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isotopes more rapidly and thus reduce the dose.
In general, however, it
would appear wise to establish lower limits of intake of radioactivity
for children.
C.
Permissible Intake
It is the amount of inteke of a given type of radioactive material
that is important, not merely its presence or absence.
The preceeding
discussion attempted to give estimates of radiation doses resulting from
intake of fallout material, together with some possible biological effects.
Howmuch intake is actually permitted depends upon many factors including
the essentialness of the food and water to sustaining life,
and one's
philosophy of acceptable biological risks and damage in the face of
other possible hazards such as mass evacuation.
Table Three gives
estimates of the amount of contamination in food and water to produce
the radiation doses to the critical organs as shown in Graph Five.
With
these values in mind, reference may be made to Table Six of possible
biological effects from given doses.
Command decisions must then be
made as to the permitted intake of radioactivity.
Such evaluations as attempted here are necessary and valuable for
planning purposes, but once the fallout occurs the emergency of the
situation may preclude immediate analysis of the food and water supplies.
Further, the abstinence of ingestion of food and water because it might
be contaminated could not be continued indefinitely.
following three common sense rules are suggested:
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Therefore, the