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Declassified record · U.S. Department of Energy

Routing Slip Accompanying a Memo to K D Nichols, Subject: Statement of Duties of the Medical Committee of the Manhattan Engineering District (Encl: Minutes of the Medical Committee, 12/6/46)

Dated
Jan 9, 1947
Document type
Correspondence
Length
6 pages
Open the original scanArchive record OSTI ID 16106721 · public domain

Document text

Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.

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Subject : Statement of Duties of the Led ical Connittee of the tianhattan Engineering District . 1. For purpose of recoru, it i s thcught advisable to record z stateffient of the duties of th eKed ical Comaittee of * the Xanhattan District. These Lay be listed as follows : a. To coordinate the activities of the research programs of the b nhat tan Engineer District. control for,the Manhattan Engineer District. c . To coordinate the activities of the ’ research division in the solution of industrial FrOblemS. 2. The h5edical Corrimittee will report its recornendations t o the Chief of the Led ical Division, vho will ir;t urn forward them with appropriate corment to the Zi strict Eng heer. 3 . The change i n name fro% LedicLL Advisory Cormittee t o Mediczl Committee is believed wise because the terr;: advisor y usually irq lies the use of extrii project employees. The raj or it y of its ixmbers are z c ti vel ; engaged i n hknhattan, work ether as proj.ect directors or a ploy ed by csn tract crs. 4,Until a definite policy is for a late u by, the Atoaic Xnergj Comtliission, this a der ship should be conposed of rin familiar ui th the problems of the Xahhzttan Bngineer Dist riot, particularly while som ch of the infoxmation is still class i - 5. In the future, ’it would be advisable t o add one o r iriore aiv is or y groups to this committee. These men would broaden the base and gradually become familiar nith the complicated medical problems of this field.Heath Physics md Industrial

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Hygiene represent essential needs ana should be represented on the Medical Committee in the future, and should have a subco,.;lmittee whose membership will he recorrJr,ended t o you. Uinutes of Ked. Corn.

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biinutes of the Kedical Cor.mittee, 6 Dec 46 it was agreea t c change the rime of the group fmrr, the Eiedical AdVisorY Committee of the kan hatta n Engineering District to the Led ical Committee of the Kmhattan hg in e erG i strict. The functions of this corm it tee during the inter&, period until the ator,ic co zd ssi ori assumes overall authority inay be set down as raking recommendations on the followiLng aspects' of La hatta n District E ed ical work : Because of the nature of this coiraittee and its functions, a ) Coordination of thq activities of the rrecxical resei x ch pro&ram of the La hatta n Zngineer Ci strict. b) Facilitation and standardization of health and safety control for the Manhattan En$neer District. Coordination hnd direction of the activities of the cedi cal,research division in the solution of Rochester, Columbia, Chicago, Western Reserve and California contracts was carried out with emphasis on the difficulties of interpretation of this clause by non-medical personnel. Discussion as tothe r,ature of the i5% clause h the Cr. Alfred Chanut5.n was rec mended for approval. His proFosed study of the protein fractions responsible for the intoxication or death of the irradiated animal rraterial is cut lined in Appendix k ana covers a field of research not du ~ li cate dby any ? resent ~ ~ rogra. The proposed contract with the Universi tj- of Vir@ nia under 4.A proposed contract with I)r. Poole Gfthe Fhysics Ijepartrnent of Cnio StaLe University was discussed at lene th., It was decided that while Dr. Pool has recognized a bil it r in his fie la, and that his ser - vices would be invaluable to the Iiedical Division, he should first review and be brought up to date in the project devdopr!,ents by conferences with Dr. Faill& ana others prior tore sub n it ting a form1request for contract. hccorciingly, it WES recpestea tkt security clearance te cz r ried out and such conferences arrzr,Eea. De classification of' = m e reports and future public at i cns of XPTS medical volumes will relieve the present situ at i or, where good workers prcpose programs which are already Konsanto Cha ical Company at Dayton were approved. the sun; of $.46,000 for the first ye6s ' s res ez r ch work was approved. The temporary quarters for the new biological project at the 6. The proposed contract with the University d Kansas under Dr. Frank Hoecker was raised but not discussed pending further in - ve stig ation by a meffiber of the Ledical Division. - the direction of Ijr. Henry f iii ls was approved. T kisco nm act, shown ried out at the Rochester Project, and is not duplicated in other The proposed contract with the University of Tenrmsee under

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8. hpproval was granted for a visit of Dr. G. Fail la of the Columbia Project to the-Berkeley Project for the discussion of problems in connection'with h i s work. Monsanto ChenAcal Gonipany a t Cliritcri Laboratories was briefly reviev!ed, and the opinion expressed that the scope of the ' project was much too This will be c lz rr if i ed as the nev; group becon,es oriented on the overall progran of the division. of the current staffing and space difficulties : The large overall program of the biological gm up z t the Two specific recormendations were aade in view cal research coveririg the Feriod up to1July 1947.. That the chronic exposure Frog ran already instituted under the direction of Ur. Pail Henshaw b e continued. of the laboratory directors for the privilege of setting up certain unrestricted areas i n which problems related to non classified isotope research could be discussed ivith non-project individuals who desire information on correct techniques, apparatus, etc,to be used in such iwrked out with the security and de class if ice tion sections. Approval was recomended for the proposal raised by several Xtwas su@.ested that the correct procedures for such action be Note: (Should not apply to mr k being undertaken a t Govt labs such as C.L., Argonne,' Los Abanos and production ll. The problen; of dispcs&l of ccntnr.ir:Etec m te rials was raised. To avoid cor q lica ted discussion, it was suggested tkt Drs. Stone, Contre ll and Friedel l and the ur riers i sea subr5.t their ideas on this subject in writing for discussion at a future ~ eetin gz tx hi ch the all existing tolerances, now inc rep a ratio r,v ; ii lbe sub dt ted b; the t h e Atomic F&erey Corrmission bere rii-scussed. this field was essential and should start soon. engineers of the Konsanto Chemical Company a t Cllriton Lib oratories for information of the correct height h for fE.ture. ex hast stacks. decided thzt if any special Irate rials were tobe .vented into such stacks,they should be cm struct ed at least 175 feet in height h. Research Branch was approvec. Possible recornmendation of a qualified lec i ical Director to No fo mal decision vas There WBS common agreement th z t training of young doctors in The scope of therese br ch program as prepared bi7 the Xedical This is shown i n Appencix C . 15 9 It was sx geste d that the next 2.eeting cf this corm it tee be

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held in approxilrately one month, the exact date and place to be dec ided . Respectfully submitted,