Document gaYmvOYNEDQxvjJ6ZYagZJE1N

August 12, 1950 Mr. L. F. Wagner, Chief Chemist, The Clidden Company, Reading, Penn. Dear Mr. ."agner: In r eply to your l e t t e r of August 3, 1950, I may say that our work consists primarily in making toxicolog ical investi g a t i o n s of compounds use d in industry. `7e em p l o y our facilities for analytical work only to the extent that is necessary for furthering our toxicological work. In the course of our work we have had frequent occasion to advise manufacturers of fo o d containers as to the steps to be taken in order that they m a y be able to furnish n e c e s s a r y i n f ormation as to the toxicity of plasticizers for food wrappers, ingredients of lacquers for f o o d containers, etc. \7e u s u a l l y suggest that they secure I n formation in their own or another chemical laboratory as to whether or not the material In question enters into food kept in contact with coating containing it. They then present their evidence to the Food and Drug Administration directly, and, if they agree that none is present in the food, its use m a y be a p proved. If, however, the chemical determinations should prove that the product enters the food in ueterminable concentrations, we may then undertake loxxg-teim experiments in which the material in question is adued in tnree or four known c o n c e n t r a t i o n s to all of the f o o d f u r n i s h e d respective groups of rats and dogs. The results of such experiments supply evidence u p o n -which the Food and Drug n d m i n i s t r a t i o n m a y case their c o n clusions as to whether the amounts found in the food in tests conducted elsewhere will be deleterious. Because our analytical staff Is at present over burdened with work, we are unable to un d e r t a k e the chemical p o r t i o n of such investigations. If, however, you secure evidence elsewhere that the material you have under consideration does enter food stuffs, we should be glad to discuss with you the question of undertaking the toxicological Investigation of the material. Ifr 0 00553 Mr. L. P. .Vagner -2 August 12, 1950 Your impression that we have performed chemical work on steel containers with baked organic coatings probably has Its basis in the fact that some years ago we did a little work of the sort you mention at a time when we were designing experimental chambers in which to confine animals in testing the toxicity of vapors at atmospheric contaminants. Yours very truly. FFH/mjg Francis ?. Heyroth, M.D. assistant Director