The potential range in their effects is very wide. It must first be recognized that, inasmuch as the majority of mutations occurring in animals are recessive, only the relatively small proportion of mutations which are dominants may be expected to show effects in the first postbomb generation. James V.Neel at the meeting of the Conference on Genetics convened by the Committee on Atomic Casualties of the National Research Council on June 24, 1947, but with certain additional considerations which grew out of the deliberations of the Conference. This memorandum is essentially a partial summary of the material presented by Lt. The purpose of the present note is to show briefly that (1) many difficulties beset any attempt to obtain a valid answer to this question and (2) even after a long-term study, such as that outlined below, it still may not be possible to determine just how much genetic damage was done at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. WHETHER THE ATOMIC BOMBS dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki will have detectable genetic effects on the Japanese is a question of widespread interest. The conference also recommended that a statement be prepared, briefly summarizing the current status of the problem. This recommendation was accepted at a meeting of the Committee on June 26, 1947. Following a thorough appraisal of the problem, the conference voted to recommend to the Committee on Atomic Casualties that a program be undertaken in Japan along the lines sketched out in the Neel report. Neel, the latter submitted a report of preliminary genetic studies, based on his observations in Japan during the preceding six months. At this meeting, which was attended by George W.Beadle (chairman), Donald R.Charles, Charles H.Danforth, Herman J.Muller, Laurence H.Snyder, and Lt. On June 24, 1947, the Committee on Atomic Casualties arranged a conference on the potential genetic effects of the atomic bombs. This phase of the work was to a large extent the responsibility of Lt. A consideration of genetic studies was one facet of the work of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, and a section of its January 1947 report was devoted to this subject. The potential genetic effects of the atomic bomb were apparent to all interested students from the day the first bomb was dropped-in fact, to some, well before that time. Beadle, Detlev W.Bronk, Austin Brues, George M.Lyon, C.P.Rhoads, Shields Warren, Stafford L.Warren, George H.Whipple, and Raymond E.Zirkle. Forrestal, in November 1946, and on its authority the Council, in January 1947, established a Committee on Atomic Casualties, composed of Thomas M.Rivers (chairman), George W. This Directive was issued at the request of the Secretary of the Navy, James T. The June 1946 conference group had recommended that appropriate action be taken to obtain a Presidential Directive authorizing the National Research Council to initiate a long range study of the atomic bomb effects. (j.g.) Frederick Ullrich, (MC) USNR, submitted a report of its findings to the Council in January 1947. This commission, known as the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission and composed of Austin Brues, Paul S.Henshaw, Lt. As a result, in June 1946 a conference group was convened by the Council, and in November, following its recommendation, a five-man commission composed of representatives of the Council, the Army, and the Navy left for Japan for the purpose of determining the current status of Japanese work on atomic bomb casualties, evaluating the feasibility of American participation in continued research on these casualties, and indicating the lines along which such studies should proceed. Norman T.Kirk to Lewis H.Weed, chairman of the Division of Medical Sciences. A.W.Oughterson, M.C., AUS, recommended to the Surgeon General of the Army that the Council be requested to undertake a long-range study of the medical and biological effects of the atomic bomb, and this recommendation was transmitted by Surgeon Gen. At the conclusion of the Commission's work its chairman, Col. The background of this program begins shortly after Japan's surrender, when a Joint Army-Navy Commission made extensive observations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the survivors of the bombings. One aspect of these studies will concern the much-discussed potential genetic effects of the bombs. The Atomic Energy Commission recently formally signified its intention of supporting long-range medical studies of the survivors of the atomic bombings in Japan, to be conducted by the Committee on Atomic Casualties of the National Research Council. Genetics Conference, Committee on Atomic Casualties, National Research Council
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