Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1958)
16 MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Offlow, PrMiy, NavimW 14. 1958 Carbon-14 Said To Pose Threat To Living, By DELOS SMITH UPI Science Editor New York -CPA- Don't fast shuffle the carbon-14 produc ed by hydrogen and atomic bombs-it pos es a much greater threat to living and future gener ations of man kind than widely pub licized stront- 1 u m-90 and other bomb Deloi Smltb .fallout pro ducts," Dr. John Linus Paul ing asserted today. He is professor of chemis try at California Institute of Technology, a Nobel Prize winner, and an outstanding scientific critic of continued nuclear test explosions. With highly refined mathematical equations, he challenged Dr. Willard F. Libby, scientific member of the Atomic Energy commission, who holds that carbon-14 from bombs does not menace health. Pauling's calculations show ed that for each year of bomb testing at the present rate, there will be the following consequences due to carbon' 14: 55,000 children born with gross physical and mental de fects; 170,000 still births and childhood deaths due to in born defects; 425,000 baby deaths either in the womb or immediately after birth for the same reasons. Wide Error Margin This, he pointed out in a communication to the techni cal organ of the American Association for the Advance ment of Science, is 17 times more than estimates of the damage to future generations from undisputed dangerous "fall-out products" for each year of bomb-testing. He granted that his calculations were subject to a very wide margin of error-the future ef fects could be five times grater or only one-fifth as great But even if less, carbon-14 from bombs is a very real threat, he said. As for the living, carbon-14 Is as great a threat to them as is strontium-90 and other "fall-out products" as regards bone and blood cancers, and a greater threat as regards dis eases resulting from radiation damage to other body tissues, he continued. Carbon-14 and strontium-90 both are radioactive isotopes of those elements. Strontium has special affinity for bone and when its stems are radio active as in the strontium-90 form of the element, the dan ger is great. The human body has carbon atoms in its every fiber and sinew; this radio active carbon would have spe cial affinity for the whole body. This would include the re productive chemistry which produce the genes that trans mit not only characteristics but structural and functional soundness from one genera tion to the next. Radioactive carbon participating to some slight extent in this chemis try, could make changes in the genes that would cause fatal and non-fatal defects in off spring. But human beings and everything else living have lived with carbon-14 since their very beginnings. Cosmic rays react with the nitrogen atoms which constitute the bulk of the atmosphere and convert a very small percent age of them into atoms of carbon-14. These -atoms, with a radioactive half life of over 5,000 years, are in the atmos phere, the seas, the ground, even the rocks. Taken Into Body They're taken up by plants, People and animals eat the plants and thus carbon-14 atoms find lodgment in their bodies. The question is how many can living bodies con tain without harm? Obvious ly the atoms made by cosmic UJGST Medford to Portland 2 flights daily $16.45 plus tax For information and reservations call SPring 2-7269 5 mpy., "r'lpW-'W Future Generations rays have never been in suf ficient numbers to interfere with life. Pauling's assertion was that nuclear explosions add enough of these radioactive carbon atoms to the existing and continuously renewed supply, to pose a threat to life which is keyed in inten sity to the number of explo sions. Each explosion releases a large number of neutrons which are atomic nuclear par ticles without electric charge. Olson-Ross Is High Bidder on Timber Olson-Ross Lumber compa ny, of White City, and Getson Mill, Inc., of Grants Pass, were high bidders for two tracts of national forest tim ber, according to E. C. Brown, supervisor of Rogue River Na tional forest. The timber was sold Wednesday. , Olson-Ross Lumber compa ny purchased the Kerby Creek sale, an estimated two million feet of white fir, Douglas-fir and other species, in the Pros pect district. Their high bid was $22.50 per thousand board feet for white fir and $22 per M for Douglas-fir. Runner-up in the auction bidding was Medford Forest Products. Other bidders were Burrill Lumber company, Red Blank et Lumber company, Kogap Lumber company, Vernon E. House, and LeRoy Edwards. Conducts Auction District Ranger Doug Baker conducted the auction. According to Dick Swan, timber department manager for Olson-Ross Lumber com pany, logging will start im mediately in the expectation of getting at least half of the volume moved to the sawmill logdeck before winter. Hieh bid was slightly more than two times the minimum price at which the forest serv ice advertised the timber. Getson Mill was high on the Baldy timber sale on the Applegate Ranger district. Their bid was $25.05 per thousand board feet on an esti mated 2,030 M of Douglas-fir and $13.65 per M on 35 M of pine. Runner-up in the auc tion bidding was Brown Brothers Lumber company, also of Grants Pass. Other bidder were Earl M. Manley, logger of Medford; Bate Lumber company of Mer lin; Kogap Manufacturing Legion Presents Book to Library Ir. memory of Earl A. Smed ley, who served his country during World War I in the United States Army, Americ an Legion Post 15, Medford, has presented to the Jackson County libarary a copy of John Steinbeck's most recent book, "Once There Was A War." "Once upon a time there was a war," says the author in introducing his book, "but so long ago and so shouldered out of the way by other wars and other kinds of wars that even people who were there are apt to forget." In reading Steinbeck's on-the-scene portraits of the war, however, originally filed as dispatches and now published in book form, one not likely to forget the human side of World War II with which it is concerned or of wars before and after it. This is the 38th memorial book donated to the Jackson County library by the Med ford Post of the American Legion in honor of departed