Document Xzk8pBxxmY0GaDn52KLgZyJ4

March 29, 1944 19 Dr* Edwin P. Jordan, Assistant Editor, The Journal of the American Medical Association, 53$ North Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois. Bear Dr. Jordans I am sending herewith a reply to the questions referred to me from your Query and Minor Note section of the Journal. You will note that my reply is fairly extensive. The reason for this is twofold. First, there is a growing misapprehen sion. in medical circles as to the toxicologic significance of certain very small quantities of some of the trace metals, particularly lead. It seems advisable.to answer this question fully enough therefore, to: clarify this matter. In my opinion It would be particularly advantageous to do this in the columns of the Journal, since there have been one or two articles In the Journal that have contributed moot unfortunately to the current confusion. I refer specifically here to the article by Horatio Williams*, which was a wholly misguided article from beginning to end, and which should not have been published. The second point is that It Is rather necessary that a wider segment of the medical population should appreciate the fact that small quantities of lead get into food and beverages from a large number of sources. In this situation It is necessary that doctors have a clear concept of the quantitative differen tiation between the safe ajid dangerous lead exposure. I trust that what I have said will not be too extensive for use and that it will serve your purposes as well as those of the questioner. Very truly yours. I&K ef Enc. * J.a .m.a . 112i 534, 1939 roBerF''AT"2cho7^^5T ^DJTj ORIAL d e p a r t me n t Ui(?e launtal of tl}$ American fHc&iral Aasortatintt 535 Norllj Sfarbitm Birett Cijirasu Dr. Robert a . Ke'rioe Cincinnati,, Ohio (1 . March 15 ^ 1944 Dear Doctor: We are in receipt of the.enclosed inquiry from one of our subscribers. Would you he^good enough, to prepare a reply for publication in the Queries and minor Notes department of The Journal. Thanh you for your courteous attention. Very truly yours,- He 0015049 N21155.01 There are many references in medical literature to widely varied sources of contamination of milk and other- beverages including water, as well as foods. However, reports of eases of loan poisoning are relatively infrequent and are not always sub stantiated by acceptable evidence. Ho doubt the comparative rarity of such cases is due to the fact that these contaminations are usually small, and except in the case of certain community sources of water supply, are spotty in their occurrence and so do not result in regularly'repeated .exposures to hazardous dosages. Milk and many other foods take up lead from containers that are soldered on the inside and from utensils coated inside with tinlead alloys . The use of new skillets coated thinly with tin-lead alleys ip a particularly fruitful source of contamination, but their coating of tin (containing lead.) tends to be melted off soon, and the remainder becomes coated with a film which reduces the contact with the food. Lead-glazed containers may also con taminate food and beverages that have solvent properties. Old pewter of high lead content is generally unsatisfactory as a con tainer for beverages, especially those of high acid content, al though here too the surface becomes coated and resists solution to a considerable degree if it is not cleaned frequently with abrasives. Much of the modern pewter has a low or negligible lead content but unfortunately one cannot always be certain this is the case. The important consideration in this entire problem is the regular daily dosage of lead in the food and beverages from all sources. If this is much in excess of 0.5 mg. of lead over any considerable period of time (months) in the case of adults, it K 0015-350 N21155.02 \ -2 constitutes a potential hazard. In the-case of children the daily dosage should he limited to a somewhat lower level. Poisoning dops not occur in either adults or children from occasional inges tion of considerably larger .amounts or from, regular ingestion of amounts of the order of magnitude of 0.2 to 0.3 mg. per day in the food and drink. KS 0015-351