Document text
Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
Page 1
7 1 [:)52,5ADVISORY CO- FOR BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION The 77th meeting of the Advisory Committee f o r Biology and Medicine was held a t O a k Ridge, Tennessee, November 13 and L$,1959. Attention w a s directed t o a review of the program of the University of Tennessee - AEC Agricultural Research Laboratory and also the medical program of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies. Under new leadership, and With more active direction on the p a r t of the University of Tennessee, the agricultural project has regained its former momentum and is directing its research efforts to problems of current importance i n the effects of radiation and radioact i v e substances on domestic animals. We were pleased to learn that the project, beset with many difficulties in recent years, now seem to be moving in productive lines of agricultural research that fall within . In connection with the review of the ORINS medical program, w e profited from discussions with Dr. Paul Gross, President of the Board Pollard, Executive Director, and the Board members D r . George T. Harrell (Dean, College of Medicine, University of Florida) and D r . John L. Wood (Chief , Division of Chemistry, University of Tennessee at Memphis). the years of its existence, ORINS has been a major force i n nuclear r e - search and education. It not only represents a cooperative venture on the p a r t of 37 Southern universities and colleges, but has also been a stimulus i n the development of good teaching and research i n radiobiology. A balanced educational program of high quality and excellent administration has continually been the primary objective of the organization. The medical program of ORINS is that part of its act iv it ie s.- which the AEC suFports directly (through the Division of Biology and Medicine). ACBM concurs with the judgment of the Board of Directors of ORINS that the medical program should be continued a t approximately its present l e v e l and character. We were pleased with the direction of the research toward medical problems of fundamental importance such as the use of bone marrow transfusions i n whole-body radiation exposure. Vie considered with approval the recommendations of an ad hoc I n substance these%any (Dr. Horsfall, chairman).
Page 2
1. The effects of radiation on p l a n t s are worthy of increased study, especidlly i n the organ and plant community rela2. The Division of Biology and Medicine should establish a few new special sections.in connection with present major programs which would emphasize research i n ecology and mineral nutrition of plants with relation to environmental. 3.A special institute of radiobotany, such as has been suggested f o r the Argonne National Laboratory, would be unnecessary and unwise. I n connection with the perennial problems of fallout from nuclear tests, we have become aware that much analytical data exist, frequently developed i n classified projects, that bear directly on many of these questions-but which have never been fully utilized. Furthermore, the prolonged suspension of t e s t s gives an unpmalleled opportunity to make quantitative observations which have been impossible when test series have been following each other a t frequent intervals. be of the greatest urgency t h a t a special project involving the collation and analysis of -5l.l relevant fallout data be instituted as soon as possible. !sile drawing on a l l relevant sources for data, the project should be sponsored and directed by the Division of Biology and Medicine under a single project director supported by -&I appropriate adviso-Yy Laboratory of the New York Operations Office, the Commission possesses i n its own organization both interest in the problem and outstanding competence and proved performance. Such a program would require some addition.to both budget and laboratory staff and should possess broad auth;rity to utilize data from dl appropriate sources and to perform, or cause t o be performed, whatever further analyses and observations its studies might indicate t o be necessary. It seems to us to We call attention to the fact that in the Health and Safety Without a major effort of this character dkiw the current period of t e s t suspension, we find it impossible t o give answers that are entirely satisfying scientifically to many reasonable questfons that m a y be raised concerning the interplay of various quantitative factors I n particular, a fully responsive answer t o Senator Anderson's question concerning the external and internal doses from isotopes of short half-lives must await the results of the special study recomnended. Meanwhile we are engaged in a review of the subject and expec? t o forward an interim statement i n the near future. Chairman, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission