Minutes of Sevenieth Meeting of the Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine

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MINUTES - 70th MEETING OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE .FOR BIOLOGY & MEDICINE and substitute the following sentence: Y'he United State e ' exhibits and reports compared favorably with those of other nations, and the scientific exhibits were outetanding." "include a representative of each of the following:

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OFFICIAL USE OICY The 70th meeting of the Advisory Conmittee f o r Biology and Medicine, U. S. Atomic Energjr Commission, was held on October 17 a t the AEC headquarters i n Germantown, Md. and on October 18, 1958 at 1717 H Street, were attended by Dr. C. L. Dunham and various DEM staff members. w i l l be held at the Argonne National Laboratory, November 4 and 15, 1958. Colgmittee members i n attendance were: Dr. Simeon T. Cant ril, The open sessions ?he minutes of the 69th meeting were approved. The next meeting Geneva Conference. Dr. Shields Warren-.reported on the recent Geneva Conference. - H i s impressions, confirmed by those of ks. Bugher, Glass andHorsfal1, were that the Conference was dominated by its primary interest i n atomic power, t h a t the advances in the study of atomic energy for power were marked, and t h a t reports on the biological effects of ionizing radiations brought oat very little t h a t was new, with the exception of Russellls finding that beam intensity appears t o influence the mutation rate in.mice. The commercial and scientific exhibits and the scientific -- reports of the United States compared very favorably uith those of other biology be held some time i n three to five years, perhaps i n conjunction with a biomedical year. reported on their conferences a t the Vienna headquarters of We UEA. Difficulties were noted associated with the functioning of this agemy. (1) It is controlled, independently of the Secretariat of the UN, by a 67-nation Board of Governors, maqy of whose nations cannot contribute much money f o r its support. clear - whether t o serve as an operational or as a coordinating agency. ( 3 ) Its personnel must be selected on a geographic basis, often on a two-year basis, even though this may not be efficient f o r certain technfcal and scientific posts.. (4) Dr. Wrgher noted that the exact: relation of this agency t o others, sych as WO, UN Scientific Committee, ICRP, etc., has not y e t been defined. mally that some kind of interagency advisory council be established. Dr. Uestern reported t h a t the ageocy is issuing a manual of health protection for workers i n atomic industries. Dr. Bruner reported that the Board of Governors had rejected a proposal t o do large scale Sr90 animal It has been proposed thata conference devoted exclusively t o International A t o m i c Enerqy Aqency. Drs. F. Western and H. D. Bruner (2) Its fundamental policy f s not yet Proposals have been made inforOFFICIAL USE OMLY

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Other Activities. Dr. Dunham reported that a t a Hamell conference United States and British opinion were i n basic agreement on biosphere contamination problems. When visiting Japan later, i n connection uith the program of the Atomic Bo& Casualty Caamission, he observed a remarkable increase i n Japanese collaboration, which will be of the greatestbenefit. Particularly t o be noted is the establishment of a tumor registry. The morale of the ABX staff is at a high level. 11. oper at ions Hardtack and Plowshare progress had been made i n estimating the shielding afforded by housing such as existed a t Hiroshima, uere distributed t o ACBI members. Plans f o r Phase II of Operation Hardtack Operation Plowshare (Pr0jec.t Chariot) . e. John Kelly of the Diwision of Ml it ary Application discussed the peaceful uses of nuclear detonations contemplated within Operation Plowshare and under study by the Livermore Laboratory. These include lications for the oil industry ( o i l recovery from shale and tar sand"p f o r mining (breaking up of ore deposits), f o r power production accompanied by isotope production (a trial is t o be made ina NewMexico salt deposit), and for c i v i l engineering projects such as dams, aquafers, and harbors, Froject Chariot deals uith the creation of an Alaskan harbor on the Qlukchi Sea, Potential biologic and oceanographic aspects of Project Chariot _ - sity and Office of Naval Research), and A. H. Seymour. siderations i n any plans would be: major land vertebmtes are rodents, caribou, and huge migratory bird populations. (4) The Chukchl Sea is shallow (about 25 fathoms), is not commercially fished i n its Alaskan waters, and flows north. contamination due t o Russian tests is not known; the Russians are said could be entered within one mnth of the contemplated shot. (I) The coast is frozen from The region is scarcely populated. I (3) The(2) .to have herring fisheries in their own waters. (6) 'ihe harbor area The ACB4 agreed with DE4 'that the biologic implications of Project