Mutation, radiation, and species survival: The genetics studies of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6364577

Lindee, M S

This is an analysis of the work of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, an American agency which studied the effects of radiation on survivors of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 1947-1975. Funded by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and directed by the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, the ABCC was the largest and longest medical study of the estimated 300,000 survivors. The morphological genetics study dominated the ABCCs first decade. James Neel and his principal collaborator William J. Schull tracked more than 76,000 pregnancies. Their results (1956) suggested the bombs radiation had no detectable impact on the offspring of survivors. Though geneticists knew that radiation caused heritable mutations in experimental organisms such as Drosophila, and believed it caused mutations in humans, the Neel-Schull findings were not a surprise. The practical difficulties of the study, and the relatively small increase in abnormal births to be expected, made a finding of significant effects unlikely. The Neel-Schull approach reflected the scientific debate over genetic load, and the Muller-Dobzhansky classical-balance controversy. Yet the findings also reflected the post-war debate over atomic energy and weapons testing. Many extra-scientific forces militated against a finding of positive effects at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Negative findings were consistent with the needs of the Atomic Energy Commission, the State Department and the U.S. military. This dissertation explores how both the scientific debate about genetic load, and the political debate about atmospheric weapons testing, shaped this complex epidemiological study.

• Research Organization: Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6364577
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560151* -- Radiation Effects on Animals-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
A-BOMB SURVIVORS
ASIA
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
EPIDEMIOLOGY
GENETIC EFFECTS
GENETIC RADIATION EFFECTS
HIROSHIMA
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
JAPAN
MUTATIONS
NAGASAKI
POLITICAL ASPECTS
POPULATIONS
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIOINDUCTION
SURVIVAL TIME