-3 7?) (If the gamma and beta radiation measurements taken during Nevada tests had been correctly interpreted at the time that they were made (i.e. taking into account the resultant exposure to children's thyroids where the food chain conditions led to iodine 132 intake), simple preventive neasures could have been taken to avoid exposure. This would require only that inhabitants of the region be warned to avoid the drinking of fresh milk produced locally. Pluid milk supplies from other regions, or powdered miikx, could have been readily substituted, thereby preventing the ingestion of excessive iodine 131 from local milk. We know of ay instance in which such a warning was issued. until the summer of 1962, when high iodine 131 levels observed in commercial milk supplied in Utah led state health officials to divert current milk from the market. 8) Correct interpretation of gamma and beta radiation monitoring measurements should have been possible by 1954 on the basis °f then-available scientific theory. Thus, it was known at that tims that (a) iodine 131 comprises a specific fraction of the total fission product, which can be estimated from overall measi.rements «ff ganma and beta radiation and the age of fallout depcait; (b) icdine 131, along with other fallout preducts, 13 deprsited on pasture grass and enters the food chain; °1) 4cedine 13. in food becomes concentrated in the thyroid, thereby incressing its biologically effective dosage to the body. ical after 1957 tnere was not only a theores- basis for this inter, retation, but also a detailed practical illustration of its importance. In that year a