Document xqnywqaZ8JbOLr8ebR71B2p0

i r f5 1 1 ( tf t f. *r r * c' r r f. I From fh Director oF HtoWi and Jofmty s / / // l*o<J Jn<Jv*tn* Ao<iot<on( l*c 293 Madiwwt Av*. N#w York 17, H. Y. Lock Aht**d with Lo&d i t f t ! .9 l !i 4 0 -i j ,j 4 fsbruarn} 196% To All Mcabers of the Lead Industrie* Association, Zoo.I LEAP Df TEE QCTAS\ CA1T8CH REPCRT9 80 n/ cf you have called and sent coplea of txrva clipping* tint I u taking this opportunity to apprise you of develcpnect# tint Lave occurred since tin oev* relea*# sect out by the California Institute of Technology reporting CD tha geocheaical aurvey of Dr. C. C. Fetter*GO (et al) on lead contained la oceanic vatera. A copy of the original release la attached for your lnfornatlon. This report ha* been vldely picked up la newspaper* and other nedia uaually vith acare fceedline* exaggerating Implication* of the original CalTech study. To *00* of the** v* have reapooded directly. Tor exasple, ve have vrltten to and talked vith Joseph R. Hixson, Science Editor of the 25ev York Ef raid Tribune, vboe# column in the Deceater 23 edition carried the headline "An tfccatural Tragedy--Lethal Lead Ralne cat land and Sea*. Other personal contacts vith major aclenc* editor* vlll be pursued aa pert of our nc* Health Inforoatioo Prograa. Objectives of these contact* Is, essentially, to prosulgate relative studies by Dr. Echo* end ether# aa veil as our own work vith health officials and our eva air pollution studies. Such contact 1# intended to ad vance the knowledge of these specific audience* and 1s not per * directed against Dr. Pat terse. It should also be reported thet direct personal contact has been sad* vith Dr. Patterson berth by the vrlter and Donald Diggs of duPont, on January U and January 16 reap actively. While these visits to CalTech did open up a line of CQBBunlcatioc and an agreement to exchange nev pertinent Inforaatloo, the net result, however, Is little or no nodiflcatlons of Patterson's central conclusions *Tha lrj-edlate prohibit loo of the us* of leaded avtcsaotlvs fuel* see* called for." This conclusion has been repeated and reaffirmed by Patterson in a personal letter to Bashers of the sc lance cottuntty dated January 13* 196%. On January 29 at Dr. Kehoe'e office la Cincinnati ve aet vith representa tives of the leed alkyl naoufacturer# to discus* the 'Patterson Case". The primary purpoee of the neetlng vae to discuss rattersoo's theories* report 0* our Meetings vith hla and deternln* a course of action. There va* and Is so tfj**tiao of Dr. Nttereon'a canpeteoce as a nuclear plue&ologlst; the Issue la the untenable extrapolation of hi* date Into the are* cf public health. It Ml the consensu* of ths neetlng that Dr. Kaho* should Beet and discuss vith Dr. rattsrsoo his conclusion* In this llfcht. Olnc* Dr. Patterscn ha* already ex pressed bis interest In Meeting Dr. Kehoe the date should not bedfflcult to set up. Dr. Kehoe hae agreed to sake arrangewnats for aa early Meting and report back to us. DOPiad Du. Don 0. fovler ' J LIA1151Q *E*. mjSSfflpy- <v d Rev* Bureau CAUFORJiTA rHf/rnVTB OF TSCHNOlOOX Pasadena, California 795-68hl Bet. 2l4 681-7171 rca RELRAS2 SU3IX.T, ETSKEFS 22, I963 Pasadena, Calif. -- Lead, apparently transported by the ataoephere frca the exhausts of gasoline engines, la "reining" lute the oceans of the Northern Hemisphere at 50 tines the rate that nature Introduced It Into these oceans In the past, geochemists reported today. The evidence la that most of the lead In oceanic surface waters has been Introduced by nan and this nay be seriously disturbing the earine geochealcal cycle in lead, said the researchers vfco carried out their Investigations at ths California Institute of Technology. They are Dr. Tsalhva J. Chov, d o v at the University of California's Scrlppe Institution of Oceanography; Dr. M. TatscaotO of the V. 8. Geological Surrey, Denver, and Dr. C. C. Patterson at the Caltech Division of Geological Scleocei. Their verb has been supported by the American Petroleum Institute, Atonic Energy Coenlssloe, Rational Science Foundation sod 0. S. Public Ecalth Service. They cited the possible benefit of using such load coctsninatlccs as tracers to study the circulation patterns of currents In the oceans. The geochemists calculated that at present nearly 500.000 tons of lead are going into the oceans In the Rorthera Hemisphere