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Statesman, Salem, Ors, Thui, April 21, 1955 (Sac 4-l
H-Bomb Fall-Oiit Not So Scary - - Man Ai
'Sr'r - iln
fill il . i , m
Despite Frightening Aspects, Much Protection
Available Against Atom Dust Stirred Up by Bomb
(Editor's Nate: One of the most
fearful terms of the atomic age
is fall-out the rain of radioac
tive particles that follows the ex
plosion of atomic or nuclear weap
ons. It is also one of the least
understood terms of. the age. The
following story may relieve your
nightmares today and save your
life tomorrow)
..By ALTON L. BLAKESLEE .
Associated Press Science Reporter
CHICAGO If) Fall-out seems
Co be the bogeyman scare word
of our times.
But stop and look at it. Look
with the focus of facts, say a num
ber of scientists, and many of its
panicky aspects vanish or look dif
ferent. Fall-out really isn't mysterious
or hard to understand. Why then
is it frightening? .
It's frightening to some people
because they believe there is no
protection against it. This is not
true. ': --
It's frightening to some because
they think an H-bomb could lay
an all-inclusive carpet of radio
active death over 7,000 square
miles, an area almost the size of
New Jersey, or of Connecticut and
Rhode Island combined. Again,
untrue. ,
It's frightening to others who
see fall-out as a genetic time
bomb, playing hob with heredity
and dooming thousands of unborn
children to death or illnesses. Ex
perts disagree on how much risk
there is of this. 7 i
Sea of Radioactivity
Fall-out scares some who . re
gard radioactivity as a brand new,
terrifying thing. Actually, we have
always lived in a sea of natural
radioactivity. ' ,
Every second, .5,400 radioactive
potassium atoms explode in your
body, giving off x-rays. So, every
second do 2,160 radioactive carbon
atoms. That's" -or a person weigh
ing 130 pounds. A heavier person
is even more radioactive. You're
also bombarded from within and
without by rays from radium and
uranium, and by cosmic rays.
You and your ancestors and chil
dren are all naturally radioactive.
Fall-out had nothing to do with it
The new thing is that fall-out
is adding to this radioactivity. The
critical question 1s: How much?
Dangerqusimountsnow; fiz
i come : t
good civilian defense system is es
sential to give people instructions,
to take charge. , ; , ,
If a bomb hit Washington, you'd
have an hour's warning before the
radioactive cloud passed over the
Baltimore area, says Dr. J.B.H.
Kuper, of Brookhaven National
Laboratory of the AEC at Upton,
Long; Island. '
I If you should be caught outside
and dusted, you should remove
your clothing, take a bath with
soap 'and water. Some corn meal
Kids, Hot CpffeeDon't Mix
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Seeds tf Paaie
Fall-out is sometimes : blamed
for causing floods, tornadoes,
frosts and drought, for skin rash
. es,- for making people feel giddy,
for oittimr windshields. These ideas
are nonsense. They are even dan
gerous seeds of costly panic, some
scientists warn.
"Peot)le may be highly -vulner
able to a mere threat of atomic
warfare because of the sense of
mystery about radiation," declared
Dr. Austin Brues, director of the
Division of Biological and Medical
Research at Argonne National
Laboratory.
"The danger of panic could far
exceed that of atomic war alone.
There is a very thin line separating
false , security from unreasoning
fear, and one gets the impression
that people dash back and forth
across this frontier like jittery os
triches: Only knowledge can broad
en this line to a place where peo
ple can stand.
Knowledge Is Defease
Knowledge about fall-out is your
defense.
Beein with , a bomb test
A tremendous blast and heat,
'and a colorful cloud soaring high
in the air. If the bomb bursts near
the; ground, the cloud contains
what will become fall-out dust
sucked up by the explosion and
made radioactive. Some of these
oartkles "live" only a short time,
giving off their rays and turning
Into something harmless. Others
can live for many years
Coarse, heavier particles quick
ly settle out, falling in a highly
area. For a small bomb, this area
may be up to 20 miles'-downwind.
For an H-bomb, up to 100 or "00
miles. v
Liehter stuff can float for miles,
even 20 around the world before
it slowly settles, or is brought
down bv rain or snow. Most of
this far-driftin stuff is made up
of tiny balls of glass. It is vapor
ized sand or m war pernaps
vsDorized buildings.
Disclosure that one H-bomb
could dust 7.000 square miles with
dangerous fall-out hit some people
. with terrifying impact. The Atom-
. ic Energy Commission (Atci said
thi. fan-out could threaten survi
val of humans within that area
But manv Deonle overlooked ex
acUy what the AEC said. It said
fall-out would threaten humans
ever that area under the worst
possible circumstances and if they
took no protection. It also said this
fali-out would be patchy, not even.
. ly distributed.
Easy Protection 1
Protection is easily possible.
The basement of your home
could - give protection; ; so could
concrete buildings. Even a fox-hole
with a wooden cover would cut
exoosnre to damaging radiation.
