they

They do

know what

‘re doin

y PETER THOMAS

HAT is the continued testing of hydrogen and atomic bombs doing? It is exposing

. the entire population of the world to some degree of radioactivity, without
knowing what the long-time harmful effects will be.
_ _ Every scientific development that man attempts to apply for his use can have

to prevent damage and suffer-
ing.

For instance, when matches

were first produced on a large
scale, very many of the work-
ers in the match factoriés died
of phosphorous poisoning —
the disease known as “fossy-
jaw.”
_ Similar cases can be quoted
from the applications of X-
rays and radioactivity. When
X-rays were first used, sever-
al of the workers exposed
themselves to dangerous am-
counts of radiation, with the re-
sult that they developed X-
ray burns and, in some cases,
cancer.

The same thing happened
with the discovery of radio-
activity. Many people died as
a result of radium burns or

Yadium poisoning. Madame
Irene Joliot-Curie, who died
earlier this year; died of

leukemia, a consequence of
her earlier work in radioact-
ivity.

_ Scientists “who are now
working in new fields recog-

nisé the risks they take in
this way, but in some cases
inaustrial workers may . be

employed, with no knowledge
of the risks they run.

Workers who were employ-

ed in the period 1916-24 in
making luminous watch and
clock diels swallowed radio-
active material in the course
of their work. Some of this
remained in their bodies and
Many deaths occurred, from
anemia, or bone diseases such
as cancer.
. Again, workers in the mines
1n Schneeberg and Joachimstal,
where radioactive ores are
mined, died in jarge numbers
from lung cancer as a result
of their inhaling radioactive
materials.

It is estimated that, up to
1939, nearly one half of the
Miners who died did so as a
Tesult of lung cancer.

*

Up till 1945, however, the
exposure to radioactive ma-
terials was limited to relative-
ly few people. With the ex-
plosions of the first atom
bombs, the whole populations
of both Hiroshima and Naga-
Saki were exposed to such
dangers.

We do not yet know the full
effects of these bombs. We do

know a great deal..

We know that exposure to
large amounts of radioactive
radiations cause a general ill-
ness, known as radiation sick-
ness, which can be fatal.

Radiation can also cause
diseases which only develop a
considerable time after ‘ex-
posure — such blood diseases
as anemia, not always fatal, or
leukemias, which are always
fatal.

It can cause cataracts, result-
ing in blindness. It°can also
give rise to miscarriages and
stillbirths. The people of Hiro-
shima and Nagasaki have al-
ready suffered all these effects.
knowledge of

Our present

dangers. Far too often these dangers have been underestimated until it is too late

the effects of radiation leads
us to believe: that even some
20 or more years after the
explosion the bombs will still
be claiming as victims people
who will even then still be
developing cancer in various
forms.

Further, we know that ex-
posure to radiation can cause
changes in the heredity of our
reproductive cells. These gen-
etic effects, termed mutations,
can give rise to miscarriages,
stillbirths or deformed child-
ren. The full effects of these
mutations do not show at once,
but may appear increasingly in
future ‘generations.

When an atom bomb ex-

sf
4%

Les Calion, Toronto Daily Star

Stop them before it’s too late!

plodes, vast amounts of radio-
active radiations are given off.
Such radiations were respon-
sible for a large proportion of
the deaths in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.

But in addition to the radia-
tions given off in the moment
of the explosion, the bombs
produce large amounts of ra-
dioactive substances which
are thrown up into the atmos-
phere and settle later, as “fall-
out.”

As a result or the U.S. test
explosion in the spring of 1945,
inhabitants of one of the Mar-
shall Islands were exposed- to
large amounts. of fadiation
from fall-out.

Everyone remembers _ the
fate of the crew of the Japan-
ese fishing vessel Fukuryu-
Maru, who were also victims
of fall-out. In an _ ordinary
atombomb explosion, this fall-
out settled fairly quickly, cov-
ering an area of several hun-
dred square milés.

But in an H-bomb explosion,
the material is sent much high-
er into the atmosphere and
drifts around the world, settl-
ing down everywhere, on
everything. This takes a very
long time.

It is estimated that it will
be ten to 20 years before ail
the material produced by the
few _H-bomb explosions that
have already taken place set-
tles out.

The radioactive material pro-
duced in these explosions var-
ies in the strength of its act-
ivity, and also. in the length
of time for which it remains

radioactive. Some materials
remain radioactive for only

fractions of a second, others
for thousands of years.

These materials are also pro-
duced in the piles that are
used for production of nuclear
power, But in the piles they
are produced slowly ‘and can
be separated out and stored
until their activity dies down.

As a consequence of the

_fall-cut of the various A and
-H-bomb explosions that have

already been carried out, the
entire world is now subject
to extra radioactivity from
this source.

*

The Medical Research Coun-
cil, or MRC at the request of
the British Government, has
just produced a report on the
subject of radiation dangers.
The U.S. National Academy
of Sciences has just published
a similar survey.

The general conclusions of
the two reports are the same,
with one very important dif-
ference. This is that the Am-
erican experts recommend for
safety very much lower levels
of radioactivity than does the
MRC.

With such disagreements
between experts it is clearly
essential that before any more
explosions are made a fuller
scientific investigation must
take place of the dangers-in-
volved.

So far as we can tell, radio-
active radiations have always
“been present on the earth.
They have been present in the
form of radiation from such
substances as radium, thorium,
uranium, and other radioact-
ive substances that occur
naturally on the earth, and
also to some extent in the
form of a radiation that falls
on earth from

outer _ space,

called cosmic radiation.
This all provides what is
called the natural radiation

background. Also, since the
discovery of X-rays, various
types of X-ray machines have
been in use, such as those used
for diagnosing broken bones,
duodenal and gastric ulcers,
or tuberculosis, or even for
fitting shoes. This has all re-
sulted in an increase in the
amount of radiation to which
the world population has been
exposed.

The MRC report discusses
ali the various dangers that
can occur as a result of radio-

Continued on next page

July 6, 1956 —PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 11