Minutes of Meeting of Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine at the New York Operations Office and the Radiological Research Laboratory Columbia Medical Center, New York, New York

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE' held at the NEW WRK OPERATIONS OFFICE COLUMBIA MEDICAL CENTER New York, New York

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR BIOLOGY ADID MEDICINE The fifty-fourth meeting of the Advisory Committee f o r i3iology and Medicine was held at the New York Operatiom Office, New York, on Friday, January 13, 1956 and at th'e Radiological Research Laboratory, Columbia Nzdical Center, on Saturday, January 4, 1956. Manbers of Dr. Gioacchino Failla, Chairman Staff of Dr, Charles L, Dunham, Director Medicine, AEC Dr. Roy Albert Staff of Mr. Merril Eisenbud Epr, Joseph C. Clarke OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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Hiss blaomi A. Halden Staff of Mr, George Speigel Legislation Eshblishing an ACEPI - Discussion on Conflict Dr. Failla convened the meeting at of Interests 9:OO A.M. All of the Advisory Committee was present with the exception of Dr. Burnett. Dr. Failla asked &.Brown to speak on the prmosed %egislation establishing an Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine." referred to his remarks made at the previous meeting of the Committee concerning the matter of conflict of interestx and anti-trust laws as it applied to consultants and advisory committees in the Commission. He spoke of a proposed document that is to be presented to the Cornmission by the Division of Organization and Personnel concerning a plan for an interim review of possible conflict between the current private activities and interests of consultants and designees and their services to OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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the AEC. Mr. Brown stated that comments had been forwarded t o the Director. . of the Division of Organizatioh and Personnel by Dr. Dur;ham listing specific reasons why resenbent might r e s u l t from what the consultant may regard as "prying intotf h i s private affairs if the plan is placed into effect; also, thk memorandum listed several suggestions that, if acceptable, would enable the same results to be achieved. of the Division of Organization and Personnel reads as follows: The memorandum, dated December 19, 1955, addressed t o the DirectorI ' ;, "This is i n response t o your memorandum of December lk, 1955, requesting our comments on the plan t o request information from consultants concerning their private financial affairs i n an effort to identif'y possible conflicts of interest situations. "While we can appreciate that recent events urge us t o be vigilant against such possibilities and t o use utmost circumspection i n the appointment and use of consultants, we feel that the ill will which may result from probing i n t o a consultant's private affairs (where there exists no statutory requirements f o r so doing) may offset any possible gain i n The following are some of our reasons: 1. Is the same information concerning private financial affairs also t o be elicited from AEC ml oye es ? If not, should we . require more of consultants than we do our employees where the risk of embarrassment is potentially greater? 2. Quite i n addition t o resenting the.inquiry into private matters, the consultant has no absolute assurance that he is invulnerable t o prosecution under conflicts statutes even if the AEC gives him a clean b i l l of health. understand it the sanctions for violation of the statutes are directed a t the consultant and not the agency. other words, what does the consultant g e t out of i t ? OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY We feel that such an approach will accomplish the result desired uithout incurring the resentment which might r e s u l t from what the consultant may Mr. Brown brought out that one of the things that was discussed a t the last meeting was legislative recognition f o r the ACBM. He presented the proposed Bill f o r discussion which would provide statutory recognition for Mr. Berman joined the meeting during the discdssion. He spoke of the ramifications of the proposed Bill and mentioned that the Bill had not received Commission approval and therefore it w a s subject t o change. said that it reads very much like the provision i n the Atomic Energy Act for the General Advisory Committee. It provides for the establishment of an Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine t o advise the Cammission in Mr. Berman continued by outlining the provisions of the B i l l and stated that one section of the Bill provides that the Committee will have the right t o determine and appoint one of its own members as said that &.Berman should be commended for his efforts in helping t o draft the proposed Bill. lipon the conclusion of the discussion of the B i l l , the Chairman pointed out that the proposal t o give statutory recognition t o the ACE24 did not originate with the Committee. He said that it was initiated OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY by the Staff of the Division of Biology and Medicine and favored such a move if, i n the opinion of the Commission, it would increase the usefulness and effectiveness of the Committee. Furthermore, t o the extent that such a move might insure for the future the independence t h e Committee now enjoys, it would seem' t o be a uorthDr. Shilling asked f o r some discussion on the conflict of interests as it may effect consultants. Afull discussion ensued with Dr. Bugher saying that his own personal feeling is that consultantk zre presumed t o be reasonably intelligent and capable of discerning wherein -$&tutes are applicable t o this situation. And, that "Iwould think that the responsibility of the Commission and the Division i n particular has been discharged when a consultant is informed as t o what the legal problems are, and what the legislation i n the distance means." Dr. Ehgher added further t h a t the proposals as listed i n the last three paragraphs of the moral responsibility on memorandum would be adequate t o discharge aqy the part of the Commission. Dr. Albert presented a status report on the Health Control i n the Uranium Mining Industry. He told of a meeting held i n February 1955 in Salt Lake City which had OFFICLAL USE ONLY

