Letters Received to H.H. Barker, December 20, 1928

RADIUM SPECIAL SERVICE RADIUM SOLUTIONS IN RADIUM TTHERAPEUTICS RADIUM BATHS APPLICATORS TO ORDER THE RADIUM EXTENSION SERVICE NOT INC. MEDICAL & DENTAL ARTS BLDG. 185 NORTH WABASH AVE. TELEPHONE DEARBORN 1665 CHICAGO, ILL. December 20, 1928. Mr. H. H. Barker, 535 Pearl Street, New York City, New York. DEG 261928 Dear Mr. Barker: In reply to your letter of the 18th, it seems that I have failed to make myself clear. I have never maintained the attitude that these girls were not injured by luminous paint. Neither has it been in our mind that you should make any statement to the public absolutely denying the charges that your Company was responsible for their condition, but after reading the re- port in the A. M. A. Journal of December 5, 1925, which article was the basis for the denial, it soems to me that you could concienciously make the statement that Radium, of itself, was not to blame. Dr. Martland is quoted as saying that "These radioactive salts are chiefly insoluble salts. If they were soluble they would be eliminated from the body withe out difficulty but instead they forn on bones and can- not be removed". The statement has been made numerous times that radioactive substances are dangerous but that statement does not necessarily imply that because a substance is radioactive that it actually contains radium. Consequently, it seems to me that a statement could be made by your firm that Radium, of itself, is in no way to blame for these conditions. Even Dr. Hoffman in his article in the A. M. A. Journal of Sept. 26, 1925, gives you plenty of leeway to be able to make such a statement and especially could it be made in reference to soluble radium, which all physicians, who know anything about it, are agreed upon the fact of its elimination from the body when administered internally or intravenously. In reference to the public being able to dif- ferentiate, you would be surprised how readily the general public accept statements made to them as to the difference and now since these five girls have lived longer than the public had any idea they would live before settlement was made, no doubt, the early newspaper reports will be dis- counted and a statement from you would be given much more credit than it would if made at a much earlier date.