A-Bomb Survivors Could Expect “Reasonable Life”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23207, 20 March 1950, Page 5

A-Bomb Survivors Could Expect “Reasonable Life”

WASHINGTON, March 17. Survivors of an atomic bomb attack could expect to live a “reasonably normal life" without fear of drastic radiation after-effects, said Dr. Shields Warren, director of the United States Atomic Energy Commission’s division of biology. He said there were two possible exceptions to this general rule. Survivors might develop eye cataracts at a later date and might be more susceptible than before to leukemia. Dr. Warren based his statements on the studies of people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He said the commission had developed a number of useful medical measures against atomic attack. They included:

1. The use before an atomic attack of female sex hormones—-which temporarily suppress, the blood cell building activities of bone find marrow and some types of amino acids. 2. Shielding the body, or parts ot' the body, particularly the spleen, and somehow reducing the amount of oxygen being breathed at the time of the attack.

Dr. Warren said that a few feet of earth or concrete may be satisfactory for shielding purposes and that research on reducing the oxygen supply for individuals at the time of an attack was being conducted. Dr. Warren said that, despite the horror stores about radiation, only a few instances of sterility had been found among Japanese bomb victims.