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been sponsored by the Industrial Commission of Utah t o draft a set of regulations which the seven states particularly concerned vith tvaniw mining N t g h t adapt. The AEC and the Public Health Service wa3 teptesented. About six n&hs l a t e r a meeting was held with the mine operatars and out of t h i s has come a set of recommendations which Utah has adopted and uhleh consist essentially of the f a c t that the mines themselves have to laake their own service and report the values o f radon and i t s daughters and do their, own controlling. - &, Albert state.d further that gradually the ether s t a t e s are adapting similar regulations with certain modifications, He spoke of the status af the health of the niners themselves and of a survey made by the pttbUc Health Service a t o d d the vicinity of the Colorado Plateau in which 1300 miners had been examined out in the field - and something t o the otder o f forty to fifty that were examined some showed evidence o f cancer* . Dr. Cantril inquired whether these people, Rr. Albert replied shared evidence of lung disease - and radon test of s*les will be done on no, this was a physical ki nation in which the people had a chest x-ray, blood count and urinalysis and a history and standard type physical, Mr. Eisenbud pointed out that it is not a t a l l unusual far the AEC t o want t o take a regulatory function in the field of health and safety. OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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. OFFICIAL USE ONLY He said that the immediate problem is that the tolerance which is being proposed i n the ,AEC regulation simply cannot be met i n the mines a t the present time. The mine owners w a n t an exception t o that tolerance and this decision is going t o have t o be made i n the neemonth or two. Mr. Eisenbud stated that h i s uwn view is t h a t these tolerances can be met as a matter of economics and "1 think here is where our responsibility lies, because I think this industry would not exist except for the fact Mr, Eisenbud continued by saying that I t i f the cost of operating those mines as determined by us does not permit adequate ventilation of those mines, we w i l l have t o change the price, It is as simple as Dr, Glass inquired as t o "what sort of weekly exposures do these miners get?" I&. Albert said, ''they vary but the average concentration i n the mines runs 3 x curies per liter, but I think some of the values may run seven times this at some of the working places." Dr, Doisy pointed out t h a t this is the situation - that we hBve t o tiranium and therefore miners are exposed t o radon and other products. * . . However, it is our responsibility that we actually do the work ourselves and that it is the responsibility of the AEC t o see that the miners are OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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Dr. Bugher raised the question of whether the AEC should be encouraging uranium mining on the Colorado Plateau if supplies from other countries are available a t substantially lower costs. A fur aer report on the problem will be made upon the return of Dr. Albert from SouthernAfrica, where he has gone to nake a survey of the Uses of Atomic Enercry a summary concerning the Geneva exhibit and future plans for exhibits i n Mr. Butenhoff provided the meeting with this country. He said t h a t the Geneva exhibit uas shown i n New York at the Carnegie Endment for International Peace Building the latter part of October. ?he exhibit lasted f o r a two-week period and approximately fifty thousand persons visited it. A great deal of interest w a s displayed by high school bays in particular who asked "how do we g e t into the atomic energy field; what sort of courses should we take i n college?" Mr. .Butenhoff indicated t h a t the biggest problem was gettfng across tothe people a few basic concepts in the new atomic energy field, with special emphasis placed on a reactor. He stated that plans are i n the offing f o r the exhibit to be sent to Oklahoma City i n April and possibly l a t e r to Philadelphia. Dr.Failla commented that ue should decide what we want t o accanplish by these exhibits because they are going to cost a l o t of money and time and "in my opinion the most important problem is OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY t o inspire young men t o go into science, not necessarily in nuclear science but t o go into science i n general." Dr, Doisy suggested that it might be well t o present the material through a moving picture. Mr. Butenhoff responded, y e a , however, seeing the actual items of the exhibit are much better." Also, "there are certain movies available, and incidentally, the people who make cinerama a r e planning or a t least thinking about putting on such an atonic energOl &,Shilling said t h a t Number 4 of cinerama has been i n planning now for about five months and is entirely devoted t o peaceful uses of a t d c Health and Safety Health andsafety Laboratory as well as the Manager of the New York Mr. Eisenbud, who serves as the Director of the Operations Office gave an informative and interesting review of the history of the Laboratory. He said that the Laboratory began i n 1947 and it was s e t up by the Commission in the New York Operations Office. field consulting service t o small plants and an analytical and instrument Its function was t o provide facility to assist them on phases of radiological health programs. He presented a bibliography which listed 90 references of uorks published i n the open literature since 1950 which indicated the kinds of things that OF FIC rn USE ONLY