The cloud would soon pass; the
rain of dust Wtuld StOD.
- "Get out or get under" advises
Dr. James Arnold, university
' Chicago physicist. Be declares
This is what can and did happen when a hot coffee pot and kids
get tangled up. Mickey Parker, 1595 Berry St, (top photo) is de
monstrating the danger of an accessible coffee pot, while Jackie
PescheL 1245 Mill St, is shown being comforted by a nurse at
Salem Memorial Hospital where he was confined for barns receiv
ed when he tipped a hot coffee pot over on himself. The coffee
pot is just one of the dangerous items found in the average house
being j)oini&juUhjsKekly the JMarioa CouBt,Healtb depart
went antf the Saleif Jumior Chamber "of Commerce, in observance
of National Child Safety, Week. (Statesman Photos)' .
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Dangers for Children
Lurk in U. S. Kitchens
The average kitchen contains
130 square feet of potential death
especially for children. , j
Dr. Willard Stone, Marion Coun
ty Health officer, Tuesday ' used
this illustration to show mat the
kitchen is the most dangerous room
in the house for children.
The health 'department in con
junction with the- Salem Junior
Chamber of Commerce is this week
Lsponsoring local observance of Na
tional Quid Safety Week. Purpose
is to point out accident-prone areas
around the home.
5 Died Accidentally
In Marion County last year five
children died accidentally in home
and near-home areas. In Oregon
more children died last year-in
home tragedies than in automobile
accidents. .
The Child Safety committee is
beaded by Robert Ooates for the
Jaycees and Wade Patterson for
the health department. f
: It has . distributed some 6,000
pamphlets and posters, depicting
safety practices, to local schools,
youth groups and to Salem tner
chants for distribution to patrons
of toy departments and other ju
venile areas.
The committee also has arranged
for a series of safety talks at local
organization meetings. Press and
radio publicity releases also are
mduded as well as a film avail
able for free , showing at adult
groups and schools.
Safety talks this week will in
clude these at the Exchange Club
today at noon; South Salem Cham
ber of Commerce tonight, and at
the Optimists Club meeting Thurs
day night
Dr. Stone said Tuesday- that
more than 600 children die annu
ally in America from home poison
ing accident, and 36 per cent of
these deaths are , attributable to
common household items, such as
bleaches, polishes, and other liq
uids, Children under. 5 are more
prone tp poisoning accidents.
Other accidents which have taken
lives include those from sharp in
struments, hot scalding liquids and
unguarded appliances.
added to water would help scrub
off particles sticking to the skin.
- Afterward, you could hose down
your; home. But check where the
contaminated water collected.
You'd have to avoid contaminated
food or water canned food and
water would be helpfuL
Civilian Defense
The severe fall-out area prob
ably would have to be evacuated
a task for civilian defense. A
battery-powered radio could be
your source of instructions. Inex
pensive devices can be marketed
to warn you of dangerous areas
i of fallout.
' Water from, wells would be safe
to drink, but reservoirs might be
contaminated. There are methods
to make reservoir water Safe fair
ly quickly.
The point is simple intelligent
action and knowledge can save
your life.
How about the fall-out threat
from Nevada bomb tests?
From all bombs tested so far,
we've been exposed to as much
radiation, on the average, as that
in Tone chest x-ray, the AEC says.
Merrill Eisenbud of the AEC
Health and Safety Laboratory in
New York, directs the compiling
of daily reports of fall-out and
natural radioactivity from 89 sta
tions over the country.
The amount from fall-out so far?
Just a fraction of the normal ra
dioactivity always present, no
where near enough to cause burns
or sickness, he says. j
Foods Radioactive : '
All foods are and have been, ra
dioactive. In one quart of milk,
3,000 potassium atoms disintegrate
every minute.
Radium, uranium and thorium
are scattered through the earth,
enough so 100,000 of these atoms
disintegrate each minute in every
square foot of the earth's soil.
Plants take up some of this radio
activity, and it enters your body.
You breathe radon gas from
radium. , :
Radioactive potassium was
formed when the earth was born.
Radioactive carbon is continually
being made high in the air as
atoms of air are bombarded by
cosmic rays. The carbon drifts
down, enters plants, animals and
humans. So does some tritium, the
triple-weight hydrogen used in H-bombs.
f. woes wis natural radioactivity
do us harm? No one knows for
sure. An the radioactive atoms
within you are only a billionth of
a fraction of one per cent of all
the atoms in your body. But rays
from some of these atoms might
hit and change the machinery of
body cells to cause some cancers,
according to one theory, j
Fraction of Normal
Eisenbud estimates that all the
fall-out from all bomb tests since
1946 was enough to add 10,000 dis
integrations per minute (to each
square foot of soil, in this country.
This would be only a fraction of
normal or background radioactiv
ity. The average amount of radia
tion per square mile from fall-out
would have to be multiplied by a
million to cause detectable injury,
according to Dr. John C. Bugher.
director of the AEC's Division of
Biology and Medicine.
