Document oMmJbekG56Z3jqOoK9J4YXvjo

Ju n e 30, 1958 v; V'ih - A I R M...A I L: . . . t . ! a * V i . '"u- \ L J': ' ' j3 v l i Sx t x t z >..i ' j (a i i : ; . - . Lji. - i-' ' D r . P h ilip Boyd - Ch ief M edidkt:O ffic e i *.' *4 { : fj ' *f .# ". ^ *j` V ; ' \ - i - ' i *. ' . _: i'1x -K ::m i--* ' - , j j - j . v f ,, i '. . ! . c J Th e A sso c i a t e d Et h y l Co m p an y Lim it e d r , . . . A , , f . , 1 * . 20 Ber k eley Sq u ar e ' ' Lon don , W .i " - ` : ' "`.V' ' ' 1 ` V - . - . i : . ; . - ' .e.i- r.j:- -; '> v . ;l ; iv. En glan d " ' ' * : V D ear P h ilip: ` V -vj Sf I h ast e n to r e p ly tb y ou r le t t e r Of Ju n e 2*7 d e sp it e th e p r esen t , stfcte o f m y cor r esp on d en ce (even with you, fo r I h ave h ot r ep lied to you r e ar lie r le t t e r ), p artly b ecau se, a s you in dicate, th e m atter of th e R u ssian view point is im portan t, but also b ecau se of m y bad con scien ce fo r m y unintended and . much regretted tard in ess. -- \ ` /' v ' . T\ * . ..... > I am h ot in clin ed to ign or e th is at t it u d e ,.n or th at of ce r t ain Sw iss w r it e r s. I h esit at e to c a ll th ose who a r e agitatin g' th is m at t e r ip .Sw itzer lan d "in v e st i ga t o r s, " fo r th ey a r e not car r y in g out actu al in vestigation s with ob jective attitudes,- bu t a r e lookin g fr an t ically fo r su p p or t fo r t h eir id e as which h ar k back to th e pron oun cem en ts of t h eir p r e d e c e sso r . It'is, I,th in k, un fortun ate, th at th e R u ssian s a r e so p assio n at e ly devoted eith er to p a st preju dices r to the dem on stration of the h ard h ear ted n ess of cap italistic scien ce, o r t o som e com b in at ion of t h e se sen t in ien t s'. N e v e r t h e le ss,.'w e sh all h av e to d e al with th em , an d w ith o t h e r s Of t h e ir k id n ey w ith in o u r own p o p u lat ion s, a s w ell a s with th e ap p r e h e n siv e p eop le Who h iv e no m e an s o f fat h om in g th e fa c t u al b a c k groun d. ^ t _ f,j; _ r ; ^ . r. ^ . ^ . .. ... . : : ". - Th ere is on e asp e ct of th is m at t e r , h ow ever, whick n eed s to h e qu eried , in a fu lly ob jective m an n er. It is'p o ssib le (alth ough ver y u n likely in .m y opinion ) th at the total in take and absorption of le a d in certain p ar t s of the earth (R u ssia fo r exam ple), fr om the food an d drin k of th e coun try, m ay. leave litt le m ar gin of safe t y fo r tie addition al in crem en t h f lead which is added to the a ir . Th is is th e m ain r e a so n t h at I h ave w an ted .5o'm e' good fig u r e s on t h is sit u at io n in Br it ain ; Th ere a r e r e aso n s (Moriier W illiam s su ggestive hut not ^adequate data, fo r exam ple) fo r su spectin g ih at th e aver age En glish m an tak es in a n appreciably gr e at e r quantity W lead p er d ay than does the averagepNortlx A m erican . The doubt on t h is sc o r e cou ld b e a so u r c e o f t r o u b le , i f there./vpere to be a se a r c h in g in quiry b ase d upon bu r p r ese n t kn ow ledge of th e lead m etab olism and the apparen t m argin of safety. j i/r.C : 01- rf c On the oth er h an d, the position taken by your R u ssian correspon den t can h ard ly be b ase d on su ch r e a lit ie s, sin ce the stan d ar d of safe t y which h e se t s fo r the a ir -. ` ... . .. i . . V ;. ,<. . J - < - ' K r 0010173 / D r . P h ilip Boyd - (2) - Ju n e 30, 1958 ' gen erally 0.0007 m g. p er cubic m eter is actu ally low er than the gen erally prevalen t con cen tration of lead in the atm osph ere if sen sit ive an d p r e c ise m eth ods o f sam plin g an d an aly sis ar e u sed . Th e explan ation , I th ink, m u st lie in the u se of u n satisfactory m eth ods in th ese m at ter s,. I can see no oth er way, gran tin g th at th ey h ave reason ab le com peten ce in th eir experim en tal . w ork gen erally, by which th ey could deviate so gr eatly from , experien ced in ves t ig a t o r s e lse w h e r e in both their an im al exp er im en t at io n an d t h e ir en vir on m en t al observation s. \\-V' -\ ; . - : ' .. The last paragraph on the fir st page of D r. Leb ed ev's letter is .especially . r evealin g, with r e sp e ct e it h er to in adequ ate tech n ical m eth odology o r a lack of exp er ien ce