Document byKQEGKmEY607XoBEdERXm8KO
J SERVICIO NAtlONAL D SALUO IRECCION GENERAL
E. Mac-lver 541
Casilla 3979
SAN T I A G O
TT-
Dr, Homan Oyanguren M
Occupational' Health ."action TTatiottcl Health Service Pox 3979 / "anti ago, Chile October,16th, 1959
Professor lobart A, --shoe Director of the Institute of Industrial Hsalth
Univorsity of Cincinnati Cincinnati 21, Ohio, U.S.A,
A t
Dear Professor Hehoe:
^
I had. opportunity to meet you during my trip of the 117.0.' 3 fe
llowship or. Parch last year. In our interview I promissad you to send the details about
a group of children intoxicated by lead, whoso families lived in a soil that contains
IC;I of metallic lead. Unfortunately this work is managed by podiatribianrwand npideni
legist:-. who will present pretty scon the results to our medical, societies. Only in t
rxment I will be able to have sent to vu the oaunr 1 awo w onlv advise -iu on li
assays.
.
The purpose of this letter is to ash your advice in 'vs follojq^ig
subject. During a survey in a mine end
opus pollution with load or-cidas on the air and the soil of the plant and also in the
rcil of the environs of the plant. The children of the mineral camp use to play inut
hills close to the plant that are covered with lead dust and where exist - some wild .
fruits that they -are ford of sating. The intake of lead In more .likely to occur thru
the oral way in the children, while the inhalation way Is most Important in the worker
The concentrations of the lead oxides in the work place 'were In the range from 3S to-
1500 mg / ii-3 air ( almost pure clouds of dust in dust chambers). In the camp /here thr
population lives vie impossible to detect i'--e concentration because the wind '-.lows
the housing camp to the plant, that it is situated in one end of the place.
During your stay, besides the frequent acute cases on lead inj
xicatlsBfi among the workers, we observed a case in a child, male, 5 yeras did, whoN
. sented a convulsive picture in unconsciousness. The lumbar puncture gave a clear lifyid
at high pressure. The child died/ after jo hours of the onset of the convulsive pijtv.ro
that chang'd from one limb to another and involved too the cranial nervs. Copropoifki~.f
rins wore
to the qualitative test, tie suspected a lead encephalitis and we perffor- ;
med the autopsy ( the family did not approved to open the skull). The results t
thicone test reads In our Industrial Hygiene Laboratory were in mgrs % (weight
Blood 0.214 ngrs % Flat bone (rib) 0.21/3 mgrs %
livor 5.1 ngrs %
Firinev 1.02 mgrs %
he had read the paper of Korlog and Uglier of three casesf-.f aculead poisoning in women dead after ingestion of .lead monoxid" in attemps to produce a- ' bore-ions (Acta pharma col ot toxil. 15:2,1953) -The results by polarographic detsn.uratior
are similar are similar to our observation: high concentration of load in the liver and kidney and low in the bone. They state "This accords with the results of animal"vcpsriments, which show that the concentration in liver and kidneys is the highest dving. tho firt few weeks after the ingestion of lead. After a oonger interval the cancer tr?. felon of lead in the bones is much the highest"
SSRVlCIO NACjtQNAL DE SALUD
DIRECCION GENERAL
E. Mac-!ver 541
Casilia 3979
SANTIAGO
2- -
I have tried to find in the literature these references, in order to void an aegosririiental trial that re have planed, lie intend to see in white irdc.e the lead content in bones inchessos on the limy ran'and decreases in Mo liner kidneys- after a total amount of lead acetate injected by Intrapetltoneal via. 4 shots,, bte have succeeded to keep survivor races of 11Q *rs '-dth a total dosis1!, 400 rgrs Kg/weight
The work of H. Eamy and H. Backup in white rice (Zentralb, fttr Arb ned. and -schuta, 7:233,. 1957) gives inforuatlon only on the bona content that ses with the tine. I don't know any other publication on the subject.
In these circunstances, I will appreciate very much if you can answ on the problem, specially if there is information of the experimental trials in sals .made by you or other authors,in order to avoid an useless writ.
11th my best regards to your staff. - -or :ly yours.
KF 0015982