Document kZB6GY4j6o078LK9rQmY4oKD

' O 4'* * * * & +- March 30,1936 D r. Graham Edgar - Ethyl G asoline C orporation C hrysler B uilding Hoy; Y ork C ity Hew Y ork ; v ;/ " Dear D r. Edgar* " I have examined your l e t t e r of March B3rd and I t s en clo su res r e la tin g to a b reak in a g aso lin e pipe lin e which a p p a re n tly re s u lte d in the contam ination of a c ity w ater supply w ith a colored g a so lin e , presumably le a d e d . I t does n o t appear th a t th e re is any th in g to do about th is a t p re se n t, b u t I b eliev e th e people co ncerned sh o u ld be a d v ise d on two p o in ts . F irfct th e y should keep us in touch w ith any subsequent developments as promptly as p o ssib le . Second, they should be inform ed, I b e lie v e , th a t any illn e s s in in d iv id u a ls which r e s u lte d from th e d rin k in g of w ater contam inated w ith lead ed g a so lin e would be due n o t to an ap p reciab le ab so rp tio n of le a d , b u t to an extreme i r r i t a t i o n of th e g a s tr o - in te s tin a l t r a c t from the g a so lin e i t s e lf * Small q u a n titie s of g a s o lin e , as you d o u b tless know, are q u ite ir r i ta t in g and produce ra th e r acute Illn e s s w ith a oons erable g a s tr o - in te s tin a l d is t r e s s and w ith nervous system symptoms. I t can b e shown by c a lc u la tio n t h a t th e q u a n titie s of le a d absorbed from d rin k in g w ater c o n ta in in g g a so lin e would be i n s i g n l f i e a n t I t seems u n n e c e ss a ry to go I n to f u r t h e r d e t a i l s on th is m a tte r b u t t h i s f a c t sh o u ld b e u n d e rsto o d by th e r e p r e sen tativ es of the gasoline d istrib u to rs. I leave i t e n tire ly to your d isc re tio n as to whether i t i s necessary o r advisable to point out these fa c ts . Very tr u ly y o u rs, RAKsiS Robert A. Kehoe, M.b.