9
.
C
a
They further recommend collebor:’ive studies of tie
-:
sts
ecenig and their orvanicmo iy7d eee
vrei
urge a greater effort,
.mocap ars
Meee tee1
me AL Sart } hee
.
Finally, they convend that in ten or
tventy years certain radiotracer experime:.ts will not be possible
because of widespread low level conta.inarion of the seas,
This
may well be true,
Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation on Acriculture end
'
Food Supplies ~ Chairman, Frof, A. G. Norman,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Kichican
This group first discussed the application of atomic energy
techniques to the egricultural setences,
They feel great advances
will be forthcoming, but perhaps not es soon as some claim,
They
note the value of radioactive tracer studies in improving our
knowledge of how most economically to apply fertilizers,
improve plant nutrition,
and to
They note the great potential value of
ionizing radiation to induce mutations in gpeeding up crop
improvement
programs,
They point up to the invaluable contribution
tracer studies can make to our understanding of animal nutrition,
Tney touched on the problem of radioisotopes as possible contaminants in food products and point
out that present law classes
redioisotopes of any sort or in any amount as poisons,
They
urge a more realistic approach to this inesmuch as no food pro-
duct is or ever has been literally free of radioactivity.
There is a general discussion of possible effects of Pellour
and the like on the ecology of the cou try,
The committee
recommends that it may well be in the public interest to ex, und
the present progrems to a continuous s° dy of the chanze2s +:
level of background radiation and the : svemernts of radicactivity
in the system.
(This is in essence an zctivity that the .=2 his
alverdy undariay and is expanding veiy ..uch aeleng the linus
’
S\
ecrmended,)