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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1961)
o 0 r O Greatest Radiation Mtfe By JOSEPH L. MYLER WASHINGTON tUPJ) Scien tists expect most of the long- lasting radioactive poison hurled - into the high atmosphere by this month's Soviet atomic tests to set tle on the earth in a four-month period starting in February. They will not be surprised if next spring's fallout sets a new record. The present mark was set by the Russians in 1959. What Dr. Lester Machta of the Weather Bureau calls "the great est fallout ever recorded" oc curred in March, April, May, and ' June of 1959. It came from the Soviet tests of October, 1958. This year's Russian tests start ed a month earlier and continued at a pace which threatened to surpass the 1959 rate. . . What humanity will suffer from this radioactive contamination im f s posed upon it by Russia is not ' known. Science so far has been ' unable to detect or measure whatever damage is done to man by low radiation doses such as ' those normally associated w ith worldwide test fallout. This radiation is small to the disappearing point compared with the instantaneous radiation from an exploding bomb or that from quickly descending "local fallout." Local fallout in wartime could produce, a few miles down wir.d! from the explosion, radiation ex posures amounting in an hour to ' thousands of times the dosage re ceived from test fallout over a period of years. The Soviet test fallout in the spring of 1959 increased by about ' 50 per cent the amount of stron-tium-90 deposited on the United States by all previous American, Russian, and British tests. The 1961 Russian tests, if they prove comparable to those of Oc tober, 1958, could build up the strontium-90 contamination of the United States by 30 per cent above present levels. Strontium-90 is one of the most menacing products ot atomic fis sion. It is long-lived. It gets into plants and thence into milk and human bones. Very young chil- i- dren, whose diet is mainly milk and whose bones are growing rap- idly, absorb more strontium-90 than adults. It is known that in large amounts large by comparison with those resulting from test fall out strontium-90 can cause bone cancer in animals. It may also cause leukemia. Another long-lasting product of bomb tests, cesium-137, is more widely distributed in the body than strontium and so can sub- ject the reproductive organs to radiation. There may or may not be a dose level below which strontium . 90 can do no bodily harm. Scien tists are not agreed whether such a threshold exists. But most biologists believe no amount of radiation is too small to cause some genetic damage if it hits the cells of heredity. From the standpoint of man as a spe cies, this is the worst menace of ., radiation because genetic damage, is bequeathed to future genera lions. When nuclear weapons are test ed, some of their radioactive . products are deposited into the troposphere, the so-called "weath er zone. Above the troposphere, i at altitudes ranging from 30,000 to; 55,000 feet, depending on the lati tude, is a vast region of relative calm known as the stratosphere. Small bombs tested above ground throw all of their fission products into the troposphere. It stays there a matter of weeks. Tropospheric contamination from .. the Soviet tests has been detected - all around the Northern Hemi ' sphere. ' But it has been so slight, ae- not to pose any public health! threat. The great contaminators are the "dirty" H-bombs, with their f is-1 sion triggers and jackets, which spew the bulk of their poison into; the stratosphere. I Stratospheric "residence time" for radioactive material from big bomb tests ranges from under a year to perhaps 10 years, depend- ing on the latitude and altitude of the explosion. Fallout of major proportions from past explosions had all but :. disappeared from the atmosphere until the Russians resumed testing on Sept. 1. Once radioactive debris gets down from the stratosphere into the troposphere, fallout tends to be heaviest in regions where rain " fall is heaviest. For this reason next spring's 'fallout from the current Soviet ' i tests is expected to be about twice as hcaw in a large part of the . . .United States as it is in Russia except for comparatively rainy outheastern Siberia. According to Atomic Energy' Commission figures published be-j lore tile new Soviet series, Ameri cans annually receive 25 times more radiation exposure to the reproductive organs from natural sources ( radiation from the earth arid sky) than they get from bomb tests. The medical radiation dose i X-rays and the like i has been more than 40 times fallout expo sure. The fallout dose to these organs! has been about 125 times smaller thau the maximum exposure from all sources recommended by the1 Federal Radiation Council as the permissible limit for tile general, public. Dr. Charles L. Dunham of the AEC's biology and medicine divi sion came up in 1959 with some damage figures based on what he said was "the quite unsubstanti ated hypothesis that radiation ef fects are directly proportional to 0 o o o (J o f &ict?& February Thursday, September 21, IK1 O Pag7-A total dose irrespective of the dose rale." Tests up to then, calculated ea this basis, might product wr tbr next 70 years in tlw United Sum "some 504 greater or Wsmt trage dies per year including grow genetic defects miscarriages, etc. as well as leukemia and bone cancer cases," he said. But according to the same hy pothesis, Dunham said, "unneces sary mtchcat X-ray exposures ould hr causing annually for the nit years some 3.0M greater or letter tragedies of genetic ori gin." Such calculations, however com forting or frightening, do not take into account the "hot spots." Ever since nuclear testing started in a big way, it has become apparent that some communities from time to time get far more than aver age exposure. Alter a Nevada test series in 1953, for example, Troy. N.Y briefly was exposed to radiation levels about 1.000 times normal. CaDr. C.oE. Everett Osteopathic Physician and Surgeon Has 'started practice at Merrill, Oregon Office Hours 9 till 12 and I till 5 Mon. thru Frl. Sat. and Sun. by oppointment and emergency. Office Phone 798-5210 Residence Phone 798-5848 L8 11 Qxut-to-Gmt, NEWSPAPERS mi SRL THE MOST! I 2 WILLIAMS APPLIANCE STORES WILL BE OPEN FROM 4 PM UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. OUR 'MOONLIGHT SALE' IS A HOTPOINT FACTORY SPONSORED PROMOTION AND PROMISES TO BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST APPLIANCE SALES OF THE YEAR! Only a few of our numerous specials are listed! SHOP BY MOONLIGHT AND SAVE! EASY TERMS! FREE DELIVERY! RC 55 DOUBLE OVEN! 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Retail $389.00! 1961 Model Consoles $ 288 88 with trade lJ 1 ; - 1 . 1 HOTPOINT WATER HEATER Long, Easy Terms Even With These Prices Sale Prices Good Only Thurs., Fri., 4p.m. till Midnight! 52 Gallon Quick Recovery! $ 79 HOTPOINT DISPOSAL $33 ' Extra Special! ONLY r;rJ;r, In Klamath Falls - 2000 So. 6th Watch Our Talent Show KOTI-TV Monday, Sept. 25th In Med ford 132 So. Central
