-4- An ad hoc committee convened by Dr. Wood has recommended that the heavy ion synchrotron be built for biomedical research in Berkeley. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has expressed strong support for such a facility inasmuch as it would provide densely ionizing radiations of the type encountered in space in a ground level facility. The committee convened in executive session at 1:30 P.M. and decided to support strongly the biomedical facility at the negative pi-meson factory. The committee felt this should have priority over the synchrotron but conceded that NASA certainly needed research of the type that could be performed with a synchrotron. The committee then discussed the published reports on cancer induction as a result of fetal radiation but was unable to reach any conclusion on whether such reports are valid or not. Dr. Totter raised the policy question of whether DBM should get into the area of epidemiology in view of past agreements with the Bureau of Radiological Health that BRH would do such studies. Following the executive session, the committee met with Commissioners Larson and Johnson. Commissioner Larson greeted the new chairman and expressed his thanks to Dr. Cohen on behalf of the Commission for his long service to the Advisory Committee. The first topic discussed was the AEC citation. Mr. McCool pointed out that the award is being considerably upgraded and asked for the Advisory Committee's help in making nominations. Dr. Moseley stated that the Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine recommends that priority be given to a biomedical facility in connection with the negative pi-~meson factory to insure that the opportunity for biomedical research is not lost. Commissioner Larson was interested to know whether the committee felt that negative pi-mesons might prove to be of superior value in the treatment of cancer. Dr. Laughlin pointed out the likelihood that negative pi-mesons may very well be the ultimate in radiation therapy. Dr. Moseley indicated that the synchrotron has a lower priority for DBM but it does have an important interagency aspect with respect to the needs of NASA. There followed a general discussion of the publications on the effects of prenatal radiation exposures. It was pointed out to the Commissioners that prospective studies had been negative while retrospective studies had been generally positive. It was suggested that it might be well for DBM to develop its own capability in the area of epidemiological research. At the conclusion of the meeting Commissioner Johnson again brought up his concerns about the studies being conducted by Drs. Paulsen and Heller utilizing volunteer prisoners in Washington and Oregon. Commissioner Johnson apparently is uneasy about the ethical aspects of these studies.