Beet ea at ae, wt . na The project will be carried out under contract with the Universityof Temesses with sore personnel from the Toxicity Laboratory being transferred ta Oak Ridge with appointments on the University of Tennessee staff. MEDICAL BRANCH Plutonium Toxicity Project ~- University of Utah During the rast year it has become increasingly important to Commission operations in plutonium processing that the actual tolerance dose or per— miesible burden of plutonium in human beings be determined with a higher degree of accuracy. Previcus determinations of permissible burden have been basedupon experiments with rats, mies and other anall animals. The validity of extrapolating this data to cover the cemlitions of hwaan being exposed to Plutoniua is open te considerable question. It was determined that the dog was an animal ef choice for determining Wis tolerance. Attespts to find existing facilities within Commission installations ani in other Federal laboratories which would permit 2 long-term animal experiment on the chronic toxicity of plutonium involving the use ef 200 te 300 dogs was without result. The University of Utah Kedical school snd ite dean designate, Dr, John 72. Bowers, expressed an interest in assisting the Commission in the solution of this problem, Accordingly, arrangements were uade with the University of Utah to construct animal facility permitting studies with az many as 250 dogs, and a ten-year program of research on the toxicity of plutoniua, radius and other radioactive emitters was initiated, It is expected that thie progran will be under way by Nowember 1950 and that results of sigificant value to the Commission in questions of plant design and operation will acerue within two to three years, Medical Information Exchange. At the request of the member agencies of the Interdepartmental Committee for Research ani Development, the Atomia Suergy Comuission was asked to serve as the contrasting agency for the group amt to establish with the National Research Council an arrangement for the support of « Nedical Information Exchange, The exchange will eaintain and distribute information on the degree of support afforded individual investigators, institutions, specific programs and areas of research, The satisfactery operation of this exchange will greatly reduce the possibility of duplicationfaffort by the various federal and private agencies in the support of medical and biological researeh and should prevent over~enrphasis and under-enphasis on various fields of medical research, BIGPHYSICS BRANCH. A representative of the Odicphysics Branch returned from Idaho after completing arrangements for a study of the natural radioactive background of @Po 16—55741-1 OFFICE » SURNAME >» DATE » Fo | | DOSARCHIVES —