OFFICIAL USE ONI VY -8as those described by Drs. Cotzias and Dahl could not be adequately supported, He felt the Committee should strongly endorse such programs. There was general agreement among the members that programs such as those of Cotxzias and Dahl are excellent and extremely important to the national interest. —In his concluding remarks to the Committee Dr. Bond pointed out that outside support amounted to about 10% of the budget in the Biology and Medical Departments. He felt that if the facilities and groups were to be maintained especially in the Medical Department, something drastic must be done at very high levels. 936°5° Bruges briefed the Committee on the potential availability of Pu and Pu “ These two isotopes have short half lives and can be easily detected by gamma counting. The principal usefulness visualized would be in animal experimentation although some quantities might be used in soils and experiments with plants to study transport. Because of the shert half life there is not a problem with persistent contamination. Jf there is sufficient interest in obtaining these isotopes, DBM will approach the Division of Research to determine whether they can be made available. Dr. Bruner then reported to the Committee an episode involving an overdose of radiation that occurred in Detroit. A 68 year old woman had a Mucinous cystadenoma removed surgically but during its removal the cystadenoma broke and seeded the peritoneal cavity with metastases. The tumor board of the hospital recommended intracavity therapy with chromic phosphate. Through an error, sodium phosphate (the phosphate being radioactive with P -) was given, The total dose amounted to 30 mc. Sodium phosphate, of course, is easily absorbed from the peritoneal cavity. The woman died four weeks later and the death certificate showed metastatic cancer and pulmonary infection. No autopsy was performed. A radiological physicist in the hospital found the error in the records and reported it to the Division of Compliance. Dr. George Thomas was requested to investigate. The clinical records showed that the woman had anemia, severe leukopenia, and bleeding into the intestinal tract. The conclusion was that this was a radiation death. The bone marrow dose was estimated to be between 600 and 900 rads. The AEC license to the hospital has been revoked but Compliance apparently is ina quandary as to what to do next. No action was requested of the Advisory Committee. Dr. Bruner then reported on the activities of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. The final drafts of reports on seven subjects have been prepared and the document will run to approximately 350 pages. During the deliberations on these documents, the physicists apparently argued strongly for use of the man rad concert while the biologists were generally opposed to this concept. Some sort cf 4 compromise was reached and the concept is apparently somewhere in limoo. Dr. Bruner showed a couple of interesting tables that will appear in che report. The first of these had to do with levels of ambiwnt radiation. OFFICIAL USE ONLY