ARE WE
ENDANGERING
OUR
CHILDREN'S
CHILDREN?
(Continued)
fission, there are radioactive wastes. Some
of these wastes are being released into the
atmosphere. Some are being introduced into
our rivers. Some are being buried in the
earth or dumped in the ocean.
In underground steel tanks, enough ra
dioactive waste is stored to pollute all the
land and water of the U.S. These tanks are
expected to last from 10 to 15 years. Then
the material will have to be transferred,
or some new method found for disposal.
For several years, uranium mills have
been pouring "low-level" radioactive wastes
into rivers without Government regulation.
The sea also is being used as a disposal
plant for radioactive wastes. The waste is
either sluiced into rivers that empty into
the ocean or dumped overboard from barges
in steel concrete containers.
The day is close aj hand when we can
change the oceans' salt water into fresh
water and thus transform desert regions
into rich foodlands but there is a risk
that We may have polluted the oceans
with radioactive material before that day
arrives. Thus whole populations of the pres
ent and future stand to be exposed involun
tarily and unwittingly . to radioactive
materials whose hazard to the human race
can only be guessed. The long-term soe
disposal of radioactive substances is an
international public-health problem which
will be uiith us for centuries to come,
t Until now the responsibility for deter
mining what dangers radiation raises and
how to control them has been dissipated
among too many scientific committees sup
ported by various Government departments.
A new administration in Washington and
a new President are moving to grapple with
the tremendous problems that face us at
home and abroad. President Kennedy has
appointed John Jay McCloy as director
of the U.S. Disarmament Administration
which will deal with the question of further
nuclear testing. However, many scientists
feel that the time is ripe for the establish
ment. of a top-level agency to deal solely
with radiation and national health.
What seems to be urgently needed is a
powerful new arm of the Government to
protect our people today and the children
of tomorrow from indiscriminate and exces
sive doses of man-made radiation from any
source. It must be concerned not with the
development of nuclear energy but with
the need to safeguard everybody's health.
In the meantime, what can you as an in
dividual do to protect yourself and your
family against radiation? First of all, in
regard to X-ray or fluoroscopic treatment,
don't panic. There is no need to panic if
we take constructive steps now. By con
structive steps, I suggest that we all be
gin a permanent radiation diary which
describes the medical and dental radiation
diagnostic tests and treatments which each
member of your family undergoes. It should
list dates of exposure, as well as the esti
mated dosage when possible. Be sure that
each physician or dentist who proposes a
radiation test or treatment is acquainted
with the diary's contents.
I also suggest that we support organiza
tions and legislation attempting to set up
public safeguards against , the misuse and
overuse of radiation.
Legislation should be enacted providing
that every baby in the U.S. be provided
with a medical record which would itemize
and total his known exposures to doses of
man-made radiation from birth.
Far more stringent controls should be
exercised over radiation use.
State legislatures should set up more
stringent codes and regulations for licensing
and supervising doctors, dentists, and tech
nicians operating X-ray equipment.
Medical and dental societies should ex
ercise far more vigorous campaigns among
doctors, dentists, and hospitals to reduce
unnecessary exposure to radiation, and
these should be augmented by far more
stringent controls, at the state and Federal
level, over radiological machines and the
people operating them.
TtWosT important of all, the public must
be alerted to the dangers of radia
tion from all man-made sources. Throughout
the country, groups should be organized
like the St. Louis Committee for Nuclear
Information which has been publishing re
. ports on radiation hazards and collecting
the baby teeth of children to measure ac
curately the accumulations of strontium-90.
Cities and towns also would do well to fol
low the example of New York where a
Scientists' Committee for Radiation Infor
mation is providing community groups with
speakers on radiation and nuclear energy.
As we move inevitably into the nuclear
age, we all must realize that there still
are enormous gaps in our knowledge of ra
diation's possible harmful effects. If we fail
to meet this deadly challenge in the coming
decades, the results can be disastrous. The
1950s told us much that was new and alarm
ing about radiation. But warnings by scien
tists and medical men have not taken effect;
we still lag in mobilizing our resources to
meet this invisible enemy.
Let us pray that, as we move further
into the 1960s, we don't make the same
mistakes. The stakes are the world of the
future and its children.
Family Weekly, February 26, 1961
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