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nter .was,dedicated on Decembe c t g r of the AEC's Division of Biolom.md Mekche and is ' presently pathologist at New En&d Deaconess Ho'spital and Professor of pathologsr at.Haf- ,'The.$.6,500,000 center has-been under.construction for, 2 gears. Included iq the MEDICAL REEXAMINATION OF,TIIE RONGELAP PEOPLE aminations* sinc,e their accidental exposure to radioactive fallouf in'I@rch'1954. The latest Except for residua1"changes in .skin from beta burns, manifested by kild atrophy, some;' scarrfng,.and pigment aberrations,' there has been no outward evidence. 6f radiation effects; No symptoms or diseases have occurred which a r e related to radiation effects. 'Disease incidence among the irradiated people is about the' same as in the uurradiated' popdaaon used as ' qlthough blood 'studies conthued to show a slight lag id the recovery of the lymphocytes. . to normil.levels,'there was no indication of ill effects attributable to this condition. nancies, leukemias, increase in.degenerative diseases, premature, aging, ltfeshortening,. . .
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BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE Excretion tests currently in use are not very precise and to be usdul must be carried out ' repeatedly; in some instances the time' required to'perform the tests may exceed the period during which decontamination procedures should be undertaken. received by the men involved in the criticality incident in the Y-12 plant at Oak Ridge.* Results obtained suggest that the whole body counter under certain conditions m a y well prove useful in estimating dosage. Where there is contamination of body surfaces, however, the counters will give high readings and the true dosage cannot be obtained until sometbpe later when the body surfaces have been $oroughly decontaminated. A whole body counter .was recently used in an attempt to estimate dosage of radhtion A broad program bask.ad applied genetics continues to be a,mdjor'segment"of the.. .. diation make$ genetics a requisite area for intense study; the ultimate ho*:is the,critid , were made duringthe year in 6tudies.evolvhg the survey of the offspring of marriages between related individuals (first cousins) and the,calculation of the normal,lwa of detrimqntd genes'in man.' Study of a group of such marriages in the Chicago area indicate8 &t &ut four detrimental genes are carried on the average. A preliminary repoc oq cousin marriages in. 'Japan also indicates that ,anincreased probability of early death coincides. with .thismiid form of inbreeding. More detailed investigations' of the Japanese are' to be continued joi&y,with the Japanese under the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, and a new contract was signd for a study by a genetics group at the University of Pavia in Italy of :the .effects of consanguinity in that country. The Gtter study wili also include a direct attempt to measure the mutition- . rate of several common blood antigen genes. Direct.studiesof' human po r e al&ys difficult, but seve Efforts to study rackition-induced genetic damage in man must take advaptage & any available opportunities. Alteration of the sex ratio (ratio of the numbers of males and females born) is one accessible measure. An analysis of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki data indicates a real possibility that detectable sex-linked lethals were induced and that the rate of mutation per roentgen in man is probably similar to the mutation rate found in experimental determinations . .. in mice. Study of a small group of offspring of American women receiving ovarian radiation exposure for therapeutic purposes also suggests that sex-@ked lethal gene mutation. la a significant hazard i n man. The most significant recent finding i n the field of experimental genetics is an optimistic one. Data on mice'-strongly suggest that, per rbentgen absorbed, protracted or low intensity type exposure. This is contradictory to all past experience, which was based almost entirely to the Joint Committee. ,'
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. . on nomammalian organisms. Present. interpretation is that the protracted exposure does not ...... sequently some forms of mutational damage a r e repaired,br washed out.: Thi,s assumes,.of . 'in basic genetic studies on mi.cro-organisms and plants. Some repair 6 occur in the presence . . .. of active protein metabolism. This information may. support the findings in mice, noted. above: Although it is still too early to plake refined judgments,,.it now seems credible t o . s s u m e that the mutavonal process may not be the absolute and inalterable event preyiouulJt considered. However, there is no evidence, 'direct or'inferred, that complete recovery q occur; the new In an effort to extend knowledge of mammalian genet&, a Iong-term study on -been instibited at Iowa State College.'.Swine are,well-knoh with regard to such traits as growth, early viability, and productivity, and.ws ba&ground.of know1 applied to the problem of radiation-induced genetic variilbillty. The progeny boars are to be studied through the greater,.part of their - life be8 in.order ,years before preliminary data can be analyzed. . . A small program of crop improvement by r&ation his been active for Bome years: possesaing other characteristics which make them superior to other commercial stralns. tions over a 10-year period, aad'selecting from among these the superior. mutant. potential agronomic value because of increased yield, modified maturation time, or altered ' disease resistance. 'Studies undertaken 10 years ago culminated recently.in the release b North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station of a's- of jxanuts resista This new variety, the first of its kind.to be released in the United +tee, resulted from sub-. ' . jecting peanuts to a rah tion dose of 18,500 roentgens, studying 'the resultant 11,000,mutawhen the exposure is at a lower rate protfacted over the lifetime than when the same total Evidence is beginning to accumulate that fast neutrons are: significantly more hazardous ......... of exposure increases and the rate of exposure decreases. This observed change in .RBE has detailed investigation in the near futureat Argonne National ,?Laboratory; A smal1,research' This problem as well a s others i n &e field of neution'toxicity will be' subject.to mor< reactor is being built for the Biology Division at Argonne. This reactor wilLhave two primary. . .
