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TANFORD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305 e (415) 321-1200
JUN 3 1969 May 21, 1969

STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Department of Genetics

 

 

Mr. W. F. Schoen

Sinclair Research Inc.
400 East Sibley Boulevard
Harvey, Illinois 60426

  

Dear Mr. Schoen,

My own eyeballing on the Nj load. If, it behaves quite like Pb,
where 750 Rpm gasoline engenderg 40 mcg/m ,[2.5 ppm Ni/will generate
0.13 mcg/m” in freeway air, .

  

NA PCA

oo NYC (1966) reported .118 already; (cf Arizone, .0006). Chemical form?

Aw y j Lung cancer in rats can be obtained with chronic exposure to 1.9mg/year
K Ni as carbonyl. 0.13mcg x 365 x 20m’ /day comes out to an inhalation
level of only .95mg per year; but we have very little data on dose-
effect statistics or how to translate quantitatively from rats to man.
Other (insoluble) forms of Ni are also known to be carcinogenic.
Unlike many other speculative alarms, Ni is an undoubted carcinogen in
man.

   

I agree that very much hangs on the chemical form in which Ni is emitted.
Do you doubt that most of it must eventually come out? In what form?

11

I haven't checked the latest estimates, but recall that about 3.5 x 10g \ 1
Ni is supposed to fall in per year, from meteorites. A year's worth “ah .
throughout the atmosphere then comes to .08mcg/m3, which must mean that ve

most of this is not finely dispersed, or we would see more in Arizona. V

Le. VEScReeceg HU RSE (
Thank you for the information you communicated over the phone. I hope you
can communicate some sense of urgency to your management about the potential
scope of this problem. I would not offhand believe that an unnamed consultant
without benefit of much wider critical judgements begins to meet the public
interest; but I realize we do not have many established norms for appropriate
responsibility in this field.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lederberg

KX Gen Sunder Professor of Genetics

Dis Lest sy; U(-¥¢ ;
“Su wr 12/6 preted ALAAn!,

yu

LT. J. P. KENNEDY, JR. LABORATORIES FOR MOLECULAR MEDICINE, DEDICATED TO RESEARCH IN MENTAL RETARDATION
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY HEREDITY NEUROBIOLOGY DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE