- 20 #
.
*
In the context of his comment it is interesting to
refer to the National Academy of Sciences,
National
Research Council report of 1961 on the Effects of
Inhaled Radioactive Particles. [{c] The first
sentence reads, "The potential hazard due to air-
borne radioactive particulates is probably the least
understood of the hazards associated with atomic
weapons
tests,
production of radioelements,
and the
expanding use of nuclear energy for power production."
A decade later that statement is still valid.
Finally
let me quote Drs. Sanders, Thompson, and Bair from a
paper given by them last October. [d] Dr. Bair and
his colleagues have done the most relevant plutonium
‘oxide inhalation experiments.
"“Nonuniform irradiation
of the lung from deposited radioactive particulates is
clearly more carcinogenic than uniform exposure (on a
total-lung dose basis), and alpha-irradiation is more
“sf
carcinogenic than beta-irradiation.
The dceses reguired
for a substantial tumor incidence, are very high, how-
ever, if measured in proximity to the particle; and,
again, there are no data to establish the low-incidence
end of a dose-effect curve.
And there is no general
theory,
or data on which
to base a theory, which would
permit extrapolation of the high incidence portion of
the curve into the low incidence region."
I agree and
I suggest that in such a circumstance it is appropriate
to view the standards with extreme caution. 31
{c}
U.
S.
NAS-NRC Subcommittee, Effects of Inhaled Radioactive
Particies.
Report cf the Subcommittee on Inhalation
Hazards.
Committee on Pathologic Effects of Atomic
Radiation.
Naticnal Academy of Sciences - National
Research Council, Wasnington,
848,
(a]
NAS-NRC/PUB-648, 1961.
D.
C.
1961.
Publication
Sanders, C.L., R.C. Thompson, and W.J. Bair,
Cancer:
In:
Inhalation Carcinocenesis.
Division,
Proceedings of a Biclogy
Oax Ridge National Laboratory,
conference heid
in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, October 8-11, 1969.
Hanna,
"Lung
Dose Response Studies with Radionuclides."
Jr.,
P.
Nettesheim,
and J.R.
Gilbert,
M.G.
|
eds.,
U. S. Atomic Eneray Commission Symposium Series 18, 1970.
pp. 285-303.
(CONF-691001).
31/
Geesaman,
Donald P.,
“Plutonium and Public Nealth,"
>}
Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Calif., GT-121-705,
Avril 19, 1970,
reproduced in Unterarciund Uses of Nuelesr Erercv, Part
7
.
.
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