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Advisorjr Committee f o r Biology and Iiledicine The,twenty-sixth meeting of the Advisory Committee for Bio log r and Iiedicine was held on Friday and Saturday, Idarch 9 2nd 10, 1951, a t t h e Atomic Energy Members of Committee Dr. Alan Gregg, Chairman Staff of LXC and Division of Bio loa Capt. John 8. Katers Eir . Uerril Eisenbud
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The Chairman convened the meeting a t 1O:OO o'clock. Iiockefellcr Institution for Medical Research who has Report on Support of Res. Projects -(Official Use Only) the last meeting of the Committee i n January were Research proposals approved and declined since replaced Dr. John 2. Bowers' as the Deputy Director for Brown, Jr., who has been appointed to t h e position of Executive Officer for the Div5sion.. The first order of business presented tothe Committee was a discussion of the minutes of t h e meeting held a t the HOO on January 1 2 & 13, 1951. "he minutes were approved unanimously upon a motion discussed by U r s . Dunham, Tuttle, Claus, Pearson and Tolbert. The Committee concurred i n the Division's action with respect t o each projcct. Alist of projects approved and declined i s attached. . Considerable discussion ensued on the relative adva &ages abd d is adv kt ages of the llgrant-in-aidfl contract aver t h e present lump sum basic research inthe liEC program. The Committee,was advised that
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the staff of the Z>i.vision of Biclogy and bledicine will study the further problem and report back t o the Committee atits May meeting. . expressed themselves as looking with favor on a grant-in-aid form of proposal vr!iich would give assurance of support f o r a period of two or three Civil Defense Civil Defense The.Comittee welcomed Gov. Millard Caldwell, the meeting a t the afternoon session t o discuss civil Gov. Caldvrell opened t h e 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 is 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, namely8 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 Tr~~ining--operntionof the staff colleges and technicp.1 training for citizens volunDr. Werrcn described the AKC role in Civil Defense. Technical information will continue t o be made available to the FCUA, within the limits of security,in order that AEC experience in radiation hazards, radiological monitoring, the study of the Japanese casualties, and research on the effects of atomic weapons, may be reflected in civil defense Dr. Kiefer oriented the Comnittee on the medical program and spoke of t h e able assistance he had received f r o m tho Division of Biology and Medicine inthe preparation of the booklets "United States Civil Defense" and "Health Services and Special Weapons Defense," He stated that the Health and Welfare Office had three branches; namely, .Professional Service - Operation and Organization and i n Zddition, consultants in each of the vaio us fields. Colonel Wilson, the Assistant Administrator of FCDA told the Comit teo 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 problims of medical
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Colonel !Elsol2 fur th cr adv is d the Committee that one of the m o s t importcant functions of the emergency welfare services is registration and information. service provides rapidly by pre-arranged means information t o families for their security. Captain Waters, Dircctor of Security Division and Mr. Fleury concurred in this statement and ste ted that lGJ2 welfare units within the installations would tiein - kith the Red Cross ata state or local level. The Committee, Governor Cal&#ell and h i s staff displayed interest i n the narration by Dr. Tuttle regarding an iris diaphragm which had been developed byl:r.aJohn H. Simons of the Division of Biology and developed a method of grzphically projecting on the maps various dm.ge zones of selected cities. the zone of total destruction, the half mile radius around ground zero following a high air burst; second, a extension t o show the radius of tierma1 effects ; and third the radius of blast effect for then mal 20 kiloton bomb. The diqhragm is especially adapted f o r use by speakers addressing large audiences. It was brought out that Mr. Simons has hir. Bo~mans mm rize d the remarks that he had made recently at t ~ f ogeneral information meetings held i n the St a is of Michigm. He stated that each group
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was primarill: interested in shelter protection, I n th;t connection he told the groups thst It ... the first s tsp to bc taken inmy community is t o survey what i s now available"--thc interior of lower stories of office buildings ?Ad apartments, for example--before considering new construction f o r shelters.Mr. Bowman said further that the problem of 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 inthe discussions, It was agreed unanimously that it was 2. very informative session m d mutually profitable tothe AEC. and the FCDL Dr. Warren 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 por phr in excretion, etc. Some work i n these categories is now being carried on atthe Memorial Hospital, the James Ewing Hospital and thc Kettering Institute. Due t o