members. Any group of indi viduals interested in placing memorial books in the library is invited to confer wth the library director concerning se lection of appropriate titles. GQBST BIRUnGS A relatively few of these com bine with nitrogen atoms and form carbon-14 atoms. The nub of his challenge to Libby was that enough ni trogen atoms were so convert ed as to change the natural balance of carbon-14 atoms with other elements and threaten human life, existing and future, in an entirely new way. Libby i calcula tions, which are several years old, showed the contrary. company of Medford; Oregon Veneer company of White City; Ober Logging company of Medford; DeArmond Broth ers Lumber company of Rogue River; and Spaulding and Son, Inc., of Grants Pass. Auction was conducted by Robert Sorber, assistant rang er of the Applegate district. Siarl Road Building M. R. Atkins, forester for Getson Mills said they plan ned to start road building and logging operations on the Baldy sale in about a month. Getson's bid was 2.85 times the forest service appraised and advertised price. In auction conducted at Klamath Falls on Nov. 7, high bidder for the large Nannie creek sale was Francis D. Brown, of Ft. Klamath. The sale consisted of 22 million feet of pine and fir timber near Ft. Klamath. Runnerup was Puckett and Schere, of Klamath Falls and Lincoln. Other bidders were Ellingson Timber company, all of Kla math Falls. Brown's high bid was $50 per thousand board feet for ponderosa pine, $41.75 per M for sugar and white pine, $25. 90 for Douglas-fir and $13 for white fir, shasta fir and other species. These prices are 2.23 times the advertised price. Un der the contract conditions the prices are to be determined by an appraisal on May 1, 1961, provided prices may not be reduced below those bid untill at least one-half of the valume has been removed. Porter Due on Timber Panel Eugene - Congressman Charles O. Porter (D-Ore.) an nounced that he has arrang ed with two top forest re search experts to appear on the University of Oregon campus Monday, Nov. 17, to discuss the latest Federal de velopments in timber utiliza tion. On the campus in Eugene Monday will be Dr. J. A. Hall, director, of the Forest Prod ucts laboratory in Madison, Wis., and Dr. Robert W. Cow lin, director of the Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment station in Port land. The campus conference will be held under auspices of the For est Industries Manage ment Center, headed by Dr. Norman Taylor, assistant pro fessor of business at the uni versity. Lumbermen and tim ber operators from through out western Oregon have been invited to attend a no host luncheon at the univer sity at 12:15 p.m. Monday. Dr. Hall will speak at 2 p.m. in Commonwealth hall on the subject of "Timber Utiliza tion and Product Develop ment" A panel discussion Is sched uled for 3:30 p.m. On the pan el to discuss timber and lum ber problems and answer questions from the audience will be Dr. Hall, Dr. Cowlin, Congressman Porter and Dr. Richard Lindholm, dean of the School of Business at the university. come aboard the jet age prop-Jet : 1 4 : If JOURNEYING TO WASHINGTON, Mrs. Harry Winston, wife of New York jeweler,, presents fabulous Hope dia mond to Smithsonian Institution. With her is Postmaster General Summerfield, whose mail service delivered gem. Secretary of State Appointment Brings Legal Controversy Salem-(UP&-It has been as sumed up to now around the statehouse that Gov. - elect Mark Hatfield would appoint his successor as secretary of state when he takes office Jan. 12. But a legal controversy ov er whether anything bars Gov. Robert D. Holmes from appointing a Republican to the post before Hatfield's in auguration is now in the wind. It is the first time in Ore gon history that such a situa tion has arisen. State law is clear on two points: Must Be Republican The secretary of state's of fice is to be filled by a gover nor's appointment. The appointee must be of the same political faith as the outgoing officer. , But if Gov. Holmes appoint ed a Republican, he might not be one the Republicans would want. ' Rumor around the state- The great Indian rhinocer oses, once found throughout India, now number only about 200. U Samsonite Holds 52N VTravel Needsr j Regularly $17.95 Save 3M on this Pre-Chrisfmas Special Here's your chance to get a Samsonite Train Case at a big saving. It's perfect as a gift; ideal as a special treat to yourself. Removable tray has sections for cosmetics and toiletries. The lid opens to reveal a full width mirror inside lid. "Travel-tested" finish is sturdy vinyl washes clean. Comet in Crystal Green, Rawhide finish, London Grey, Soddl Ton, Hawaiian Blue. BUY NOW AND SAVE! LAYAWAY for CHRISTMAS house has it that Hatfield may not resign his secretary of state's post until the very mo ment he is inaugurated gov ernor. This could forestall any possible move by Gov. Holmes. It also involves a delicate legal point: Does a man have to formally resign from one state off ice " before accepting another or does acceptance of the second office imply resig nation from the first? That was the question state house lawyers were arguing today. Precedents Don't Help Precedents are not too help- AVAILABLE 12" GREEN FIR or 2 FOOT. SLAB McGIHTY FUEL COMPANY PHONE SP 3-6297 - MEDFORD fufc Ex - Attorney General H. Van Winkle said in 1935 that a man who was a state legis lator and then was appointed a member of the State Game MEDFORD : . ft. CHOOSE FROM. MIDFORB BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION Commission automatl e a 1 1 y was presumed to have given up the first job when he took the second. On the other hand, the state Supreme Court ruled in 1947 Fashion Takes - v in a ...ORDER YOURS NOW! that state legislator Earl H. Hill could not accept a State Fish Commission appointment because he had not formally resigned from his legislative office. Revived SHAPE Whether the higft court rul ing applied to the executive branch or just to the legisla tive branch had both politi cians and lawyers researching today. Shape The exciting SHIRTWAIST dress, classically tailored for the American casual scene . . . So handsome you'd imagine it expensive . . . Yours now a mere pittance. SIZES 8-18 10.98 12.98 14.98 s J