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thermal col,uns, -one,for high dose :rates and one for low dose rates. The attached e e s u r e for-reactor &are evaluation. This.exieiiicii.entails.akrge-scale p r h on the toxicity "topics s u d a S techniques. of atmospheric.,s&pling, intensified simpling and analysis as-- . In addition to the -comprehensive ta&tion of d i t i n g data 'on ,wo&tt+t & issued The U. S. Weather Bureau expanded its activities relating to correlation and evaluation Atmospheric sampling capabilities of the AEC, Air Force Cambridge Res&ch Center, Air Weather Service, Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, and Napal Research UhrabrJr. have been organized into a screen extending from the equator to polar latitudes of bbth hemispheres and from grounb level to as high as 90,000 feet at'several latitudes. h u i h g and immediately following the HARDTACK test series, samples were analyzed not only for fission products, but also for tungsten 185, which is present in debris from this test series in quantities sufficient for use as a worldwide tracer. Studies using this isotope are expected tobrovide new info~u~ationon the movement and deposjtion of debris from equatorial tests.' They already have shown that there was a rapid spread of material across the equator to the' . Southern Hemisphere under the particular meteorological conditions existing during this'-' tions Office. Copies have been furnishedto the Joint Committee.
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Committee on Food and, Nutrition f o r NatioGal Defense,-to Wh&h the .AEccontribirtes' SO In essence, the report states'thaithe.hazard from d r b o n 14 arises not only'from the effect of the. ionizing k'ta radiation emitted by-carbon.14, but Blso from the so-called trans-. '. An unc&ified AEC report on the biological hazard.of carbon 14 was issued during he , . year*. and was reprhted, with minor alterations, i n the ma-ine Science. mutation,+ffect. m e transiutiiion effectis the effect on genetic mutation rates of the 'of carbon 14 from weapons testing;to ,date is only aboqt one-tenth of 1percent o f a e . General Leveis of Worldwide Fallout The rainfall collections in New York City indicated a rise of about' 10 millicuries of f '.. strontium 90 per square mile for.the gear for New York'City, with fulldata. . not yet a d a b l e . other. types of land i n California, Nevada, and Utah during 1957 'kfter Operation PLUMBBoB, indicated strontium 90 deposition levels oftfrom 5 to 45 millicuries per square mile, -values :.. that are not very different from Flues recorded all,over the world, away'from any test'site. Analyses were not yet completed on additional soil samples from types of land not r e p e l sented in &e first 12 sets of samples.. . . in New.York City ranged from 3 t o 5 strontium units, which represented lower values.than , . were recorded in 1957. The mllk in Manhan, North bakota, which had been up:to about SO ,; , , about 22 strontium u n i t s toward summer. These.findings strongly indicate that direct leaf "1 . pickup is more .important for grasses than is root pickup in times of increased rate bf Studies with rats at the University of Rochester showed that feeding strontium 90 for' . .
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use in tracer doses in human'patients, are proceeding at five hospitals, two i n s e w York City' . a n d one each i n Chicago, Om&, and Los Angeles. Strontium 85 has the further advantage of being a gamma emitter, and its distribution in the living body can'be followedpy an external scanner. These studies are directed toward determining the comparative metabolic tUrnOver of calcium and strontium, as well as possible means of removing strbntium from the skeleton' , where it deposits. The largest program on toxic effects of strontium 9O'is at the Ukversity of Utah. Purebred beagles are given a single injection of either strontium 90 o r radium at an early age and known group of documented radium a s e s is the so-called radium dial painters, Some of the the human r a d i d cases. Other dogs are given strontium 90 in doses which duplicate the , radurn burdek. It is believed that any observed parallelism between radium and strontium i n dogs can be profitably extrapolated back to man. dogs are given radium injections a t doses which cover the range of internal radiation found ih !
