Document ybmnKy7q59DGVQvZykew0nbXX

THE TEXAS COMPANY TEXACO PETROLEUM PRODUCTS INDUSTRIAL AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT H E A L T H D IV IS IO N M . N . N E W O U iS T . M . D.. M E D IC A L D IR E C T O R C . H . B A Y LO R . M . O .. ASST. M E D IC A L D IR E C TO R A L LA N E. D O O LE Y . IN D U S T R IA L H Y G IE N IS T 135 EAST 42ND STREET N E W Y O R K 17, N. Y. February 16, 1959 Dr. R. A. Kehoe Kettering Laboratory University of Cincinnati Sden Avenue Cincinnati 19, Ohio Dear Dr. Kehoe: An African railroad company which is a customer of ours has a considerable volume of bxisiness in shipping edible oils, such as peanut oil, in tank cars. The railroad company feels that it could reduce expenses by double service of certain tank cars which would be used to transport petroleum products to the interior and then after cleaning, transport the edible oils to seaports for shipping. The railroad company plans to use a commercial tank car cleaning unit which sprays a hot detergent solution into the tank cars under a pressure of 100 - 175 pounds. The railroad company is apparently quite satisfied with the cleaning job that this unit does but desires to know if the cleaning job can be guaranteed to make the car safe for edible oils if the previous cargo was leaded gasoline. Our Company representative has told the railroad that Texaco does not consider this to be good practice because there is no guarantee as to whether the tank car would be lead-free after cleaning. The company which supplies the cleaning unit will "make no claims, particularly insofar as lead contaminants may be con cerned, as to the degree of cleaning that can be had." I would appreciate your comments with respect to this matter so that we may pass them on to the African railroad con cerned. It seems to me that it would be impossible to insure that each leaded gasoline car that would be cleaned could be brought to the point where it would be considered lead-free and therefore safe for the transport of edible oils. Sincerely yours, ASD:AG ALLAN E. D00LE