Document dEYb26YMvMXed7rNpapqR2yq

'fo il February 2, 1954 D r. K ieffer D avis M edical D irector Phillips Petroleum Company B a r tle sv ille , Oklahoma D ear K ieffer: I should lik e to sit down and talk with you about a num ber of m atters that relate to the subject of your letter of January 25, and perhaps this can be done when you com e to the L aboratory to give a Saturday m orning sem in a r. I hope so. M eanwhile I shall/undertake to rep ly a s w ell as I can to your sp ecific questions. The standards w hich we apply to the selectio n of m en who engage in the operations for m ixing anitknock compounds with gasolin e are not capable of statem ent a s sp ecifica tio n s, sin ce they are le ft to the judgm ent of the m em b ers of the m ed ical staff of Ethyl C orporation who do the w ork in the fie ld . T hese a r e sound and exp erien ced m en, who undertake to ach ieve the general purposes of the M edical D epartm ent of the C orporation with the le a st in terferen ce w ith the p o licie s of the em ployer of th ese m en , and a lso with the le a st p o ssib le d islocation of the working relationship s of the m en them selves. F o r a tim e, in the e a rly period of th is rather unique program of m ed ical su p erv isio n , we w ere fa ir ly rigid in our req u irem en ts, sin ce anything that developed in a m an w as altogeth er too lik ely to be blam ed upon tetraethyl lead . A s the y ea rs p assed and we w ere able to dem on strate the com plete adequacy of the m ethods of protecting the m en again st the hazards of the w ork, we relaxed som ew hat, in order to conform to the b est canons of good industrial m ed ical p ra ctice, in that we excluded few people, and then only fo r the m o st obvious r e a so n s. In som e p la c e s few m en a re availab le fo r the job, and in other.s th ere a re good rea so n s, in te r m s of the person al relia b ility and resp on sib ility of a m an, for overlooking p h ysical handicaps of certa in typ es. On the sid e of age, we p refer in a ll in stan ces to avoid m in o rs, b ecau se of the strong flavor of prejudice relating to juvenile su scep tib ility to lead, a s w ell a s the gen eral feelin g that m in ors should not be engaged in unduly hazardous occupations. We prefer not to u se old m en, fo r a num ber of rea so n s, but som etim es an older man is the b est m an availab le in term s of h is intelligence, reliability and resppnsiveness to our instructions. D r, K ieffer D avis * (2) - F eb ru ary 2, 1954 The one thing we undertake to avoid is the ex isten ce or the likelihood of nervous involvem ent that m ay sim u late or be confused with the effects o f th e a b so r p tio n o f te tr a e th y l le a d . We don't w ant a lc o h o lic s , drug a d d ic ts o r psychotic people under any circu m stan ces, while the stigm ata of inadequately treated sy p h ilis, with its p oten tialities for the neurological m an ifestation s of this d ise a se , are alw ays a cause for rejection. O therw ise, we avoid p erson s with p r o g ressiv e d ise a se of a significan t type, w henever we can. H ow ever, in this group of m en who a re working at p resen t, are a few controlled d ia b etics, som e p erson s with evidence of hyp ertensive va scu la r d ise a se , and certain other persons whose states are far from ideal. These m en m ust work for a livin g, and they a re em ployed by petroleum com panies. We do not want to be resp on sib le for contributing to th eir lo s s of th eir job s. C onsequently we acquaint the resp o n sib le p h ysician (when th ere is one) with our findings, and carry along with them as w ell as we can. B y way of ju stific a tio n , I'd lik e to point out that w e have had no c a s e of lead poisoning among th ese people in the entire period of our a c tiv itie s, and only one claim for com pensation based on alleged lead absorption has com e to light in this period of tw enty-eight years sin ce we began in 1926 {the one claim w as obviously spurious and v/as denied). If you a re having any d ifficu lties on the sc o r e of th ese m en, te ll m e about them , and I'll do m y b est to help you out if there is anything we can do. I'd lik e to d isc u ss som e of the a sp ects of this m atter with you, for our own advantage, sin ce we have m ore trouble with som e of your people, in connection with so m e of your C om pany's p o licie s (or at le a st som e of its p ra ctices) than we do with a lm o st any ether group. D on't quote m e in this to y o u r p e o p le , fo r I d on 't want to m ak e m o r e tr o u b le , but it 13 m e r e ly an indication that it m ight be w ell if we w ere to find com m on ground together in som e of th ese m atters. Sincerely yours, RAK ef Robert A. Kehoe, M. D.