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ings in concrete, brick, or block houses increases the effectiveness &..the home as a .'' " ' shelter. For basements of brick and wood frame houses radiation is reduced @ y about : ' 4. Dose rates a r e appreciably decreased behind chimneys and inside fireplaces.' 5. A.n improved shelter consisting of a heavy table placed in the corner. of a base-.'.'. m.ent and covered with 7% inches of concrete block feduces the .radiation by a factor I ;:.. 6: The contribution of fallout on roofs of 2-story houses to the dose 'rate on the .: 1. The data obtained from +is experiment are of.&mediate value to Federal agencies, -.-. builders, architects, .engineers, and olher technical personnel concerned with the construction &f fallout protection in .the home or with modifications and improvisations to improve shelter against fallout in existing homes.,. h,ta ;ere collected'in an experiment a t the Nevada Test Site in'May 1958 on whicb to base specifications for a vehicle equipped with'radiation sources and kstruinents for .evaluatingthe . shelter characteristics of homes. A test vehicle is being developed by an AEC contractor;-and trial runs aye to be made, using the typical residences at the Nevada Test Site, in order-to . ':. prove out the technique, to refine &e procedures for deploybig the.&liation sources and. measuring instruments, and to establish safe operating procedures: When this.survey vehicle has been perfected, it will be possible to evaluate 'the protection against fallout radiation afforded by individual homes, to point out to. the homeowner the safest place h the house, and to suggest mea& .for further improving the available protection...By % this means the nucleus of a hom'e protection plan can be established.' In 1957 two experimental models of a n instrument which combines a portable'transistor ..,radio and a radiation dose rate meter were fabricated, and in 1958 Radio Corporation of. . . America manufactured 25. prototype, 'instruments which have been purchased for evaluation and testing purposes. It is hoped that this unit will ultimately be commercially produced and ' ";' marketed as a "citizen's instrument" which will serve the dual purpose ofproviding an b,&-' vidual with the means f.or measuring directly the radiation'hazard in his envirohment and at; . . the same time keeping him, informed regarding official civil defense announcements. . :. ' .. Close coope'ration in civil defense matters .continues between the AEC and the OCDM; .hi Q emergency operations of gcivernment: addition to participating i n more formal meetings, members of the AEC,staff:are$~daily.con-. . tact with OCDM sdff on matters of mutua1,interest ranging from technical information to Work progressed on the completion of final reports of technical and scientific projects in ' the weapons test series including those of HARDTACK Phase II. These projeck produce:,Mormation usefui to civil defense'planning on such subjects a s shelters and radiolo
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obtain data ori the sNe1 project to obtain similar The. information develope and Gvolve' not only OCD a. OCDM and OCDM contra , on .anaspect of the tr&tinent of rakiafion s i h e s s which had not bken'pro&rfj! developed,: measures unless definitely and precisely indicated. It was decided to treat these case.s in this . men were not immediately known, (2) .the clinical appearance of the patients was 'rkaeuring; ''. . , (3) it was recognized that most:of the suggested procedures were of a supportive e t u r e , and cording to previous data, and theyfive of the eight with the highest.dosage gave clear physio-' ' I effects. with minimum clinic& illness. It is impossible from's0 few t%ses.to make a reliable decision'as to why these patients recovered so well, since the dosage subsequently was.agre.ed. to be in the lethal ra'nge; but it is reasonable t o suspect that the physicians' minimal inter- 1.. ra,diation sickness. This approach has been verified i n animal experikents at .Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Rochester Atomic Energy ,Project., and fluids, including fresh whole blood, as "standard" agents, and bbne marrow transplants and various types of blood platelet preparations among the more clearly recognized experi-' , butwere not used. Stem CWki for regeneration of the blood es, notably one with AEC p l q t industrial'physiciaxk'and one with medical research, ,
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some species-of animals; and there is reason to believe that it might work in man under the working imder AE-C contfacts are endeavoring to develop*andapply .in persons having various related blood diseases the principles of transplantation which the basic scientists have worked out i n animals. In some clinics persons with fatal leukemia a r e receiving whole.body irradiation to destroy tlie leukemic cells, followed by marrow trans plan!^. Occasionally, 'other persons with rare conditions are receiving irradiation to depress'the antigenic process! primarily for the purpose of increasing the chances of securing the suckessfd transplantation of an organ …
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