RADIATION STANDARDS, INCLUDING FALLOUT
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Mr. Territt. Yes, sir; I intend to summarize in about 10 minutes,
a very few pages, the development of our radiation surveillance systems in the Public Health Service, and some of the arrangements we
have withother agencies to supplementthis.
The monitoring programs of the Public Health Service have been
developed as part of a comprehensive effort to assess and reduce
humanexposure to radiation. The Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare has the responsibility of serving as a focus in the Federal
Government for radiation surveillance activities directed toward
measurement of exposuresreceived by the public.
The current surveillance systems utilize monitoring techniques
which make optimal use of available manpower and equipment and
are designed to yield radioactivity measurements that can be most
readily interpreted in terms of the average exposure dose to individuals and population groups and the possible somatic and genetic
effects of this exposure.
The current systems reflect the technical competence in radiation
exposure assessment which has been built up within the national public health and scientific community in recent years; the desire of the
public to have radiation data readily available; and the necessity of
establishing screening systems to make the most effect use of available
resources.
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Data on radioactivity levels in various. environmental media are
collected through a system of intradepartmental monitoring programs
conducted, to a great extent, in cooperation with State and local agen-
cies.
Liaison is maintained between the Public Health Service, the
Food and Drug Administration, the Atomic Energy Commission, the
Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Defense and their
contractors, to assure the continuous interchange of surveillance
information. September 8, 1961, soon after the resumption of Soviet
weaponstesting, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare,
and the Atomic Energy Commission held a meeting to coordinate
surveillance activities. It was agreed that the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare would serve as the focus for surveillance and
public information related to these activities. Specific arrangements
for coordination were made at the policy, public information, and
operational levels. Concurrently, arrangements were made for coordination with the Department of State, Department of Commerce
(Weather Bureau), and the Department of Defense.
To carry out the Public Health Service responsibilities expeditiously, a Radiation Surveillance Center was established in the Division
of Radiological Health early in September 1961 to facilitate the analysis and dissemination of surveillance information. The Center provides immediate assessment of significant changes and trends in environmental radioactivity levels so that changes in monitoring
operations can be made and possible countermeasures could be developed or initiated, if required. These data are collated, analyzed, and
compiled in the monthly publication, Radiological Health Data. This
publication, which is made available to the scientific community in
the United States and throughout the world, provides health agencies
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