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have been done in the Laboratory during the past s i x years. Note: A copy of the list of publications is available in the files of the Division of Bioloav and Medicine. The following agenda gives in concise review the presentations of Industrial Hygiene Studies Open Field Burning of Fl-le Wastes w. Harris Industrial Hygiene Services W. Harris Scrap Decontamination P. Klevin Industrial wgiene Analytical Service I. Uhitney Accelerator Surveys L. Solon Beta Absorption Techniques I?. Hallden Luncheon - Hotel Empire Tour of the Health and Safety Laboratory Continuation of Presentation of Laboratory Program Aerial Radiological Monitoring The Worldwide Monitoring Network Cumulative Fallout to Sept. 1, 1955 Caparison of Gummed Film and Pot Comparison of SI--90 in Gummed Film Collection with Soil Accumulation Analysis for Sr-PO in Milk Contamination of the Pacific OFFTCIAL USE ONLY

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY The Committee felt that it was a particularly stimulating experience to get a feel for the tremendous enthusiasm which Mr. Eisenbud had conveyed to his entire staff, ?hey felt that it is certainly one of the most versatile and scientifically competent groups that they have been privileged As the programs were unfolded they became;keenly aware of the contpibutions the Laboratory has made t o the safety of AEC operations ever since its inception, not only with respect to radiological hazards associatedwith . . Taw material activities, production activities, weapons testing-and a variety of laboratory activities, both on-site and off-site, but also with respect to toxicological problems as they arise from AEc% use of toxic chemicals such as beryllium, Comments were expressed on the Laboratory's contributions t o the "Commissionfs efforts to appraise the hazard from world-wide fallout both on land and on sea. The value t o the AEC of having such a group of its own ready t o pick up difficult classified and unclassified problems on extremely short notice is obvious. Note: Afull purpo r t of the meeting held i n the Health and Safety Laborato& may be found i n the transcript i n the files of the Division of Biolom anb Medicine, The meeting was reconvened a t the Radiological Research Laboratory, pcl.~..bia Msdical Ccntzr, on Stafwdav. January 14, 1956, with the Chairman of the Committee presiding. WFICIAL USE ONLY

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Members of D r , …