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    "localId": "75719089",
    "label": "Letters Received to Arthur Roeder [A. Roeder], July 14, 1924",
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    "title": "Letters Received to Arthur Roeder [A. Roeder], July 14, 1924",
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        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "ocrText": "COPY\nHARVARD UNIVERSITY\nSchool of Public\nHealth\n55 Van Dyke Street,\nBoston, Mass.\nJuly 14,1924.\nMr. Arthur Roder,\nUnited States Radium Corporation,\n30 Church St., N.Y.C.\nMy dear Mr. Roeder:\nInspection of the work done with our animals leads me to feel\nthat further delay in reporting upon them will give us no more information. On\nMay 13th, we gave intratracheal injections of luminous zinc sulphide to one cat and\nof \"Undark\" to three cats. The reason for this method of administration is because\nit assures a prompter and more efficient absorption of the substance used, and is,\nfurthermore, similar to one of the routes by which your employees take in these\nsubstances. In no case did we gain evidence of any local damage to the lungs.\nAfter one to four weeks time we sacrificed the animals, and found no noteworthy\nabnormalities at autopsy.\nUpon chemical analysis, the bones of the cats receiving \"Undark\"\ncontained large amounts of radium - more than we could obtaine from the lungs, the\nsite of the original deposition, or from all the rest of the body. Our apparatus\ndoes not permit the giving of a quantitative figure on this point, but it has\nestablished very definitely that inhaled \"Undark\" is removed from the lungs and the\nradium carried by it is deposited in bone. In both the luminous zinc, sulphide and\n\"Undark\" animals the skeleton contained some zinc, deposited apparently as a double\nphosphate in the compact bone, and being analogous in this particular to lead and\na number of other heavy metals, though probably less permanent.\nOn perusual of our report, you will note that we cited abundant\nevidence from the literature to the affect that intravenously or subcutaneously\ninjected radium preparations deposited radium in large amounts in bone. We felt it\ndesirable to find out whether radium introduced by inhalation, as \"Undark\", is\ndeposited in the same way. This has been definitely established by these experiments.\nTo you, I suppose, they will seem unnecessary, but we feel that they bring out in\nrather a bold relief the fact that radium administered as it slowly is to your\nemployees, reaches bone. You will ask why, if we have done this, we have not gone\non to the question of necrosis production, thereby clinching matters. If this phase\nof the situation could be established experimentally, it would require a considerable\nseries of antimals dosed over a long period of time in several differnt ways, and would\nnecessitate a series of experiments which would be both extensive and expensive.\nWe have not, therefore, felt justified in entering such a campaign nor do we feel that\nit is necessary in relation to the problem offered by your plant in Orange.\nI hope that some time or other you will drop in on us here in\nBoston, and trust you will feel at entire liberty to turn any one over to me whom you\nmay wish to have given an account of our views on the whole matter. I feel very sure,\nmyself, that you can permanently get rid of the trouble which has pursued you at\nOrange if you make use of intelligent medical supervision, coupled with other\nprecautionary measures we have suggested. It is my opinion that under such a regine\nyou can feel confident that you have taken adequate measures to end your own\ndifficulties and to safeguard the health of your employees.\nVery sincerely yours,\n(signed) Cecil K. Drinker, M.D."
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