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Advisory Conmittee f o r Biology and Medicine 1 The Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine held t h e i r twentyfifth meeting a t Hanford on Januasy 12 md 13, 195l,. Dr. Ernest Goodgasture, a member of the Committee, and Dr.Willard Machle, of the NRC, reported on their trip to Japan and the study now i n progress by the Atomic Bomb Casudky Cds sion of the effect upon the pop lzt ion of Hiroshima and Ragasaki of radiation emanating from the explosions of atomic bombs in 1945. A s a result of the investigations tion, &a the difficulty in obtaining qualified personnel, it Was the sense of the Committee that the .scope fiscal year 1952 should be reduced. ( Effect of radiation on work capacity. Experiments are proposed on . I the effects of radiation on work capacity. While some' information is. available on the rat, the current discussions have been concerned with the studies on the dog. representatives of the NEFA Committee, the Navy, and the University of capacity and longevity. gens and the -maximum 300 roeritgens. and intermittent doses varying both i n the number of roentgens per expo.- m e groups participating i n the planning include The project i s being set up t o give information on both work The minimum level of exposure will be 100 roentThe exposures will be both sirigle S u e period and the period between exposures. physical work w i l l be measured at varying times following exposures. The capacity t o perform Applied Fisheries Laboratory - University of WashingtonStern, a member of the. ACBM, and D r . M. R . Zelle of the Biology Branch, spent January 15 and 16 visiting .the Applied Fisheries Laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle. of the Laboratory was reviewed, particular emphasis w a s placed.upon the an2 t h e preliminary cytological studies evaluated.. ral n how trout- program has succeeded i n its initial objective of demonstrating genetic change& i n trout following radiation exposure. However, . the quzntitative relation between radiation dosage and genetic ch?hges ' rr3ro:mendations for future work in this field. While the whole research Program The quantitative aspects of the program were'cons It was felt that
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,locations, covering the entire United States. These studies were made i n addition t o the Los ALamos studies which were confined toa 500-mile radius from the site;-*and td A i r Force studies made from planes. wry of the results will appear after the tests. program kill yield data:.upon'xhich;.r e liable 'recommkndatioe f Pzrticipation i n :&heNevada tests. The health physics preparations for the nuclear tests i n Nevada were reviewed and approved. * . _ Arrangements were made w i t h the Hanford, Argonne, Brookhaven, and Oak Ridge Laboratories t o set up air monitoring stations i n 15 different Two members of the Biophysics Branch attended the Nevada tes.ts, . * for the purpose of observing the operations and t o study the results of the monitoring operations, tion on the behavior of radioacti.fe products from the explosions, and contribute t o our ability to estimate.health hazards from such bursts. Arrangements w e r e made through the Branch for the 'participation. i n the monitorbg activities of a representative from each of the 18 A X emergency monitoring teams. It is the expectation that the knowledge. and experience gained by these representatives will be communicated t o the other members of the teams. I...Levels of radioactivity i n water and food that can be permitted under emergency conditions following an A-bomb blast or other nuclear .1i explosion were.formulated t o furnish guidance under such conditions. If . contain as mch as 0.09 microcuries of beta-gamma r dio activity per cubic centimeter of water, or 0.005 microcuries of alpha activity per cubic centimeter. Should conditions require t h a t the contaminated water be consumed for 30 days following the explosion, the permissible concentrations would be 0.03 microcuries of beta-gamma activity or 0.0017 microcuries of alpha activity per cubic centimeter of water. the water isto be c0ns-d for 10 days, It was calculated that it could i It i s emphasized that these &e not peacetime permissible limits . of r dio activity for either long-term or short- term consumption. -ver, with the conviction that'water with a radioactive content l e s s -onsidered as applying t o 'food as well as water. Cr;honitoring teams will find it possible t o measure these concentrations -of r Ai o activity with their standzrd equipment. ble officials can utilize these values during periods of emergency, howp h a n thsse limits can be used with no r e d hazard. The values can be These emergency values have been accepted by the Federal C i v i l
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operations offices'& the majority: of their contractors.., Emergency permissible 'levels of radiation. Emergency permissible ' levels of radioactivity i n food and water, prepared for use bx .AM: emergency radiation monitoring t e a m i n event .of atomic disaster, ' were dispatched to Managers of Operations on January 3 f o r Uistribution to the 18 tems. Tkie-se levels were previously furnished t o NSRB and FCDA for. use i n the national civil defense program. On January 24 further information relating to permissible levels of radiation was given FCDA. This cons is bd of the staudards for chronic - ' . exposure t o exte;n& radiation and t o internal emitters (the Har well values agree& upon by Great Britain, Canada, and the United States). and permissible emergency. exposures f o r AM: monitoring te& personnel 1. 10 r - f o r those. Lndividuals expected t o receive expo- - 1 -F sues in the course of their regular duties as AM: personnel. 0 2. 25 r - for those individuals not expected t o .receive . - r-3 Loan of radiation detection instrumentas and sources for civil,.. O def exe treicing purposes. Direcsors of Research, znd Biology and. Medicine t o the Director, .Isotopes exposme i n the nor& colr'se of their duties; On January 5a joint memorandum of the
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inform the FCDA of the status of these programs, (2) t o determine if. they were interested i n havicg the AM: instrumentation soups f&ther concern themsevles with c i v i l defense .ins%rument development, and (3) t o request their advice relative to taking certain fLM: developed prototypes through a commercial engineering phase. A draft of a report smmarizing Department of Defense-sponsored I s being presently reviewed by the responsible military agencies prior t o reproduction for AM: intern& distribution. A paper on "The Role of Instrumentation i n Civil Defense" was. presented'at the winter general meet%% of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers held i n New York City' on January 22-26, 1951.- (End nch has been directed by'the General Manager tot i o n csti ate vzrious radiation detection instrumegts] GF-of the Division of Military Application and the Research Division'on 016 ?omifiio!i Res ez ch and Development Corporation of Arlington, Virginia,
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Research fi oj ect s Approved During :January, 1951 ; The following 16 projects totaling'.$293,013 were approved f o r negotiatioo or renewal during Ja-nuary, 1951. ~ mineral elements i n diseased and healthy western white pine by the use mentary environmentiil factors of the frequency of gene and chromosome changes induced by X rays, ultraviolet light and mustard nitrogen" Louisianz State University and A & M Cohege - $2,590 (1 yr.) - r vite rid ir! gr9x-L water and soil of. areas i n and adjacent t o the '
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Harvard University, Medical School, Howe School of Ophthalmology segment of eye with special reference to crystalline lens" thermal neutrons i n the treatment of neopB.sms" Harvard University Medical School - Massachusetts General Hospital .- University of Minnesota - $23,792 (1-yr. renewal) plus $3,186 of hemoglobin i n bone marrow and multiplication of blood cells. ' r dio isotopes in experimental medicine ; radiobiology training program"