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Advisor;r Committee f o r Biology and IJedicine The ,twenty-sixth meeting of the Advisory Committee f o r Biology and kkdicine was held on Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10, 1951, a t t h e Atomic Energy Members of Committee D r . Alan Gregg, Chairman Staff of 13C and Division of Biologx Dr, 11. Edvrard yo l bert Edr. John H. Shons Capt. John A. Waters hilrs. Frances Montgomery
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The Chairhan convened the meeting a t 1O:OO o’clock. Ilockefeller Institution for Medical Research who has replaced Dr. John 2. Bovrers asthe Deputy Director for Brown, Jr., who has been appointed to the position of. Executive Officer for the Division., The first order of business presented tothe Committee was a discussion of the minutes of the meeting held a t the HOO on January 1 2 & 13, 19% The minutes were approved unanimously upon a motion Report on Support Research proposals approved and declined s i n c e of Res. Projects (Official Use Odj)the last meeting of the Committee in January were discussed by D r s , Dunham, Tuttle, Claus, Pcarson and Tolbert. The Committee concurred i n the Divisionrs action with respect to each project.A list of projects approved and declined i s attached, Considerable discussion ensued on the relative adva hages abd disadvantages of the ffgrant-in-aidfr contract aver the present lump sum basic research inthe liEC program. The Committee. was advised that
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the s.taff of t h e I)i.vision of Uiclogy and Nedicine will study the further problem and report back t o the Committee atits May meeting. The Committee . expressed themselves as looking with favor on a grant-in-aid form of proposal which v;ould give assurance of support fora period of two o r three Civil Defense Civil Defense The Committee welcomed Gov. Millard Caldwell, h.lr,Vincent B, Lamourewr of t h e FCDA'ivho had joined the meeting atthe afternoon session to discuss civil Gov . Caldwell opened the discussion by reviewing the objectives of the FCDA and briefly his organization and their functions. Operation is t o be a t the state level and the Governors are responsible for the conduct . of the business of civil defense within their states. He further stated that the federal organization i s charged with the duty of preparing plans and couns eling with the state government. Gov. Caldwell outlined the responsibilities of the four Program divisions of the FCDA, namely2 Operation-under which will be covered such things as the shelter programs, air warden programs and supplies; Technical Services--engineering forces, rescue forces,fire,police and allied units ;
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Education and Training--operntion of the staff colleges and technical training for citizens volunDr. Werrcn described the AKC role in Civil Defense, Technical information will continue t o be nade available t o the FCUA, within the limits of security, in order that fd2C experience in radiation hazards, radiological monitoring, the study of the Japanese casualties, and research on the effects of atomic mapons, may be reflected in civil defense Dr. Kiefer oriented the Cornittee on t h e medical program and spoke of the able assistance he had received from t h e Division of Biology and Medicine in the preparation of the booklets V nite d States Civil Defensefl and IfHealth Services and Special Weapons Defense." He stated that thc Health and Welfare Office had three branches; namely, Professional Service - Operation and Organization and in Addition, consultants in each of the v xi o us fields. Colonel Wilson, the Assistant Administrator of FCDA told the Cornittee about the general division of work inthe Agency. .He spoke of plans that are being formulated for mass evacuation i n czses of emergency and of the necessity of providing blankets and food t o the populace. He discussed the problems of medical
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one of the most import mt functions of the emergency welfare services is regis tre tion and information, This service provides rapidly by pre-arranged means information t o families for their security. Captain Waters, Director of Security Division and Lk. Fleury concurred in this statement and stated that HE welfare units within the installations would tiein - with the Red Cross ata state or local level. The Committee, Governor Caldwell and h i s staff displayed inters st in the narration by Dr.Tuttle regzrding an i r i s diaphragm which had been developed by h:r.,,John H. Simons of the Division of Biology and Medicine. It was brought out that Mr. Simons has developed a method of gr2phically projecting on the the zone of total destruction, the half mile radius around ground zero following a high air burst ; second, 211 extension to show the radius of tkerrnal effects ; and third the radius of blast effect for then mal 20 kiloton bomb. The diaphragm is especially adapted for use by speakers addressing large audiences. Edr. Boman surnmerized the remarks that he had made recently at biio general information meetings held i n the Stab of Nic hig a, He stated that each group
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was primarily interested in shelter protection. I n th;t connoction he told the groups th;lt ... the first st zp to be taken inmy community is t o .survey what i s now available"--thi. interior of lower stories of office buildings and apartments, fo.r shelters. Elr. Bowman said further that the problem o f underground shelter has some relation in an individual industrial plant if shelters .are t o be provided, The. Chairman thanked Governor Caldwell and h i s staff for attending the meeting and for taking part in the discussions. It was agreed unanimously that it was a very informctive session m d mutually profitable tothe AEC. and the FCEA. Dr. Varren asked the Committee for their comments on general policy question: How much research work should be concentrated a t any one research institution ? Dr. Warren was of the opinion that additional research should be in it iz ted regarding changes i n humans undergoing therapeutic irradiation, as more data are required on metabolic chnnges, matters of porphyrin excretion, etc. Some viqrk i n these categories is now being carried on atthe Memorial Hospital, the James Ewing Hospital and the Kettering Institute. Due t o
