment on the addition to Item 4 of the draft of ^Standards for Minimum Age for Employ ment *rt There Is no doubt# I think* that additions could he made to the list of items of. work in which no young workers under eighteen years of age should he employed However# the subject is covered fairly well in principle in the preliminary draft, apd I did not see any very great advantage in a d d i n g n e w items As to any change in Item 4* it would seem to m e to be entirely unnecessary. The mixing of anti-knock compounds is an integral part of manufacturing operations for tetraethyl lead# and un doubtedly# this will be the case throughout the entire period of the war. Therefore# there is no point in making specific mention of this ope item of the manufacturing process. On the other hand# there is certainly no objection to the inclusion of part b under Item 4* It would be a gross mistake,on the other hand * to include Item c * It is true that this i3 a potentially dangerous operation. It is also true that as this work is n o w handled, there is no significant lead exposure involved in it. For your information I should like to point out that there has never been a case of lead poisoning in this occupation# and that the persons engaged in it do not show any even slight increase in their level of lead excretion as evidence of lead absorption. Therefore, the person who proposed the inclusion of this group of men in this list was ill-informed and Was thinking in purely theoretical terms rather than practical. As the person who will have to make the decision as to Whether younger persons should be employed in this occupation, I should not like to be bound by any such recommendation as this * 1 can assure you that I should be loathe tc advise the employment of minors in this work# but I can also assure you that I know of no lead trade in which it would be safer from the point of view of lead absorption# if it seemed advisable to change present policies. Cordially yours # r* HAS ei KoSerTT: gehoeTM:T3:---------N6285