Letters Received to J. Paul, August 23, 1944

Columbia Unibersity College of physicians and Gurgeons 2 DE LAMAR INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH 600 WEST 168TH STREET, NEW YORK DIVISION OF INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE August 23, 1944 Mr.J.Paul United States Radium Corp. 535 Pearl Street New York City, N.Y. Dear Mr. . Paul: Miss Connie Caltabelota was up here at the University according to our agreement. Dr. M. Lenz of our radium therapy department examined the scars on her hands and decided that they have healed up beautifully and he admits that there is nothing to be done about them. I explained to Dr. Lenz that the material that Miss Caltabelota was carrying was zinc sulphide and not radium paint. He feels the same way that I do that this zinc will be absorbed and cause no trouble. Miss Caltabelota was very much worried because she was working with radium paint and she was afraid that some of the material might have gotten into the cuts. I made a quick examination of her hands with the Geiger counter and there is an indication that the hand was slightly radioactive. I estimated that the quantity was 0.000006 micro- grams of radium and this quantity should cause no trouble. It might possibly be that this radioactivity was due to the fact her hands were not as clean as they should be. It slipped my mind to have her give her hands a thorough scrubbing with a brush before the test was made. However, you may recall that on March 22, 1944, we made an examination on her expired air and at that time she showed 5. 4 X lo-12 curies per liter of air. My feeling at this time is that we do not have to worry at all about the cuts as I doubt whether she will have any trouble with them. Yours very truly Studenik B.J.him Frederick B. Flinn Director of Industrial Hygiene.