every year. They also pointed out that of this amount, 275.000 tens are from rain and sane 200,000 too# are frca rivers. Centuries ego lead vas naturally Introduced Into the oceans Is the northern Hemisphere at the rete of only 10,000 tens per year. The aacfoat of lead entering the Southern Hemisphere oceans has Increased very little over the 10,000 toes per year that they received Is the paet. It It believed thet all of the lead brought out of the atmosphere by rain la frtn auto and truck exhsuet fvsaea, the geochemists said. In the past >0 years the burning of lead Is pmtiua and regular gasolines has Increased from near sero to about 175.000 tons a year In the 0blted States alone. The lead escapes fixes actor vehicle exhausts aa small particles of lead oxide vblcb can be carried bylhe ataoephere for hundreds of miles. In urban areas vbre exhaust fumes are sot dissipated rapidly, the scientists said, measured lead coocentrat Iona Is the atmosphere are very high and cay constitute a s rlous health hasard. --ore-* !)* sgtagay rBn.,uxarxe!|jBiiea ',.-w N 366.01 p li f i- .g^^gT.lu |Jgy<WMPW ^Jj >j .tu (JiApit LIA11520 i 0 2- Part of the 1**4 fed Into the ocean* by rir*r* *lo 1* froa thl* tourc*. In addltloa, river* transport lead fro* Induetrl*l chealcal*, *ucb ** paint* and Insecticide*, and froa th* vath*rlng of rock. Widely distributed over th earth u th* deoay endproduct of rdlo*ctlv* nine rale, lead normally 1* on* of th* rarvtt *l*oent* In th* ocean vater, occurring only In extremely minute concentration*. It fora* chealcal coepouod* that pceclpltat* fro* ocean vater onto th* ocean floor*. In their itudlss of how f**t lead 1* being Introduced Into the octane, Dr. Pattereoo and hie colleague* determined the average rate at which It 1* accumulating at the bottom of the ocean*. Al*o avallahl* to then va* lnforaattcn a* to th* rat* at which lead 1* entering the ocean* via th* rlv*r*. They *aopled vater* of the Pacific and Atlantic ocaan* and th* Mediterranean Sea at varloua depth* frea th* eurfac* down to bo x * than 15,000 feet. Th* easple* v*r* collected In lead-free coot*Inert and aaall known aaouatt of a tpeclal kind (l*otop) of lead vara added a* tracer*. Th* lead In the vater, sized with th* tracer (lead 206), vae removed chemically by a vary precise method known a* isotope dilution. Th* resulting lead reeldue* then vara analyzed by a mass spectrometer which separated th* varlou* Isotope# of lead and disclosed the prepertlca of *peclal tracer lead to *ea water lead In each eaapl*. Heeulte of the Pacific and Mediterranean easple* v*r* quite almllar. They *hovd that th* heavlsst cone #n tret loo* of lead vara at th* water'a *urfac and that th* concentration* decraaaed rapidly with depth until about 1,000 feet vae reached. Thereafter, th* (seller concentration* rvcalned rather constant for th* rasain leg thouaand* of feet of ocean depth*. Thl* finding va* Interpreted to Dean that lead va* being Introduced Into the ocean such acre rapidly nov than 30 yean ago, even fatter than plankton and larger varletl** of ** Ilf* can gobble it up. Adding weight to thl* Interpretation 1* th# foot that barlun and radiua, which are similar chemically to lead but hev* not been added to th* ocean* by nao, abov no uch decree** la ococea* trat loo with depth, but Instead shew an actual Inc reaee with d*pth. In th* young eurfac* vater# of th* oceans, l*ad va* focd to occur In concentrations of s c m two parts per ten billion part* of tea vater. Although thl* 1* a nail figure, It 1* (till c m SO tin* larger than th* concentration found In th* aooteot deep vater* of th* ocean*. A* further svldenc# that tetraethyl lsad *e roeole nr* transported by th* atmosphere, th* geochealete fennd 10,000 tine* nor* lead in anew temple* fron California's Lassen Volcanic hat local *\ ' LIA11521 3 Park than would be exited Trca ordin&ry toll duet, and to aaounta that vould eaaily account for the excel lead found In the ocean*. To further raflna the figure# oo the eaount of lead being tran*ported in the ataoejhere, Dr. Pattereon want* to eacpl* "foaall" anew in Greenland. Be plana to tunnel into Greenland'a upper few hundred feet of anov Layer* and compare tha Lead ccocentratlooa in tha recent anova vlth theaa all tha way back to 1900. Ordinary corIns technique# cannot ba uaad becauaa very Large eaaplea of anew axe required. : = ;` ' i-