Document rpYLObyqz9Rq0ye4nqZNZeJOE

De p a r t men t o f In d u s t r ia l Hy g ie n e HARVARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 55 Shattuc\ Street `Boston 15, Massachusetts January 2, 1947 Dr. Robert A. Kehoe Kettering Laboratory of Applied Physiology University of Cincinnati College of Medicine!. Eden Avenue Cincinnati, Ohio Dear Bob* Answering your letter about possible lead poisoning from cutting up ships, I am sending your letter to Mr. Edward J. Tracy, Director of Ship yard Labor Relations, U. S. Maritime Commission, Washington, D. C. and he probably will write you direct. I am too much out of all this now to be of much help. I remember the experiments we did here at my lab in cutting up steel plates with standard type of lead painting on them. Results showed that extremely high lead concentrations were possible in the air breathed by men manipulating oxy-acetylene torches. There is no doubt at all that proceedures which would be used today'would be a lot. more likely to cause lead poisoning than those used after the last war in dismantling battleships. Like you, I remember vividly trie unfortunate series of lead poisoning cases found in various Navy yards. Modern practice in welding and cutting is a lot faster than that used twenty-five years ago. I believe that the ship yard doing most of this work in the East is probably Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point, Maryland. This may be the same shipyard that you visited with me during the war. It is run by the same executives and the medical staff is under Dr. Floyd Shaffer. 'You will remember, I know, our failure to get any real help from Mr. Jack Willis, then and now in charge of the Bethlehem yard. S' " jrs p d /f ccj Mr. E. J. Tracy Philip Drinker HS 0015231