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UNCLASSIFIED
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
first 10 surveys were published in August 1957 in a’ reportentitled, “Radioactive Contamina- Ss
tion of Certain Areas in the Pacific Ocean from Nuclear Tests.”
to examine the Rongelapese at about six months, one year, and two years after exposure.. Another medical reexamination of the Rongelapese was acheduled for February 1958.
-Radiobiological surveys have been conducted on many other atolls in the Marshall Islands
and also on five islands (Saipan, Guam, Ulithi, Yap, and Palau) which are up to 2,000 miles west
of the test site. Four collections weremade in the far western Pacific islands between June
1956 and June 1957, and the radiochemical analyses were nearing completion in December
1957.
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An ecological survey of Rongelap Atoll was to be initiated in February 1958. “‘Rongelap |
offers a unique opportunity. to study the role of radiation in an environment and its effect upon —
a community of living organisms. Use will be made of the knowledge gained from previous’
surveys, but many more surveys will bé necessary overthe years to obtain information about »
subtle effects of the introduction of radiation into the environment,
ATOMIC BOMB CASUALTY ‘COMMISSION
A ‘continuing search for delayed radiation effects among the survivors of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki is being made by the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC). Radiation-induced
abnormalities thus far identified by this group are leukemia, cataracts, and possibly an embryological defect, microcephaly associated with mental retardation. Although there is every
reason to believe that some genetic damage was induced by the atomic radiation, it could not
be demonstrated in the studies of the ABCC, which were performed over an 8-year period and
used data from more than 75,000 offspring. A 241-page report describing this investigative
work was published by the National Academy of Sciences and the National ResearchCouncil
‘in January 1957.*
The Director in Japan of the ABCC, Dr. Robert H. Holmes, resigned in June 1957. Dr.
Holmes contributed greatly to the development of sympathetic relations with the Japanese Government, Japanese medical groups, and the Japanese people in general. His place was taken
by Dr. George Darling, Professor of Human Ecology, Yale University.
The most significant development during the past year has been the understanding reached
with the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Japanese Government. Several conferences were .
held with representatives of the Ministry, and there were continuing informal conversations
directed toward the development of a program of mutual interest in which the Ministry would
cooperate even more closely than in the past. It has now been agreedthat the Ministry of Health
and Welfare will sponsor, jointly with ABCC, a unified program for medical study of A-bomb
survivors. The program calls for the establishment of a fixed population, extrinsic comparison groups, a morbidity and mortality detection network, and a continuous flow of data from representative patients through the clinics at a rate that would provide for a reexamination every .
3 to 5 years. The Ministry, through the Public Sanitation Bureau, will participate actively in
the mortality survey, on the design of which agreement has already been reached. The Bureau.
is ready to cooperate in the proposed morbidity survey when a mutually acceptable plan has.
been developed.
“The Effect of Exposure to the Atomic Bomb in Pregnancy Termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,’’
by J. B. Neel and W. J. Schull.
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The report mentioned above also includes datacollected by teams of medical experts who
examined and cared for the Marshallese following their exposure in March 19 54, and returned