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    "localId": "75726586",
    "label": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, June 22, 1931",
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    "id": "75726586",
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    "title": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, June 22, 1931",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75726586",
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        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "seq": 3,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "June 22nd, 1931.\nFr. Herman Schlundt,\nUniversity of Missouri,\nColumbia, No.\nDear Dr. Schlundt:\nThanks for your letter of June 18th, giving your reactions\nto my criticisms of the report by the U.S. Department of Public Health.\nI don't doubt but what the copy of their report which I\nhave is a later edition than the one which you have, for I understand that\nthis report was revised.. Apparently there is no figure 13 in the copy\nof the report which I have - figure 12 constitutes the last graph incor-\nporated in the report.\nRegarding the matter of segregating the employees, as I\nsuggested, perhaps I had better make this point somewhat clear:\nI gathered from the conference in Washington that the\nPublic Health Service was charged with the task of determining whether the\ngirls who have been employed in the application of luminous material to\ndials, etc., since 1926 were exposed - that is after pointing the brush\nwith the lips had been discontinued - to a hazard, and whether or not\nthere was any possibility of their accumulating radioactive materials in\ntheir systems. If the group of girls which they examined are treated as\na whole, all except 74 of the group were employed prior to 1926, as well\nas subsequent thereto, and even though some of that group may have shown\nthe presence of radioactive materials, it would not throw any light upon\nthe question as to whether they were absorbing material under approved\nconditions as practiced subsequent to 1926.\nIn discussing this point with Dr. Thompson and his\nAssociatem, they quite agreed with me that there should be a differentiation\nmade. If we are to treat the group as a whole there would be no reason why\nwe should not go out and examine all girls who were ever employed. The\nsurvey was not made with the idea of determining whether individual girls\nwere active or not, but whether the industry as practiced since 1926, can\nbe considered safe. With this in mind, which the Public Health Service\nadmits is the burden of their task, I cannot help but feel that the Survey\nover emphasises its findings in examinit: workers who were employed\nprior to 1926. It was only thru the over zealousness of the clock companies\nto cooperate with the Dept. of Health, that theyallowed the Department to\nexamine all employees engaged at the time of the survey, regardless of\nwhether their employment dated back to 1921, 122, '23 etc., or whether it\n-2-\nwas subsequent to 1926 only, and they furthermore brought in a number of\ngirls who were not employed in the industry at the present time - the only\ntime they were employed was prior to 1926.\nLet me again state that it is my firm conviction that the Clock\nCompanies are interested in the situation as it now exists, for we are all\nagreed that in the past there was undue exposure. The fact that some girls who\nwere employed prior to 1926 show the presence of radioactive materials in\ntheir system does not contribute anything to the condition of the industry as\nnow conducted. If the Dept. of Public Health, desires to conduct a survey\nof the industry as a whole, then in my opinion they are entitled to treat the\ngroup as a unit, but when they attempt to determine whether or not the industry\nis hazardous as now conducted from the determinations of radioactive materials\naccumulated in the system, then they must confine their data to girls employed\nafter 1926.\nWhile the insert on graph 12 depicts the conditions found among the\ngirls subsequent to 1926, still when we analyze this graph as compared with the\nmajor graph in this table, we note that girls employed since 1926, as a group,\nare storing radium in their \"ystem at a faster rate than girls employed during\nthe entire period - which I don't believe to be a fact. Dr. Thompson rather\nemphatically stated, that he personally did not believe that such a picture\nrepresented the true facts.\nI quite agree with you that a careful analysis of the report fails to\nprove convincingly that the industry as now conducted is hazardous - However,\nI take the position that there are few people capable of reading and properly\ninterpreting this report, and that there are innumerable instances in the\nreport where a part of the data or graphs could be segregated from the report\nand quite grossly misinterpreted. It is things of this nature which we are\nprimarily interested in eliminating.\nDr. Leake's summary of the report, at Philadelphia, is eminently fair\nin my opinion, and a final report based along the lines of this review would\npresent the conditions as they exist.\nUnfortunately the Clock Companies have taken a very antagonistic\nattitude toward the work of the Dept. of Health due to the mis-statement of\nfacts in the report as to conditions in the clock companies. In my opinion\nsome of these mis-statements are trivial in nature, but nevertheless they\nserve to shake the faith of the Clock Companies.\nWhile we have taken rather a strong position regarding the interpre-\ntation of the data, nevertheless, I am disposed to support the Department of\nPublic Dealth in their troubles with the Clock Companies. I am of the\nopinion that a round-table discussion in the near future with the Clock\nCompanies and the Dept. of Health will ajust these differences, and there\nwill be no further trouble.\nSincerely yours,\nHHBarker:RH\nVice President."
}