Document ymrD6OR8xMyZoBRyXzymkbN3D

November 30* 1958 Bp* A* Q, Stone Ru@1, Blagg and Sfeon Charleston, West Virginia Dear Mr* Stone: I have examined the contents of your letter of Hoveraber 23rd concerning the case of Vo Standard Oil Company of Hew Jersey* I n a v e a T s ^ r e c e i v e d a letter from Mr. Scholl of the Legal Department of the Standard Oil Company concerning this same case* There are certain phases of the case which make it questionable in my mind as to whether we should examine < H H H B H k a t this time* My judgment on this matter w i H ^ i e p e m r in large measure on whether or not I am able to da tain information from the Mayo Clinic and also on the nature of the information which I may htain* I have written to Dr* Wilder of the Mayo Clinic in such a way that I believe I shall get most of the information X need from his reply* However I must recognise that I may not be able to obtain any information at all. I shall let you know just as soon as I hear from Dr. Wilder* Regardless of whether or not should be examined now, X think, it will be necessary for me to confer with you over the details of this case* X shall-be able to supply you with the available scientific information, and X shall doubtless be able to assist you in a variety of ways in the pre paration of the case. Perhaps you are in some doubt as to why X .offer to do this without having precise Infor aafcion as to the nature of the an*a illness* My answer to this Is that I am wholly convinced both from experi mental evidence and from m y clinical experience of the past fifteen years in this field, that exposure to lead in the handling of leaded gasoline is of such an entirely negligible proportion that It is quite Impossible, in m y opinion, for lead poisoning to occur as a consequence of such exposure* So far as I have been able to discover, both from experimental and clinical evidence, no cases of lead poisoning have ever occurred from this cause, nor are any cases likely to occur* Consequently, in m y opinion, if the Mayo Clinic group of physicians, or any other group, mad a diagnosis of lead poisoning on the assumption that lead was absorbed in the case of the filling station . 0810393 -- i*. -- 2 ; operator's occupation, they wre almost certainly In error In their assumption and they Here probably entirely wrong in their conclusions, although I consider it very improbable that any such diagnosis was made. 'She reasons for the above point of view will appear more clearly when I familiarize you with the extensive investigative work that has been done on this subject not only by myself and my associates in this laboratory, but also by repre sentatives of the United States Public Health. Service and the British Ministry of Health. The great difficulty in this case is likely to arise from the fact that Mr. Capps was apparently ill in 1937 whereas he may not be ill in any nay at the present time. Tha strategy of examining him at this time might, therefore, be unwise In that it might be quite impossible to make any diagnosis S3 to what was wrong with him in 1937* If we were unable to find anything wrong with him at present, we might he in the position of finding it quite difficult to interpret properly his illness of 1937* On the other hand if he is ill at present and if a diagnosis could be made, and could be linked to his earlier illness^ this would be useful information. In any case my comments will serve to let you know that I do not consider it necessarily advisable to h Sfc\'0 man examined at one and I will wish to confer with you further on this point before it is definitely decided. ,- Very truly yours# RAXsis Sober t" A . Kehoo, M.D /X 0010394 I a .;vaa-h -i. " .. .''vrvC