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emergent conditions and the importance of t h i s work, and after considerable discussion regarding the possibilities of initiating it at institutions other than those named, it was the sense of the 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-outform 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 ink rested in the experiment t o investigate the shelter po ten fia li tie e of automobiles as an aid to civil defense, Dr. Claus, through means of slides, presented that part of the discussion and it was indioated t h a t such studies are Atomic domb Casualty Commission Due tothe importance of the research program in Japan, the problems of continuing the work of the ABCC were reconsidered in light ofckvelopments which had occurred since the meeting held a t t h e KO0 on January 12and 13, 1951. Dr. Narren told of his conferences
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ivith Dr. Joscpb 3 . Kocpfli, Scientific Advisor t o the Secretary of State. Dr. Koepfli has offered h i s with the needs of the prog rm in Jrrpzn and stated that he would advise the AEC ?.s t o the progress th2.t i s being made regzrding thc. peace treaty soon t o be negotiated with the Japmese Government . tat ions with the Bureau of the Budget i n which they .indicated they would-agree tothe continuence of the program within the limitation of $1,000,0.00, . light of the willingness of the MAS and the expressed interest ad cooperztion of the Department of State,. voted t o continue operation of theJ3CC work i n Japan, and recommcndcd t o the Commission that the contract with the Academy be renewed ad that the general scope of the-work--so f a r as conditions permit--be continued ES currently defined, nzrncly: general medical survey, leukemia survey, cz tar act studies, genctic studies. These may b e modified from time t o time by joint consultation by representatives of the AEC and NILS. I n formulating this recormendation the Committee believes that the work must bi.cz.rrizd out toits logic21 conclusion
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and must necessarily be pursued over 8 considerable period of tia e. operZLtionwould be m stef ul sci mt if ic nll y and f inc mci ally 2nd that ths study must 5c continued for It i s recognized that short time con,ittee be sct up t o guide the field operations of the ABCC consisting of rep res dt at ives of the Academy of Officio chairman and an cxccutive Secretary is t o be appointed t o hvldle all adclinistrative matters. Plant Nutrltion Hescarch ' Cr. Tolbert gzve a revicw of the research projects now being carri2d on: in Soils and Plmt Nutrition as sponsored by the Division: nnaely, thr&e projects on the State and Avail c bil it y of M ner pl s in the Soil totaling $197,460; eight projects on Absorption of Minerals by Roots mdHoot Physiology i n the .anoh* of $73,190; five projects concerning Tramlocation a d Disposition of Slaments i n Fro j ect s totaling 827,989 and four projects pertaining t o Function of Minerals HOO Kadlec Hospital Dr. ftarren subnitted 2 copy of the By-Laws, kles and Regulations c.f the hfedic,ll Staff of the Kndlec
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Dr. Ralph ?deader ofthe Natioiel Institute of Health joined the meeting on SaturdRy afternoon t o tell the Committee of the progress that has been made in tne joint investigation of the United States Public Health Service and 1;EC on sub-humm prinates. Advisel of thc approval by Dr. Scheele, the Surgeon General of a rcconnendation that certain funds from the current appropriation for the National Cancer Institute be seeking advice 2s t c thi. desirability of extending courtesy stzff privileges to doctors fron surrounding cities to practice reg ule rly at the Kadlec Hospital, part icu lz rly f ron Pasco aid Iknewick; 2nd such practice t o be limited to project-connected personnel. The Committee was of the opinion that if the ho spitz l did extend courtesy pri vile.gs to a limited nunber of .qualified physicinns admitting them t o staff menbership that it would attract young men of ability to that area. After afull discussion the Committee expressed thenselves a s being i n favor of cxtcnding courtesy privileges for use of the Lndlec Hospital toa limited nunber of qualified physicians (possibly three) and their choice should be de te mined by the Mmager of the Medical Divisions.
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Dr. Zelle discussed the question of designlbg A X install et ions .for, szy, 2/3 of tolerance exposure report of the ad hoc corn it tee of geneticists, important thata chmge in policy would be unwise. Dr. Russell's &.ta t o hunans working for varying periods a t 2/3 the present tolerance, Es that c - s as high as 84 per cent were obtained f o r the proportion of children receiving 2.n induccd nut ation fr on one pvrent who had worked 10 yeers under such conditioqs. receiving a donimnt mutation with better th v la 50 per cent chc?nce of being a sevi?re handicap vias recornmended that any dx is ion to alter the present -I n addition to the conservative policy of dcsigning f o r ossentit.LLly mro exposure should be nadc: atthe Commission level. Dr, Hardie reported on the status of thc Industrial Fellowship ?rogrm, advising the Comnittee that Dr.
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Sterner hrld recsived 25 q y li cations for fellowships f o r ih& next sclicol yew, axid th2.t four xould be avarded fellwiships 5;’ the Scl sc tion Comit tec which i s scheduled t o neat “,he latter part of ikch. Dr. Gregg mk ed the mmbars of the Cornittee to sub n it nnnes of persons for considerEtion atthe next meeting as a successor t o Dr. Rronk who will be retiring from t h e Committee an June 30, 195’L Next Meeting Next Ike ting The x x t meeting of the Cornittee was scheduled t o be held at the University of iiochester on Friday uld Saturday, ikby 18 m d 19, 1951 Letter from Commissioner Pike t o Dr. Gregg Letter from Dr. Gregg t o Chairrian Dean