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

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