Letters Sent to S. Bryan, May 25, 1928

May 25th,1928. Denver Radium Service, Denver Att'n Mrs. S. Bryan Dear Mrs. Bryan: I must apologize for the delay in replying to your letter of May 16th, and I will now try to answer to the best of my ability your inquiry. We are quite aware that the undue publicity, which has been given to the suits brought against us by former employees, has caused a certain amount of embarrassment to you in the way of inquiries from your clients using radio-active materials. Te do not feel that there is any- thing in thasesuits which justifies any alarm in the medical use of radium chloride, but appreciate that this idea is rather difficult to always get across to the small-town physician, who may be using this type of medication. Your best answer is that radium chloride, for the use which you prepare same, is listed in *New and Non-Official Remedies", and that you do not believe that such would be the case in the event that the medical profession had found that its use was hasardous. On the contrary you can cite reference after reference in the literature where radium chloride has been used internally by the medical profession with beneficial results in innumer- able cases, and to my knowledge there has not been reported one single bad affect. In fact there are citations in the literature that definitely show that radium administered intravenously is eliminated at quite a definite rate, and in fact certain investigators in this field have strived to introduce radium into the system in a form whereby it would be retained for a longer period of time than is normally the case with the soluble salts. As far as the situation in the luminous material industny or is concerned we must consider that quite apart from the intravenous use of radium under medical supervision. It has not been definitely proved to date that radium is primarily the cause of any of the conditions which have been reported, although there on record some 6 or 8 cases here a condition has been reported, with the possibility that radium was a contributory factor in either aggravating or hastening the primary condition. Let me call your attention to the fact that there has been employed five or six thousand girls in this industry throughout the world, and when you consider that out of this number only some 10 or a dozen girls have possibly suffered, you can hardly consider the situation as accute as is being portrayed by the press. Where trouble has existed it has been ascribed to the practice, commonly employed by all girls in this industry, of pointing the brushes with their lips. a practice which has been for some time past been strictly forbidden. Under thèse circumstances we don't anticipate that there will be any current trouble occuring.