78 DASA 2019-2 DUNHAM: Yes. UPTON: I wonder if you would like to have them offer comments? DUNHAM: Yes. Dr. Schull! SCHULL: I would like to make two observations which I believe are pertinent before I describe the situation in Japan.in 1954 aa I saw it, First, we should bear in mind that the Japanese are uncommonly health-conscious, and to an extent that some observers feel borders on hypochondria, The face mask, for example, is a ubiquitous part of the winter scene, or at least wav in those years. DUNHAM. SCHULL: They can't outdo us. Possibly not. The second observation is that there seems to be no history of responsible journalism in Japan. The three large presses, Asahi, Yomiuri, and Mainichi are ina perpetual circulation war and they are generally prepared to take advan- tage of any situation which might enhance their status vis-a-vis one another, These two factors, when put together, can seriously restrict the relevance of the Japanese experience for a nation with different journatistic traditions, As to my experiences in 1954, the story begina in the summer of 1953 when there was convened in Ann Arbor a small informal group whose function was to decide whether or not the clinical portion of the genetic studies then ander way in Japan should continue. It was our task to determine whether enough additional information could be gained to warrant further investment of manpower and money. The consensus was that this was unlikely; the basis for this conclusion rested largely on the knowledge that many of the exposed indi- viduals were reaching ages at which no further reproduction was to be expected, and hence continued study would merely increase the “control” observations which were already much more numerous than the 'experimental.'"' There seemed, therefore, no particulariy strong reason to continue the clinical portion of the studies, and I had gone to Japan shortly after the first of the year in 1954 to terminate that segment of the genetics program. Shortly after Larrived, there was held in Tokyo a review of ABCC'e research activities; this meeting was attended by most of ABCC's departmental chiefs and a substantial number of Japanese scientists.