Chariot require ecologic surveys well i n advance of any operations, and that the opportunities t o study the ecology i n relation t o uhatever degree of contamination results should not be lost. 111. Industrial Medicine and Health Physics lations has made a survey of the procedures used by the various operating OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY contractors f o r the prevention of accidental criticality, and has issued a set of recommendations. The criticality accident that occurred in June, 1958 at the Y-12 site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, w a s reviewed. Dr. Harshall Rrucer (ORINS) reported that all men are back at work axxl that their condition findings, which have been presented in a detailed report, Y-1234. Sune of the interesting points made were: (1) Although the fluid drained into the barrel in which criticality subsequently occurred was strikingly unusual in color (yellow), the employee did not seek advice about it. (2) The warning-swnd system functioned well, and by quickly eeding helpful in estimating radiation expos ws. badge is being introduced into areas where fissionable maWcia1,is handled which will give more detailed information concerning the exposure spectrum. The ACBtrI is particularly desirous that the lessons learned from this accident be fully shared w i t h all others who are conducting work with potential criticality. it one man saved his life. (3) Analysis of the blood for Na2 w a s very (4) A new type of film Civil Defense Demonstration Proaram. #re Re L- Corsbie revieued some of DPH's efforts in this field, reported that the Lovelace brochure is now being reviewed and edited (a handbook on protection f o r the layman), and discussed the history of the suggestions made by Commissioner Libby . to promote educating the American public in self protection, In answer to Dr. Libby's request for comment on such an educational program, a recommendation was made by A C M and will be sent to the Commission (AppenThe 1960 budget allotment of 1 million f o r such a program was reactor usina HTR elements and deuterium oxide now offered the best (e.g., 1000 rads in 1 millisecond), reactor must be located way from a metropolitan center. cost of the entire installation (reactor, building, laboratory) is installatioh of a pulse reactor f o r biologic and medical research open stock swine to complement extensive work already under way o r planned with mice and rats m s presented in detail by DP, Max Zelle, will be about 2 million over a 10-year period. produce very brief and very intense doses of radiation Owing to its novel design, the The ACBM recommended to the Commission t h e development and Genetics Program. A program of studies at Iowa State College with Although recognizing that OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY precise quantitative extrapolation from swine (or any other animal) t o man is beset with difffculties, ACBM has recommended the pursuit of this program after consideration of the program itself, the statements of 19 extramttral experts consulted by Dr. Zelle, and Dr- Zellels own opinion, Especially i n favor of this program axe (I) the possibility of making fundamental contributions t o comparative mammalian radiation genetics, particularly with respect t o quantitative (polygenic) traits, and (2) the outstanding caliber of the scientists available a t Iowa State for direct o r indirect participation ina project calling for expert knowledge i n the fields of swine husbandry and genetic and statistical analysis. Shilling reported on the conference held at Division headquarters Beings", attended by about 50 invited scientists, including those from It w a s the consensus of opinion that the specific studies under way and new ones like them should be supported (eog. , follow-up on Marshallese, on t h o r o t r a s t patients, etc.) -It was not evident t o the conferees how efficient studies of the influence of radiation background i n relation t o altitude and latitude could be Commission i n accordance with its request of October 6, 1958. . 17 projects i n the field now under way, A report on this conference dl2 be sent byDBM tothe In reviewing the human environmental problem, ACEN noted that many of the specific studies discussed a t the conference involved relatively large exposures, whereas a major need is t o ascertain the effects of very small doses,of the order of several times natural backgrcund. Presumably' such very small doses will lead t o very small effects or t o very infrequent ones. I n either case, assessment will be facilitated, a t least theoretically, if very large nUnibers of individuals can be brought into the pertinent study, which must therefore be carried out on the largest possible cannot now be evaluated with any certainty. clear that a practical plan with the desired degree of sensitivity-swld benefits that s'eem likely t o accompany its pursuit have led ACBFl to recornendthe initiation of studies looking toward a project i n what may be called whole-population radiatjon epidemiology, plans for