Public concern generated by stories in magazines and newspapers resulted in the holding of hearings by the Special Subcommittee on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy of the Congress of the United States. The hearings, with the title "The Nature of Radio- active Fallout and Its Effects on Man," were published as three volumes totaling 2,216 printed pages. Unlike the hearings of some Congressional Committess concerning activities of agencies of the U.S. Government, these were generally "harmonious," as one writer put it, marked by only one or two sharp exchanges of opinion between members of Congress and those testifying before the Subcommittee. Most importantly, perhaps was the public airing of many facts about nuclear weapons and fallout. Of special interest to this report, was the discussion of the effects of doses of radiation, particularly as to whether or not there is a "threshold", or minimum amount of exposure which can cause damage below which there is no effect, or if, indeed, the effects of radiation are “linear”, meaning that any radiation exposure, no matter how small a dose, has a damaging effect. Many scientists and experts, both from the Atomic Energy Commission and from independent universities and institutes gave testimony supporting both theories. Those who proposed that the fallout from then current testing was harmless posited that evidence indicated that there was a threshold dose for most somatic mutations, and that there was no evidence 5010300 qua %6