with en ough d ata to over com e th e fa c t o r of v ar iab ilit y . Th is is the 'kind o f d iffu se, ph ilosop h ical, in tu itive th in kin g th at m ak es an u tter m e ss ' of all scien tific effort/ : . : V ' . / ' .1 R e g a r d le ss o f th e q u alit y o f th e w or k an d th e ce r e b r at io n , such , view s a s h ave been e xp r e sse d can n ot be ign or ed . It is p r e c ise ly b ecau se of the pow er of su ch view s th at I h ave spen t, so m u ch t im e an d effo r t (and m on ey) on th e in vest igat ion of the lead m etabolism in a p ed estrian pilin g up of figu re on figu r e, of sim ple fact on sim ple fact , in the e ffo r t to p ortray the d escrip tive pictu re so sim p ly and so am ply th at no am ount of lver n ess.on the one hand, o r n aivete, on the oth er, can st an d u p a ga in st if. I am su r e t h at We can n ot alw ay s w it h stan d t h e se view s on the b asis; of n atioh al o r p r ofessio n al p r est ige n or on the u su al c r it e r ia of position in tim e an d society . The only accep tab le w eapon is th at of an overw h elm in g body of ob ser v at io n al an d exp er im en tal data, the m ean in g of which is c le a r an d siih ple,n d can 'n l be ch allen ged by viden ce of a sim ilar so r t to the con tr ar y eviden ce of'tech n ical e r r o r o r dish on esty in the collection of data. I can n ot but w on der w h at is th e sit u at ion in R u ssia with r e sp e c t to the u se of tetraeth yl lead , a s w ell as in the m an ufacture of tetraeth yl lead an d the p r ep ar a i ' :si t io n 'o f le ad e d 'gaso lin e .' P d r e a lly lik e to 'kn ow, an d I h ope t h at .on e o f u s m ay t -J i j; h ave som e opportun ity, a t fi r st h an d, to fin d out. . _ ... ; A s a m a t t e r o f fa c t , I h ad Som e kn ow ledge so m e t im e ago o f th st a n d ar d s to which-Dr. Lebedev r e fe r s in h is le t t e r . I d ism isse d them in bein g so w idely d iffer en t fr om ou r own b e cau se f e sse n t ially n at ion alist ic r e aso n s r at h e r th an tr u ly m ed ical an d scien tific^ Th is m ay st ill be the h ear t of the situ ation , but fo r som e reason v perh aps a s clo sely related to th auth ority o f th e w ritten word fr o m a r e a l p e r so n ;r a t h e r th an fr o m a `d ise m b o d ie d st a t e o r o r gan io f au t h o r it y , th ey se e m m o r e sign ifican t when given in a le t t e r which h as th e soun d of sin ce r it y . I don 't know what you o r an yon e e lse can do abou t su ch m a t t e r s. I h ave w ritten to som e of the Sw iss d octor s. I'm not su r e th at th is h as done an y good. C e r tain ly one of the m ost vocal m en am on g th em is clear ly of the type th at can be expected to be off b ase , and th is is eviden t to som e of h is colleagu es. I'm not w orried about the Sw iss situ ation , n or the Germ an . Th ere a r e m en am on g /< 0010174 D r . P h ilip Boyd - (3) - Ju n e 30, 1958 \ \ th em with whom on e can d eal in a fa ir an d fr an k m an n er. Ih e R u ssian , I th ink, is d ifferen t, aid I fe a r we h ave no r e al b a sis for com m un ication . We h ave h ad two very good an d in fluen tial m en h er e recen tly, and a grou p of u s h ad a v e r y p le asan t an d p r ofitab le aftern oon an d even in g with th em . It w as e xt r e m e ly d ifficu lt, h ow ever, even to co n sid er with th em ce r t ain types of evid en ce, fo r th e m ean s by.w h ich opin ion s an d in ter p r etation s a r e ar r iv e d at in cer t ain a r e a s of m edicin e a r e so totally d iffer en t . I th ink we could fin d com m on groun d in tim e, but th e b a r r ie r s of lan guage and cu ltu re ar e very stron g, and the presen t political situ ation ,lik e a d ise ase , in fects everyth in g it tou ch es. I sh all get arou n d sh or tly , ce r t ain ly b efor e I go on vacat ion , to a p r esen t ation of our position on m ed ical con su ltan ts ab r oad . I b elieve th is h as now been . w orked out to a reason ably sat isfact o r y state, and in deed it was b ecau se it had not been fu lly developed u n til r ecen tly th at I postpon ed w ritin g to you. W ith b e st r e ga r d s to you an d a lso to m y fr ien d s at 20 Be r k e le y Sq u ar e , ' Sin cer ely RAK ef R o b e r t A . ICehoe, M. D ICET 0010175