&narp argument comes over
whether fall-out is producing bad
genetic or hereditary effects. Here
you can pick your own experts:
Dr. A.H. Sturtevant California
Institute of Technology: Fall-out is
subjecting us to enough additional
radiation to produce 70 American
children a year with changed
genes. Worldwide, at least 1,800
children born each year with
cnangea genes. Most changes or
mutations are harmful, : can pro
duce humans constitutionally weak
ened, more subject to infections
and diseases. ;
Dr. Ralph Singleton, Brookhav
en geneticist: inere probably is a
safe level of radiation, below which
no genetic changes occur. Exten
sive experiments with corn have
shown that it takes a sizeable
amount of radiation to produce
mutations. Cattle severely burned
by the Alamagordo, N.M., bomb
in 1943 have not shown any genetic
mutations. There has been no sig
nificant signs of genetic effects yet
among 50,000 babies born to sur
vivors of the Hiroshima and Naga
saki bombs. I'm more alarmed
about the 35,000 automobile) deaths
a year than over genetic death.
think some geneticists are un
duly alarmed. We need to prevent
war, and if bomb tests will help
do that, any small risks are justi
fied.
Change Unknown -
Dr. Kuper. Brookhaven: There
is very poor data on the incidence
of human . mutations. If the rate
of spontaneous change is not
known; how can we know what is
a significant increase?
Dr. Muller, Indiana Univer
sity geneticist: "It is a common
fallacy that mutations produce
grave visible abnormalities. Circus
freaks and monsters, f hough often
cited as examples, are rare. For
each change obvious in the first
or - second generation, hundreds
are; too small or obscure to-be
seen. Yet genes with unnoticed in
dividual effect have important
combined action."
The National Academy of Sci
ences recently took note of the
divergent views among scientists
and laymen on the nature and de
gree of human dangers resulting
from the use of atomic energy.
Financial Backing
The academy announced it will
undertake a "broad appraisal of
present knowledge about the ef-j
fects of atomic radiation on living
organisms." The study will receive
the cooperation of the Atomic En
ergy Commission i and ; financial
backing from the Rockefeller
Foundation. ' j
Earlier, (the Federation of Amer
ican Scientists had called on the
United Nations to establish a com
mission to explore and evaluate
possible dangers from continued
bomb tests. .
Fall-out from an atomic war
could be quite a different matter
from fall-out spread by bomb tests.
Could it destroy humanity? Not
likely, most experts hold, for the
radioactivity probably wouldn't be
spread over all inhabited areas. '
Asked that question. Dr. J. Rob
ert Oppenheimer, famed A-bomb
scientist, said: "Not quite. You can
Herd Inspection
Action Delayed
Marion County Court has de
layed action on a request by Mrs.
FV L. Zielinski that a' substitute
herd inspector be appointed to
inspect her herd. .7
The court in replying to the
request, said that under a court
order of 1950 those requesting a
substitute herd inspector must
submit a written application set
ting forth exact reasons for . the
request ; '
Dr. John Hanrahan is the regu
lar inspector. ' . i ,
Stay ton Soldier
On Transport
SEATTLE (UP) The transport
Gen. W. A. Mann arrived here
Wednesday from the Far East with
four Oregon residents among the
servicemen on board.
They are Pfc ' Norman G. Wil
liams, Canyon City ; A3-c Thomas
W. Godwin, Gold Beach; Cpl. Rod
ney A. VV uman, Lakeview and
Cpl. Douglas C. Barrow, Stayton.
Italians Give
Adlai Trouble
ROME (ijp) An unrecognized
Adlai Stevenson had a minor run
in with police Wednesday before
he was admitted to Premier Mario
Scelba's official residence for
lunch.
Police guarding the residence
held up Stevenson's taxi, in whiqh
the 1952 Democratic presidential
candidate had arrived alone, until
he was able to establish his iden
tity: .
Stevenson said Scelba invited
him to lunch when the Premier
heard he was : passing through
Rome on his way to a "business
trip" in Africa. The Democratic
leader arrived by plane from New
York Tuesday night. I
Fashion Designer
Has Cut Wrist
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (UP)-L A
22-year-old New York fashion de
signer and . wife of dancer Nick
Condos, former husband of com
edienne : Martha Raye, was in crit
ical condition here Wednesday
with a slashed wrist.
Dr. Ralph Robbins said Barbara
Caplin Condos-had -a . cut on her
left wrist which had bled profuse
ly. The doctor said the young wo
man also was in a comatose con
dition caused by "eight or 12
sleeping pills. ,'
Condos told detectives his wife,
whom he married last November
in Aiken, S.C., had been ill and
despondent.
certainly destroy enough: of all' hu
manity so that only the greatest
act of faith can persuade you that
what's left is human.'
Fall-out could be one strong rea
son why nations may avoid future
war. For winds, obeying no man,
could carry to the victor the dam
aging fall-out from bombs which
destroyed the vanquished.
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