Document aY2RDwNKvx7zjw9gGkjq44dR

3ub-Dept. of Industrial Health, In stitu te of Hygiene, Th e U n iv e r s it y, W.Gl a s g o w , 2 T r i ., W e s t e r n 390 1* 12th December,1946. Robert A.Kehoe.Rsq. ,M.D., Director, ` K ettering Laboratory of Applied Physiology, College of Medicine., University of Cincinnati, Ohio.U.S.A. i Dear Dr.Kehoe * , I t r u s t you' will f o r g i v e me w r i t i n g t o you w it h o u t any i n t r o d u c t i o n on t h e s u b j e c t o f l e a d p o i s o n i n g , but yoiir reputation as an auth ority in t h i s f i e l d i s such that I should welcome your views on a p a r t i c u l a r a s p e c t of the problem. !. ., The Sub-Department o f I n d u s t r i a l H e a l t h of t h i s U niversity has recen tly been concerned with the problem of lead p o i s o n i n g a r i s i n g among s h i p b r e a k e r s u s i n g o x y - a c e t y l e n e b u r n e r s on h e a v i l y l e a d e d s h i p s ' p l a t e s , ana we have been c o n s u l t e d on the m a t t e r i n an a d v i s o r y c a p a c i t y . O bviously i t would be d esirab le to carry out routine haematologica1 blood exam inations, but the casu al nature of t h i s employment ren d e r s t h i s e x t r e m e l y d i f f i c u l t i n p r a c t i c e . Yre a r e t h e r e f o r e attem pting to attack the problem along the lin e s of improving th e o p e r a t i v e t e c h n i q u e and d i m i n i s h i n g the' hazard to the w o r k e r s . One advance wh ic h we t h i n k we s h a l l be a b l e to put into practice i s the introduction of pneumatic c h ise ls which cap shear the ^afoifcoff the p la t e s f a i r l y qu ick ly, and thus p resen t a surface w ith only tr a c e s of lead open to the flame o f t h e b u r n e r . Me a r e a l s o c o n s i d e r i n g the u s e o f s t r i p explosives to replace the oxy-acetylene burning in the cut tin g of the p la te s , but i t looks at th is stage as though subh a technique would be uneconomic. I t o c c u r r e d to me t h a t i n the U n i t e d S t a t e s you m ight be fa c in g a sim ilar problem, as shipbreaking i s l ik e l y to be c a rr ie d on there on a la r g e s c a le during the next few y e a rs j u s t a s i s the case here. I should be most g r a te fu l i f you c o u ld s u g g e s t any way of r e d u c i n g or e l i m i n a t i n g the o c c u r r ence of lead poisoning in this industry. Hours si n c e r e ly , N 6217 ')UM