Document e5D0Z2yXBB6pLgJDZaRKDEMXG

February 6, 1957 D r. John G. C hesney ' D aughtry-C hesney C linic for T horacic Surgery 2615 Biscay.ne B oulevard ' M iam i 37, F lorid a * D ear D octor Chesney: ' I tr u st you w ill not b eliev e m e c a r e le ss and d isco u rteo u s in having delayed so long m y resp o n se to year le tte r of D ecem b er 2 8 . I have had to n eg lect my corresp on d en ce la te ly b ecau se of other m ore im m ed iate dem ands upon my tim e.- In the m a tter of the p o ten tial h azard s a s so c ia te d with the inh alation of bits of fib er g la ss, T believe T can tell you what is known. The initial in v estig a tio n of this problem w as ca rried out by. L eroy G ardner at the Saranac L aboratory, who apparently did not m ake any ob servation s w ithin in d u stry. He did in stitu te som e anim al exp erim en ts in ord er to find out what, if anything, 'in the way of a reaction of injury, occu rred in the resp ira to ry apparatus of anim als follow ing prolonged inhalation of an e sse n tia lly pulverized preparation of fib er g la ss. H is experim ents gave essen tia lly negative resu lts, and he, at the tim e of his death, was convinced that no harm ful effect w as to be exp ected . U nfortunately his reports of his work w ere very sketchy, and much that he learned about th is problem died w ith h im . Som e attem pt w as m ade la te r by a subsequent d irecto r of the Saranac L aboratory (Scheppers) to rep ort on the pathological fin d in g s in -G a r d n e r 's a n im a ls , ha rr.y o p in io n th is w a s an a b o r tiv e a tte m p t, and l am not even troubling to give you the r e fer en ce . If you want it, I can look it up, but th ere are se v e r a l rea so n s why I b eliev e it to be e s s e n tially m eaningless. Nothing e ls e , I b eliev e, has been done to explore this problem , ex p eri m en tally, The w orkm en, how ever, have been under ob servation in the plant in which fib er glass is m anufactured, and it appears that no injurious e ffect o f conseq uence has been sustained by th em . I am not prepared to a ssu r e you that this is s tr ic tly tr u e . I m e r e ly have no inform atU a beyond what I have given you, . It s e e m s v e r y lik e ly that we sh a ll have so m e f ir s t hand in form ation b efore long. An opportunity has presented its e lf to ca rry out an investigation of KE 0020306 D r , John G, C h esn ey - (2) - F eb ru a ry 6, 1957 th e c o n d itio n s in. a p la n t in w h ich a group o f m e n h a v e b e e n e m p lo y e d fo r 3om e y e a r s . T his w ill c o n sist of the in vestigation of the environm ental conditions and the exam ination of the m en and o f th eir reco rd s, including c h e st f ilm s , fo r so m e y e a r s back. It is fo r th is r e a so n that I know the background of th is m atter, th is, plus the fact that one of m y a sso c ia te s, O r. Frank P rin ci, has had m uch exp erien ce w ith,the pulm onary d ise a se s due to dust. As I have indicated above, I b eliev e that no d ise a se p r o cess has com e into beiirj b eca u se of the m anufacture and u se o f fib er g la s s . On theoretical grounds th ere is no good reason to b eliev e th ere would b e.. H ow ever, sin ce the fa cts can be established with reasonab le certain ty because of the y ea rs that have lapsed since th is problem a r o se , it should be p o ssib le to estab lish the facts beyond any reasonable doubt. F or this reason , it is b est, I b eliev e, to have an open m ind.in the m atter. C ordially yours, RAX ef D ictated but not read, . R o b e r t A . K eh o e, M . .D. ' KF 0020307