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emergent conditions and t h e importance of this work, and after considerable discussion regarding the possibilities of initiating it at institutions other than those named, it was the sense of t h e Committee that alternative possibilities should be explored and if. * no other appropriately qualified institutions are available for this research Memorial Hospital should be asked t o undertake additional work of a spelled-autform in the effects of therapeutic irradiation. Las Vegas Tests Dr. Warren described certain phases of the Las Vegas tests with particular emphasis placed on The Committee was particularly interested in the experiment t o investigate the shelter potentialities of automobiles as an aid to civil defense. Dr. Claus, through means of slides, presented that part of the discussion and it was indiaated that such studies are Atomic bomb Casualty Commission Due t o tht! importance of the research program in Japan, the problems of continuing the work of the ABCC were reconsidered in light ofcbvelopments which had occurred since the meeting held atthe HOO on Jmuary
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with gr. Jos ~ p hi3. Irocnfli, Scientific Advisor t o the Secretary of State. with the needs of the prog rm in J2pm and stated that he would advise the BEC 7sto %he progress that is being made regarding tho peace treaty soon t o be negotiated with the J z paes e Government. Dr. ifarren informed the Committee of h i s consultat ions with the Bureou of the Budget in which they indicated they would-agree t o tho continwnce of the program within the limitation of $1,,ooO,O.~, . inits continued appraise1 of the situation f1ad “ i n light of the willingness of the MAS and the expressed interest a d cooperztion of the Depmtnent of State,. voted t o continue operation of thep3CC work i n Japan, and recommended t o the Commission t h 2 t the contract with the Iicademy be renewed .ad that the general scope of currently defined, nmcly: general medical survey, leukemia survey, cataract studies, gonztic studies. These may b e modified from time to time by jokt consultation by representatives of the h E C and NILS. In formulating this recommendation the Committee believes that the work must bc cari zd out to its logical conclusion
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ard must nccessnrily be pnrsiied o v a ,? considerable period of tile. operz.tion would be vrasteful sci anti fic nll y and f inc mci ally 2nd that the study must be continued for It i s rscognized that short time cormittee be sct up t o guid? the field operations o f the ABCC consisting of rep rcs dt at ives of the Academy of Sciences and t h e G C with Ilr. Bronk acting as Ex Officio chairman and an Cxccutive Secretary i s t o be appointed t o hmdle all adciinistrctive matters. Plant Nutrition Hescarch , C r . Tolbert gEve a revicw of the research projects sponsored by the Division: nmely, three projects on the State and Avail c bil it y o€ 4nerPl-s in the Soil totaling $197,460; eight projects on Absorption of Minerals by Roots m&oot Physiology in the .anolint of $73,190; five projects concerning Translocation and Disposition of Zlernents in Projects totaling 827,969 and four projects pertaining to F'unction of Minerals HOO Kadloc Hospital Dr. riarren sub n it ted a copy of the By-Laws, iiules and Regulations ofthe IJedicLL Staff of the Kndlec
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Dr. Ralph Meader of theN a tio i el Institute of courtesy steff priv il cge s to doctors fron surrounding cities to practice reg ule rly at the Kadlec Hospit2.1, t o be limited to project-connected personnel. Cornittee was of the opinion that if the hospitczl did extend courtesy priv il c.gs to a limited number of qualified physici,ms admitting them t o staff membership that it would attract young men of ability to that area. After afull discussion the Cornittee expressed thenselves as being i n favor of cxtending courtesy privileges for use of the Ladlcc Hospital to al in it ed number of qualified physicians (possibly thrce) md their choice should be de te mined by the Xmager of Health joined the meeting on Saturday afternoon t o tell the Conmittee of the progress that has been made in the joint investigation of the United States Public Health Service ,and ILEC on sub-humm prim tes. Advise, of the approval by Dr. Scheele, the Sargeon General of a rcconnendation that certain funds from the current appropriation for the National Cancer Institute be
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Hman Genetic Himan Genc: tic ii l sk s installations for, szy, 2/3 of tolerance exposure instead of ess?:itiLlly zero exposure as has bezn the policy heretofore. I n additj-on t o thc conservative report of the zd hoc corn it tee of geneticists, important that ach age in policy would be unwise, He extrzpoleted Dr. Russellls &.ta t c hunans working for varying periods a t 2/3 the present tolerancc. Est bat c - s as high as 84 per cent were obtained f o r the proportion of children receiving 2.n induccld nut ation fr on one parent who had worked 3.0 years under such conditions. Tne proportion receiving a donimnt mutation with better th v la 50 per cent chznce of being a sevice handicap was recomendcd that any decision to alter the present policy of designing for os sent id - l y zero exposure should be nado at t h e Commission level. Dr, Hnrdie reported on the status of thc Industrial Fellowship Prog rm, Zdvising the Comnittee that Dr.
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i s scheduled t o nwt the latter p z rt of krch. submit n'mes of persons for considerztion atthe next meeting as a successor toDr. Rronk who will be retiring from t h e Committee an June 30, 19% The x x t meeting of the Cornittee was scheduled t o be held at the University of iiochester on Friday Letter from Conmissioner Pike t o Dr. Gregg Letter from Dr. Gregg t o Chairrim Dean