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’ BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE ~
content, this trip is in part an effort to find the maximum concentration offstrontium 90 in
humans and thus estimate the high end of the distribution curve for stront; am 90 in the
world population.
os
|
Too.
Soil Sampling Program
' Since 1953 the AEC has sponsored a program of world-wide soil sample collection and
analysis under a cooperative agreement with the Department of Agricultu - The purpose of
this program is to provide information on the amount of strontium 90 ‘in sBils as a result of —
weapons testing and on the ratio in which strontium and calcium enter the ood chain and
ultimately find their way into the skeleton.
nr mem rE
cee a A ee Se Ae We atest adh pce sieaae
ra,
. Arrangements were made for a Departmentof Agriculture represen
ive to revisit the
‘sites of earlier surveys to collect additional samples in Europe, Africa,
Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the British Isles.
uth America,
:
A gimilar program was to be conducted in the United States in the
wereto be resampled at locations visitedin the past, and in addition,
taken from locations at different latitudes with similar rainfall patterns
effect of latitude on the deposition, of fallout: material.
‘of 1957. Soils
les were to be
determine the
Activities at the Health and Safety Laboratory, New york Operations Offi
‘Pasture survey. Strontium 90 and calcium determinations werebeire
made on samples .
of vegetation, animal bone,.and soil collected from five pasture sites* duging the years 1953
to 1956, inclusive. Analyses of vegetation and animal bone were complet
The soil analyses
were being repeated by extraction of the soil with hydrochloric acid for ¢ mparison with
the results obtained by extraction with ammonium acetate and electrodialfsis. Strontium 85
was being used as a tracer to permit more precise estimation of the analftical yield in the
strontium 90 separation.
Available calcium in soils. Thirty soil samples from all over the w@rld, including the
United States,.were being analyzed by the isotopic dilution method to detefmine the amount
of calcium available to vegetation, in order to check the validity of other fommonly accepted
methods for the determination of available calcium.
Improvement of cesium 137 determinationin milk. The method of a alyzing powdered
milk for cesium 137 was being studied to prevent losses ‘during the initiaJ
ashing. The
procedure was being tested for reliability by recovery experiments and
qkchange of samples ;
with other laboratories.
Preparation and analysis of standard samples.
Ten standard samplds of ashed animal
bone, simulated human bone ash, and ashed milk and vegetation ‘were prepared for distribu-
tion through the United Nations to various countries. ‘These samples willbe used for interlaboratory comparisons of analytical procedures. This will remove one @f the chief obstacles
in the evaluation of the analyses performed in various countries,
BACKGROUND RADIATION STUDIES
‘In August a team from the Health and Safety Laboratory of the New
Office conducted a study of natural background radiation over a wide aref
ate. Sen PE
a
* Ithaca, N. Y.; New Brunswick, N.J.; Raleigh, N. C.; Tifton, Ga.; and
Fork Operations
of the United