UNCLASSIFIED
CONGRESS OF THEUNITED STATES
JOINT COMMITTEE ON ATOMIC ENERGY
April 29, 1957
'THE NATURE OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT AND ITS EFFECTS ON MAN"
OPEN HEARINGS MAY 27 - JUNE 7, 1957
Guidance to Those PresentingTestimony
Scope of Hearings
The hearings will deal primarily, but not exclusively,
with the scientific (physical, geological, biological, and
medical) subject matter associated with radioactive fallout.
Matters of program, money and policy as they relate to the
scientific research aspect will be dealt with, The hearings,
will also deal for background purposes with scientific subje
matter in topics related to weapon-caused fallout such as
fallout from reactor accidents, and the biological effects
of radioactivity caused by events other than fallout.
Approach of Hearings
The hearings are to educate the Committee and the
public about fallout, how it originates, what happens to it,
why it constitutes a hazard, what our sources and methods of
getting information are, how adequate our knowledge is, and
what the program in research for the near-future should be.
hearings thus amount to a report on the progress of research.
But because fallout it of intense concern to the Committee
and the public from a hazards point of view, and because of
differences of opinion as to the facts and conclusions as
to fallout hazards and their control, a special effort will
be made, by means of the hearings, to assemble and disseminat
information that is understandable and useful.
The record of the hearings should help competent perso:
to make the following sorts of judgements:
(1) What actual experimental, clinical, or operatio:
data is a given result based on;
(2) How good is existing data on a given subject;
(3) How good is our understanding of the phenomena
‘for which data is being collected; how good are
hypotheses used to relate data to arrive.at res.
(4) What are the results, as opposed to the conclus:
of work to date;
(5) What data should be collected urgently because
such data might never again be availa je assum
continuation of tests;
(6) What further should be done by way of standardi:
definitions, assumptions, ete,;
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