such a project will call for a high degree of creative thought as well as analytical stue. It is proposed that initial steps be taken by an exploratory committee working under DEN whose membership should include a representative of genetics, anthropology, epidemiology, public health, clinical medicine, pathology, demography, and radiation biology who might serve on this exploratory committee. Whether o r not such a study will yield positive OF negative findings I n fact, it is not at all The importance of the problem, however, and the indirect It is emphasized thatThe ACEM suggested names of recognized scientists i n these fields OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY Mr, Stanuood reported that next week the 1960 budget of 50.5 million ( i n 1959 it wa,s 43.2 million) w i l l be heard before the Bureau of the Budget. O f this, 18.6 million we €or-off-site work, and a total of 5.4 million for construction (including the pulse reactor) e The Bureau of the Wldget has issued Circular A-21 (September 10, 1958) which gives the newly established 'principles f o r costing research and development under grants and contracts with educational institutions*, The Division may now make grants as w e l l as enter into contracts t o promote basic research; it is studying how the PHS a d others have handled the Dr. Shilling reported on the curtailment of certain administrative budget f o r travel has been cut i n half; notice af iASs was received after the first quarter, so t h a t now for the remaining three-quarters of the year there is only one-third the money availdble that had been requested and is considered essential t o maintain adequate communication between-DBM staff and effort on the part of the Administration, recommendation t o the Commission for relief in these matters. The entire DE@! personnel roster has been fixed a t 80. 'lhe current The curtailment in funds was part of a general econonly Appendix 111 relates the AcEprI In Executive Session, the discussion centered on ways and means t o continue strengthening the staff of DEN. a t the next meeting. The discussion is t o be continued Dr, Dunham announced the following personnel changes, In the Biology Branch, Max R, Zelle has been appointed Chief; new appointments are Leroy Physiology and Biochemistry), In the Zhvironmental Sciences Elranch, John N. Wolfe has been formally appointed Chief. I n the Medical Branch, John BoAer has been assigned Assistant Chief. New appointments are William E, Lotz (Physiology, Toxicology), and Col. Savino W o Cavender (liaison with Office of Surgeon General). I n marine biology and oceanography, Drs. Allan Ha Seymour and Willis R, Boss w i l l spend two t o three days per month i n DEN i n order t o administer the contracts until full-time personnel can be Scientific Secretary t o Advisory Committee f o r Biology and Medicine OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY The Committee for Biology and Medicine strongly endorses the proposal by DEpll to conduct'a Civil Defense Derhonstration Program in selected llEc communities, i.e,,-Oak Ridge; Los Alamos, Richland. It is evident that existing knowledge, wZrlch-cwld significantly reduce casualties in event of war, is not now adequately implemented into a working civil defense progm. Such 8 program would hope to achieve: A more effective civil defense program in these communities, which in the event of nuclear attack are so vital to national defense: (2) The development of demonstration aids to define levels of protection against fallout which can be achieved by existing or modified housing. These aids would include a mobile demonstration unit carrying appropriate instrumentation and suitable lowlevel radiation sources to (3) Such demonstrations, focused on AEC communities, could engmder an awakened responsibility in other communities for similar programs, this, AEC could help discharge its responsibility i n lending advice and assistance to civil defense agencies desiring similar demonstrations. Simeon 7'- Cantril, Chairman Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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PULSE REACTOR FOR BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL RESEARCH The experimental requirements of the Division of Biology and b di cine will continue t o make indispensable the availability of radiation sources capable of reproducing t h e radiatfon spectnun and the time characteristics of a fission bomb. With the changing character of weapon test operations it Will be increasingly difficult to cmduct biological experiments of this type a t NTS. For over two years we have noted w i t h interest the emergence of the concept of a f l a s h reactor which, it now appears, is feasible and capable of deliverfng radfation pulses of the necessary intensity, We strongly urge that a reactor f o r this type of biological experimentation be constntcted as soon as possible a t an appropriate AEC site. Simeon T. Cantril, Chairman Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine

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