Monthly Status and Progress Reports for December 1950 (Partial) (Sec. IV, Biology and Medicine Only)

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--f o r the purpose of studying the amount of radioactive materids that mili-7 - tary personnel could tolerate and still effectively carryout.theh assigned duties and missions i n the Armed Forces. Cantril, Andrew H. Dowdy, Louis E. Hernpehmm, Robert F. Loeb, Curt Stern, Shields Warren; Brig. Gen. James P. Cooney for the Army; Admiral Thomas C . Anderson and Dr. Robert PUnn for the National Security Resources Board; and Major Gerri tt L. HeXhuis for the Air Force. The panel consisted of In arriving a t the conclusions the committee took into account.the results of extensive animEiL experiments, the response of patients treated for disease by X ray and radium, observations on the effect of radiations from the atom bomb detonated over the Japanese c i t i e s of. Hiroshima and Nagasaki and accident& radiation exposures within the Mauhattan Project and the AEC. Members of the Division of Biology and Medicine acted as staff t o this committee i n collecting and summarizing pertinent available research data and clinical information and presenting it t o the committee for conThe following questions were propounded and the answers are set forth as determined by the committee: Question 1. Assume that troops are a cuk ly exposed t o penetrating ionizing radiation (gamma rays). A t what dosage level will they become Answer. Uniform dosage of 5Or t o a group of Mmed Force personnel will not appreciably affect their efficiency as a fighting unit. Uniform acute dosage of lOOr will produce i n occasional individuals nausea and vomiting, but not t o an extent that will render Armed Forces personnel a t any time ineffective as fighting units. - Troops receiving a n acute radiation dose of lOOr and abave ought t o be given, as soon as feasible (within a week, if possible), ape rid forrest and individual evaluaUniform acute dosage approximately l5Or or greater can be expected rapidly (in a few hours) to'render Armed Forces personnel as a group ineffective as troops through 8 substantial incidence of nausea, vomiting, weakness, and prostration. will be very low and eventual recovery of pbysicaf. fitness usually may be Mortality produced by an acute dose of l5Or

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is, unable t o complete a mission, dur-i.ng a flight of me to zbiiee bows, Answer. I n al.1 three cases if radiation dosage t o flight crew mem-_bers is held below 75r, ' rdi ation exposure will 'be unimportani i n determining the Filccess ar failure of a mission prcwided the crew members had not previously received ai appreciable ammat. or' radiatioo, cases radiation doses sab stm ti ally above 75r, combined vith hum= stresses . associated with military,a7riation missiom i n wartime, are considered t o very seriom1.y reduce the odds for successful compi.etion of a mission. Questiog 3 . How vfteo may.= aircraft crew accept an exposure of 25r per mission and still be a reasonable risk far ' subsequent, missions? out a t weekly or lager intervals,, with expcsure of 25r per mission, before the chance of pission failure becomes large duk eittier to illness during the mission or sigxificant general deterioration i n healt5. and checked and evaluated before each mission ard particularly before a decision t o permit greater exposure than 20Or total in these divided doses More missiors may be feasible, but personnel sho-ad be cm ef fly doses t o the entire b dy abave 2oOr may substastiallyreduce the lifei expectancy of the irradiated individual., Question 4. A submarine crew i s receiving 2% per mission. HOW m y missions should it be allDw5d t o make? Answer. The answer is substantially the same as t o Question 3. It i s probable that at le5s.t eight missions can be cw ried out. Persbnnel The possi-=ought t o be carefully checked andevaluated after each mission. obili ty of substantial reduction in life expectmcy by radiation doses 0 totaling over 20Or should not be ignored. Human genetics. At the November m e e t i x of tne Biology and Medicine Advisory Conrmittee the question of supporting work i n human genetics a propos8-l. for investigation of ck rta in human mutation rates was invited from Dr. James V. Nee1 of the University of Michigan wlro had discussed proposal will be discussed a t the J au as y meetirig of the Advisory Committee I n compliance with the general tenor of the discussion,

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and w i l l be the first research contract ‘inJhuman genetics if it i s the rest of their life span. This‘ work will be done i n the Biology Division at ORNL. The Biology Branch was represented by D r . Zelle at the December ,18conference at Oak Ridge t o discuss specific plans for the cataract, tumor incidence, snd longevity studies of these mice. study was reduced, a better statistical design developed especially for the control mice, and a convenient system of recording data on one BM, card outlined at the conference. Personnel requirements, financing, and other problems pertaining t o the program were discussea. The overall size of the The studies on the longevity of the mice from Greenbouse comprise only one part of a program on the effects of radiation on longevity. . Other studies using external sources of radiation will be initiated with dogs and other species. ments at various dosage levels, and a l s o ’ t o intermittent exposures. - Animals will be exposed t o single X-ray treatIrradiation effects on plants. Research a t the U. S . Department of Agriculture at Belts ville on an AM: project has dealt extensively with the effect of radioactive isotopes on plant growth. I n meas6ring the immediate effect of irradiation on plants it has been possible t o measure a decrease i n root length, intop growth, and the size of -new leaves, These methods are only qualitatzve and with .them little visible ‘injury t o plants i s noticeable i n such plants as barley and df alfa ’ when the plants are am i n nutrient solutions containing less than 50 microcuries of It has recently been observed that cell division ceases In the meristematic region such a$ the root tip or stem.tip when subjected toa constant relatively high level,of irradiation. The cells of the growing points enlarge; the‘cytoplasm in the cells become less dense; the cell affected by radiatfon. damaged when’ the plants are grown i n solutions whose specific activity level was low enough t o afford normal develop nt of the rest of the plant. By measuring the size of the peripheral apical meristematic c e l l s under a microscope it has been possible t o observe effects of irradiation from 50 microcuries of P32 per liter of nutrierit solution down ?:o less than 2 change i n the size of the plant. In short, the region takes on a somewhat abnormally mature .The other growing regions of stems and roots are similarly However, the cell ’ s apica3 meristems appear t o be This is a range of activity pver which there is PO apparent These results indicated that this method wiil serve as a quantitative measurement of the effect of irradiation on plants at rei at iv ely low rsdiaticr: lewis there fsa ef’fect ac pkit grcx~k. It has thus been possible t o show t h a t eveti at the lower

