82
RADIATION STANDARDS, INCLUDING FALLOUT
STATEMENT OF DR. CYRIL L. COMAR,’? DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL
BIOLOGY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Dr. Comar. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Itis a privilege to appear before this committee and to acknowledge publicly the wholehearted support of our work by numerous Federal agencies, especially
the Atomic Energy Commission, Public Health Service, and Departments of Defense and Agriculture.
Tribute is also due to many colleagues whose names are well known
in the scientific literature.
Contamination of food and water represents the primary pathway
by means of which the human population is exposed to radiation
from worldwide fallout.
The principles governing the movement. of fallout radio contaminants through the food chain have been described fully in the 1959
hearings of the Special Subcommittee on Radiation, and imthe
literature.
Recent developments have provided some refinement, but the basic
principles as previously set forth have been supported and are still
valid.
There has been much confusion regarding the comparative wholesomeness of various constituents of our diet, a confusion that could
be dispelled easily by an understanding of a fewbasic facts. This
report is an attempt to reemphasize in as simple and blunt a way as
possible a few of the most important principles in relation to presentday matters of public concern; such concern seems to revolve about
the undertaking of individual action to reduce the dietary intake of
radioactivity and the prediction of future levels of dietary radio-
SonDRETaTEARHiostie ARECASEYiegSRN
activity.
For clarity, it has been desirable to oversimplify, but it should be
noted that extensive research by manyscientists and in many fields
has been necessary in order to single out these few important factors
and present a simple but realistic pattern of events.
Attention is here given primarily to iodine 131 and strontium 90,
since these two nuclides are the ‘ones likely to produce the largest
radiation exposure.
It should be pointed out, however, that intensive research is being
carried out on all aspects of fission product metabolism that may
conceivably have any bearing on radiation exposure.
Todine 131: Iodine 131 is produced by nuclear weapons in relatively
large amounts, has a half-life of about 8 days, is transmitted efficiently
2C. L. Comar: Date and place of birth: Mar. 28, 1914. Dudley, England, naturalized
1941: Edueation: B.S. in chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 1936; Ph. D.
(agricultural biochemistry}. Purdue University, 1941.
Work history: Keseareh assistant,
Michigan State Pniversity, 1941-43 ; biochemist. University of Florida, 1945—48 ; laboratory
director of the University of Tennessee—ANC agricultural research program, 1948 54;
chief of biomedical research, Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, 1954-57 > professor
and head,
Department
of Physical
Biology. and director of the Laboratory of Radiation
Biology. New York State Veterinary College. Cornell University, 1957—.
Dr. Comur is a member of the Food Protection Committee of the National Academy of
Sciences, has served on many international committees, and as a consultant on matters of
radiation and health to the United Nations Food and Agricultue Orgnnization, United
Nations Scientific Committee on the Effeets of Atomie Radiation. American Institute of
Biological Sciences, Health and Safety Laboratories of the USAEC, U.S. Public Health
Service. Quk
Ridge Institute of Nuelear
Studies,
and
the Stanford Research Enstitute.
Dr. Comar wes one of the first to do radioisotope research with farm animeds, and for
many years hax been conducting studies on the movement of fission products through the
animal phase of the food chain. le is the author of over a hundred scientific papers
dealing with these subjects and of a texthook entitled “Radioisotops in Biology and
Agriculture,’
Te is also editor of an AAAS symposium volume entitled “Atomie Mnergy
and Agriculture,” and a book entitled “Mineral Metabolism- --An Advanced Treatise.”
Tetagegyts
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