7,

The state of knowledge in the field of genetics

8,

Keep all exposures to the germ cells as low as

has beer outrun by our knowledge in the field of physics.

possible for radiaticn expcsure is generally detrimental to
living cells,
In essence, this Committee formalized the current

thinking on the subject.

It did not come up with any new or

startling conclusions or reccmmendaticns,

This Committes was composed of scientists well versed
in radiation pathology and chaired by Dr. Shields Warren,
Director of the Cancer Research Institute of the New England

Deaconess Hospital, Boston, Massazhusetts, and waa for five years
-- 1948 to 1952 -- Director of the Division of Bislogy and Medicine of the Atomic Energy Commissisn,

This grsup and subcommittes;on blood, lung, delayed

effects, and toxicity of ingested radioactive materials reviewed

the present state of knowledge and found that our knowledge of

immediate effects was much greater than for delayed effects,
They observed a five year lessened life span for American radiologists, estimated to have received from a few roentgens to 1000r
of exposure as compared with physicians not using radiation —-

and agreed that until we had more precise knowledge of the’ cumu-lative effects of repeated small exposure of the whole body to

radiation the rule of thumb recommended by the Genetics Committee

could equally well apply to medical effects,

That is, no one

should receive more than 50r total ascwmlated dose to the repro-

ductive cells by age 30 - and ne more than 50r for each decade
thereafter, This, they felt, would assure that any life expectaney curtailment would be exceedingly minor, and the likelihood

of induced leukemia minimal, They noted that as far as effects
on the blood-forming organs, the intestinal tract, etc., are concerned, none of these effects have been detected among those who

have adhered to present permissible dsse levels,

.

NAS

As for the hazards from ingestion and radicactive

materials, they confirmed the validity cf existing National Committee for Radiation Protection and International Commission for

Radiation Protection recommendations and as for the most important
of the fission products in fallout, namely Strontium-90, they

stated "there seems to be no reagon to hesitate te allow a universal
human strontium burden of 1/10 of the permissible yielding 20 rep

in a lifetime..,,.

Visible changes in the skeleton have been reported

Select target paragraph3