432 @FFECTS OF NUCLEAR WAR 5. Blood platelet levels. are within the normal range bot somewhat below . those of the unexposed pepulatica. 6. Only 12 cases show residual chenges in the skin from beta burns. None show any evidence of cancerous change. T. Possible late effects of. radiation such as shortening of lifespen, premature aging, increased incidence of leukemia and malignancies, increased incidence of degenerative diseases, opacities of. the lena, and genetic changes have not been observed. some gb oe & The original body burdens of internally absorbed fission products appears to be too low to have produced any acute or long-term effects. 9. Tha return of the people to the slightly contaminated isiand of Rongelap has caused some tacrease in body burdens of cesium 137, sinc 65, and strontium 90. However, the levels are far below the accepted maximum permissibie dose and it is not beHeved any untoward effects will result. In view of the limited knowledge of the late effects of radiation in human beings, it is comsidered essential that medical surveys of the Rongelap people continue to be carried out tm order to detect and treat immediately any possible farther effects of radiation that might develop. Though body burdens of radio active isotopes are well below the accepted permissible dose levels and no farther significant increase in these burdens is anticipeted, a close check on these leveis during future medical surveys ts indicated. (Whereupon, at 12:30 p.m., the committee recessed, to reconvene at 3p.m.,thesame day.) AFTERNOON SESSION resentative Hoxirecp. The committee will be in order. Our first witness will be Dr. Gordon Dunning of the Division of Biology and Medicine of theAEC. Dr. Dunning will present a short summary of the effects of injection. Wewill accept his detailed statement for the record, and insert it at the end ofhis testimony. Representative Houswtexp. Dr. Dunning, the Chair wishes to apologize for the necessity of asking you to summarize your testimony. As you can see, we are running late. We are going to have to carry over some of our witnesses until’Friday morning. the morning we plan to start on article X of the outline, which will have casualty estimates, human beings in the United S and article XIII. We will try to cover that on Thursday. If we fail to get to some of the witnesses between now and then, we are going to have to carry over. We are running behind, and we have made commitments to members and others to have such data as is available on Thursday. So at this time, Dr. Dunning, we will ask you to proceed.