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{
    "localId": "75722958",
    "label": "Letters Sent to Lt. Colonel J.F. Siler, June 26, 1928",
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    "id": "75722958",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letters Sent to Lt. Colonel J.F. Siler, June 26, 1928",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75722958",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "seq": 1,
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    "ocrText": "June 26th, 1928.\nJ. F. Siler, Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps,\nWar Department,\nOffice of the Surgeon General,\nWashington, D.C.\nRe: S.G.O. 230. 61-1\nDear Sir:\nEarly in 1924, it was called to our attention that there was\npossibly an industrial hazard existing in our work, namely - the\napplication of luminous material to watch and clock dials,etc. At\nthe outset the hazard was ascribed to phosphorus, by a dentist who had\noccasion to do some dental work for a girl who had been working at our\nplant. He stated that this girl displayed a typical phosphorus jaw.\nInvestigation, of course, proved conclusively that luminous material\ncontains no phosphorus, but that the inference that phosphorus was\nprobably present came from the common way of speaking of zine sulphide,\nwhich glows when exposed to either light or radium rays, namely phosphor-\nescency.\nWe immediatel: y took steps to ascertain as to what if any\nhazard existed in the application of this material, and in this connec-\ntion we had a survey of our employees made by the Life Extension Institute\nof New York City, who reported that there apparently did not exist any\nindustrial hazard among our employees. Later we called Dr. Cecil K.\nDrinker, at the suggestion of the New Jersey Zine Company, to make a\nsurvey of the situation. Dr. Drinker rendered a report to us in June\nof 1924, in which he stated that there was indication of a hasard existing\nin our plant, the cause of which he could not definitely establish, but\nthat in view of being unable to ascribe this hazard to any particular\ncondition in connection with the manufacture or application of luminous\nmaterial, he felt that we sould regard radium with suspicion, and recommend-\ned\ncertain precautions. We did not entirely agree with Dr. Drinker in\nhis conclusinns, which were based on negative evidence.\nDr. Frederick B. Flinn of the Public Health Department of the\nCollege of Physicians and Surgedns, Columbia University, 630 West 168th\nStreet, New York City, became interested in this subject, and has made\ntests and a study of it for the past three years. We are herewith\nenclosing reprints of gome of the work which Dr. Flinn has published along\nthis line.\nWhile there are on record a few cases which would seem to\nindicate that there is a possibility of a hazard existing in this work,\nthe feeling current among those having knowledge of the situation is that"
}