Congressional inguiries to the Commission.
But most people feared that
the atomic explosions had caused the severe tornadoes, and other unusual
weather plaguing the country that spring of 1953.27
The Commission, however, was worried about the Upshot-Knothole
fallout.
‘Troy, New York had suffered a long-distance rainout and the
Commissioners had received reports that fallout had caused the unusually
“large number of deaths in 1953 among sheep herds grazing around the test
site.
The fallout issue came to a head when Los Alamos scientists
wanted to add an additional shot to produce vital data for the 1954
thermonuclear test series.
Although the President and the Cammission
approved the shot, one of the Commissioners was so concerned about
fallout that he requested a full-scale review of "the highly interrelated public relations and safety problems" the Cammission had created
in Nevada.78
The Commission immediately launched an investigation cf the sheep
deaths
and
a
full-scale
review of
Nevada
testing.
Camission
scientists, "fully aware that the future of continental testing might
hang on the results," concluded that fallout aid not cause the sheep
deaths.
They remained silent on whether it might have been a con-
tributing factor and in. public announcements the Commission "glossed
over
the
fact
unanimous, "*?
that
scientific
opinion
on
the
question
was
net
The review committee decided that continental testing
should continue but suggested several methods to reduce fallout “=m
test
shots.
The Commission
adopted most
of
the
suggestions
integrated them into planning for the next continental series.
anc