Document nm9G4D4O80ME78eLeYe4M2R72

November 12, 1966 J. G. 8CMMER, M.D. PHILADELPHIA PRINTING PLANT 1309 NOBLE PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVAN~\ r_ - , j ; < - 0 L Thank you for the enclosed clipping and for the Chriatmaa parcel that arrived Triday. I shall aend acne of the blood samples for analyala vhen the load on the laboratory slacks off. The hair analyala la a worthwhile screening procedure, but it is not sufficiently precise. I aa also disturbed by the semantic confusion surrounding the use of the vord "poisoning" in the press clipping. If the examining doctors "could not find a thing wrong with either of then", how can one say they are suffering frca lead poisoningT Lead poisoning is a clinical diagnosis not a laboratory produced nuaber, although there are laboratory teats that indicate an interference with biochemical functions in the body. Opinion is divided on whether this necessarily constitutes "poisoning" since it say not tala into account adaptive mechanisms within the body. ORIGINAL SIGNED BY G. J. STOPPS 0. J. Stepps, M.B. ,B.S. Chief, Physiology Section GJB/dyb Enc. JA2 DUP 000319 Ref.: Medical Tribune, Monday, November h, 1968. pjmly.sk ofJSzk For Lead Poison Trssd m Boston Medical Tribune Report Bo s t o n --Children living in the centralBoston slum area arc being screened for lead poisoning by a technique of scalp hair analysis developed by scientists at the Children's Hospital Medical Center. Two pa rs of college students have al ready spent several months calling on families living in neighborhoods or dwel lings where there have been instances of lead poisoning, as determined from the hospital's records. They fill out a simple record on each family, which includes a check list of symptoms and a history of pica. They also snip a sample of hair. In the medical center laboratories, the hair is measured, weighed, washed, and cut into 1-cm. lengths, each labeled as to its distance from the scalp. Each segment is then separately dissolved in nitric and perchloric acids, and quantitative lead concentrations arc obtained by atomic ab sorption spectroscopy. It is not the amount of lead in each Continued on page 23 i DUP 000320 N 3135.01 M onday, N ovem ber 4, 1968 M ED IC AL T r id u n e go 3 5O O V) fyr-ci ^ E2 CD P L *0 f. 3* 3P P C3 33 D. 03 Crt O CO - OO CD 2 B led c/5 C/) C CD 3 Vrs3 3o' o oI-- * CD Cl 3 p' Vi V*-+) 3O 3 ov> 3 3!Vi r*--** C/5 |3C? crz) <3 Md m M0 ' CD F^> m X P V 2 3- _ > *7: 3-/3 O. . EJ *" =fj 1-8 5 - --J 9-n: 0 * 3o -. Si!- Z * 3 su c^l3p ~P cr c *41A P y n *, -0-3 n Cai rjfr(t S c "* s 1.. ft s'in' Cl y o \ ,?3-c7, : > 3* n"."S^ O* O c " 3 C. *^ 3* -- ft =f y G re /V 3 33 3 -- 3 9i P3 3 ft X-- p fsl * fyt 33 5 A > ?r ft ^ V y2 0 * p X--2 3 X -"* _o o 2-- ^- y -* y 9 acn . * -ze */<." rV* ftZ-;.*3i- zEy. -?-- 2 ~ 3 ^y 0 J. in -- -v fyt ^ = X ?- * ^O c3 e-i X*< 90 ti c q 3i o/ =3 2 ft fro <O P ft 3 p Z- -* : + < 3 a r, 2,-a 1' OS3 r- as ? r < 3 c&. 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Z = p = 5 J5 " p* -- . slip- 3. c x "" H 3 it) "2 23 ft o o 3 s , _--2 O3 rf?t "--^5 K" 3 = -.!?; 5'3 2 W" n - -n| *7Oec^^A-xaX -- aJ r- * j ? r- V I l--k! \ V- -. in n 'k* o 3 \ I CL Cr> 5* 05 hi cn n t> f -t>v o I in DUP 000321 4 WvTC cnwt.iiwti uiv> v a w ic k \i i>u^v lilies of lead." Lead poisoning is most common among youngsters under sis years of age, Mr. Kopilo noted,, with $5 per cent of the eases found in toddlers between one and three years-dld. In one study listed by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 70 to 90 per cent of. children with plumbism had a history of pica,-. Not Limited to Slum Areas /. The chief source of plumbism is lead- Ih.i'e paint, which children find plcasant- tasting and slightly narcotic, so they nibble as it Hakes from the windowsills or porches of their homes. Lack of parental supervi sion combined with deteriorating buildings inchitis cause slums to have the highest incidence. The problem, however, is not limited to J slum areas. Mr. Kopito recalled two small j jsitis children who became patients at Chil dren's Hospital because they ate paint scraped from their father's boat. Parents and physicians tend to assume that lead poisoning is a thing of the past, he commented, because lead-base paint is no longer manufactured for indoor use, ctions but base and cxitrior paints continue to contain lead. Children with pica or even with no more i bl flora, than a natural curiosity can ingest enough vth< paint flakes in a fewjdayj to become Icadintoxicatcd, Mr. Kopilo said, and if not t cillinase- preated in time, may develop permanent brain damage from even a slight ease. iococci The Boston study, supported by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, hopes to reach all children in the city's most hazardous areas. A team from the hospital's Child Development Center, under the direction of Dr. Siegfried Pue- mmI schcl, will follow the youngsters treated for poison through their school careers, in an effort to determine just how much re 0 tardation is connected with plumbism. DUP 000322