Appendix E: Excerpt from EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING ON HEALTH, Report of the Panel of Experts on the Archive of PHS Documents, Volume I, 1979, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 1 BERKELEY DAVIS IRVINE LOS ANGELES RIVERSIDE SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES December 13, 1979 EARL WARREN HALL Donald S. Fredrickson, M.D. Director National Institutes of Health Building 1, Room 124 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda MD 20205 Dear Dr. Fredrickson: The attached report, entitled "Effects of Nuclear Weapons Effects of Nuclear Weapons Testing on Health Report of the Volume I 1979 Edited by Warren Winkelstein, Jr., M.D., M.P.H. and Stephen B. Hulley, M.D., M.P.H. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare BERKELEY DAVIS IRVINE LOS ANGELES RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES EARL WARREN HALL SANTA BARBARA SANTA CRUZ BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94720 30 November, 1979 Donald S. Fredrickson, M.D. Director, National Institutes of Health Dear Dr. Fredrickson: I am transferring, herewith, the Report of the Panel of Experts on the Archive of Public Health Service Documents Relating to Effects of Nuclear Weapons Testing on Health. The Panel members and staff hope that this Report will serve the needs of the Public Health Service and the public by making available a catalogue and analysis of the Archive. The Report is in three volumes, of which the first contains the narrative, the second an annotated bibliography of selected documents, and the third a list of the contents of the entire Archive. Sincerely yours Truen Sinhibitin Warren Winkelstein, Jr., MD, MPH WW/dd On February 28, 1979, the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), Mr. Joseph A. Califano, Jr., released for public comment draft working papers of the White House Interagency Task Force on the Health Effects of Ionizing Radiation. In connection with release of material, Mr. Califano also released previously unpublished HEW documents concerning the potential health effects of radiation exposure associated with the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in Nevada during the 1950s and early 1960s. Included were HEW studies which examined the possibility of a higher than normal incidence of leukemia in the Nevada/Utah/Arizona areas surrounding the atomic test site. The Secretary believes that because of the concern over the effects of lowlevel radiation and the publication of recent studies on this issue, the original HEW documents should be looked at again. At his press conference on February 27, 1979, Secretary Califano stated: "An outside scientific panel appointed by Dr. Donald My charge to the panel of experts is to review the available HEW materials, which are contained in the files mentioned above, for their completeness and adequacy for answering questions about the health effects of low-level ionizing radiation. For those studies contained in the documents, the experts should prepare an inventory of the subjects addressed, the conclusions, if any, reached by the studies, and an evaluation of whether the data adequately support the conclusions. Adequate reference should be given to published studies. Finally, the experts should determine whether additional leads pertaining to low-level radiation effects are contained in these files, and make suggestions for what further research needs, if any, these documents imply. Donald S. Fredrickson, M.D. National Institutes of Health iii |