Document k6JaGXBR1oNryX4b0v0jkpn2J

V Et hyl Gasol ine Corporat ion Chr ysl er .Buil ding 135East 421!? St r eet IEw Y o b R July 15, 1954. Dr. Robert A. Kehoe, c/o Mr. T. R. A. Bevan, Ethyl Export Corporation, London, S. W. 1, England. Lear Dr. Kehoe: Mr. Tomlinson, in charge of manufacturing for Standard-Vacuum, called me on the 'phone yesterday and said that the subject he was about to mention was not an immediate problem for them but one in which they might eventually become interested. And that was that they might want to use lead for automobile use in India, Japan, China, Fiji Islands, where distribution is substantially through cans to the natives. And that a fair percentage of the natives are half naked and as is well known have skin diseases of various kinds. Most of them are ignorant and probably would not appreciate a detailed explanation of the limited use to which any kind of gasoline is to be put, and would probably be none too careful about handling the cans from the standpoint of spillage, although because of the cost they most likely would be as careful as the aver age person is against waste. He wanted to know what our experience had been about claims for bodily *' injuries on account of spillage or other ways by which a person can come in bodily con tact with lead treated gasoline. I told him that altogether we had had investigated some where between twenty and thirty cases where the claim was made that dermatitis was due to the presence of lead in gasoline, but that you and those of your staff who had examined these cases had in no instance been able to find that the presence of the lead had anything to do with the dermatitis or its aggravation. He said he knew from his own experience in refineries that some people were super-sensitive to bodily contact with petroleum products and particularly gasoline, but such things were accepted as a matter of course when deal ing with ordinary gasoline, and that his chief concern was to know what our experience had been with lead in that connection and our opinion on the subject, having in view particu larly the distribution by cans and the type of people who would be handling it in the countries referred to. I told him that it would be necessary, I thought, to stencil on each container, no matter what its size or material, that the contents contained lead and was to be used as a motor fuel only and not to be used for washing or cooking, although I wished to postpone any decisive comments until I had had the opportunity to present the matter to you. r, I told him that you were in Europe and would probably go to Austria, ' Czechoslovakia, and maybe some other of the eastern European countries, and if so you would doubtless see several of the Standard-Vacuum people who had had experience in the Orient and who would be able to supply you very complete information regarding the matter of dis tribution, and that you would probably be in a better position to draw your own conclusions about the matter after having obtained such information. I told him I didn't know when you \ Dr E. A. Eehoe -- $2 July 15, 1934. were going to eastern Europe, that it might be at the end of your trip, but that I would communicate with him after I had heard from you, which in all probability would be at least six weeks from now. - I might say that there is one point that this moment occurred to me in connection with this distribution, and that is the use which the natives make of the cans after they are emptied. I very much appreciated getting your recent letter from London and was very much pleased to know that you had a very pleasant crossing. A:H 0001168