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Civil Defense Liaison Branch Civil ' defense legislation. .On December 8, .at the request of the c--.Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Cod tte e, on proposed civil , defense legislation, the Director of the bislsion of Biologs ax@ Med%c& information of the Commission on AM: 171/15 dated December 18, 1950. -- Subject toa request t o the Chairman, AEC, by Representative Whittington, Chairman of the House Public Works Committee, the Director. of Bioiogy and Medicine and the Acting Chief,Civil Defense Liaison Branch, met with Dr. Whittington and Representative Dondero t o discuss effects of atomic weapons relative to pending legislation for dispersal of Federal Shelters for AEE facilities. Major AEC installations have been'requested through the operating program divisions t o furnish "flash" estimates of the costs involved i n providing adequate shelters for their populations, assuming enemy air attacks w i t h atomic as well as other types of weapons, and warning systems c.apble of transmitting signals of such attacks t o the populations involved. T o assist i n formulation of these estimates tentative design criteria for COMUILUI~. type shelters and rough sketches of suggested familytype shelters were furnished as guides. Design criteria for Savannah River plant. The Acting Chief, Civil Defense Liaisor, Branch, spent a major portion of h i s time during the month working with representatives of the Division of Production, the Department of Defense, and the du Pont Company i n determining design criteria for the new Savannah River plant. Review of public shelter plans. The Commission has informed the NSRB that it will examine for safety factors,if subject t o atomic bomb attack, the plans f o r the Boston Common underground. garage and plans f o r one other dual-purpose structure as requested by the RFC and the NSRBe Review of White House plans. Plans for construction proposed f o r the East Terrace of the White House have been reviewed, at the request of the Architect of the White House. \ Federal Civil Defense Administration--NSRB briefing session. Arrangements were made by the Branch for a briefing session by F'GDA and NSRB personnel with AM: staff members t o discuss civil defense activities related t o the three AM: communities. nation of so-called critical target areas throughout the country was exe plained and the factors determining such desigriation were outlined. Q maps showing critical areas for the states containing the REC communities a and states adjacent thereto were provided and have teen transmitted t o

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Information furnished FCDA and NSRB.. The Acting Depty'Aamil;istrator, FCDA, md the Director, H e a l t h Resources Office', I?SRB,. have been asd food permissible under emergency cond it is.st & ? = h t was . preparea fur 'use of the AM: emergency radiation monitoring teams in event of atomic disaster 'and was furnished these agencies for use in their national civil defense program.. Review of FCDA documents. FCDA's "Iiealth Services and Special WeaponP Defense" Ma;nual was further reviewed for technical accuracy i n galley-proof and page-proof form prior t o its public release on December Radiation Instruments Branch . The FCDA issued Specifications for Civil Defense Radiologicdl Monitoring Instruments on December 6, 1950, as the result of in lt i al broad specifications prepared by the Radiation Instruments Branch. A l - though there are several points i n the issued specifications with which AM: persons are ,not i n complete agreement, the specifications will be useful t o radiation instrument manufacturers i n giving them firm operat ional characteristics t o which they can design instruments. posed that resulting prototype instruments w i l l be evaluated by the National Bureau of Standards. Procurement and In dust rid Developnent Activities AEC-sponsored research and development. Twenty of the c i v i l defense radiation monitors manufactured by the Victoreen Instrument Company under AM: contract were received during December, These instruments are of the ionization chamber type employing the DuBridge-Brown electromeher circuit. The upper range of these instruments is 25 roentgens per hour. No determination has been made of the spectral and performance character is tics of these instruments Inspection and testing. During the month of December, 180 radiat i o n detection instruments, accessories, and components were received and tested. Seventy-five neutron dosimeters produced by the Cambridge Instrument Company were rejected beeause of manufacturing defects. these dosimeters were proc-med under a productioo development contract supervised by the NYO Instruments Branch, they will be returned to their laboratory for further inspection and return to the mmufacturer. Technical Coordination Activities I Military activities in radiation instrumentation. Progress reports concerning the many military administered contracts irxolving research i n radiation detection have not received sufficient dlstribution within the E . Since it would be difficult to obtain the Ember of copies to make e conplete distributisc, tke Bra x his pla a i ag 50 abstract aid dissed - nate this informatfon directly. Initially,a Compendium will be

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"The d ff ect s of ion iz ik radiation on the content and metabolic functions of ergothionine i n hematopoietic tissue" "Study of changes i n permeability of normal, poisoned and irradiated influence of radiation injury upon physiology of serum l i p i d s with parti cula r reference to the function of the liver " search on the metabolism and physiology of roots" absorption and utilization of radionuclides applied t o the leaves of The m r y W . Thurston Labs., Los Angeles, California - $6,000 (1 vitamins and an unidentified antitoxic factor in l i v e r on radiation

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in a attempt t o locate metastatic tumors and inter d dign as cie s in Washington University School of Medicine, Edwmd Mh ibn cb 04 (1year) - "Scanning of in vivo concentrations i n radioactivity