ARCTIC EPIDEMIOLOGY 



MITCHELL: The avitaminoses that you are speaking of; would 

 you say that is something that we brought to Alaska? If we hadn't 

 come into Alaska and depleted the food supply, the natives of 

 this area would not be living on flour and sugar. 



REINHARD: I think it would be well to get rid of the con- 

 cept that the white man has consistently done wrong to the Es- 

 kimo. After all, the inequities caused by interactions of col- 

 liding cultures are part of the normal history of the world, and 

 we have to recognize that they will occur. To go back to the 

 original question, I don't know of any real data on the general 

 occurrence of specific avitaminoses among Alaskan natives. 



NUNGESTER: Let's go back just a moment to avitaminosis. 

 Is there any evidence of scurvy in the Eskimo? 



REINHARD: I have heard that traditionally, Eskimos were 

 supposed to have no caries, no scurvy, and no body odor. 



SCHMIDT: Dr. Babbott, you mentioned that the Russian atomic 

 tests have caused a great deal of Sr^^ fallout in various parts 

 of Alaska. I was under the impression that there were other 

 countries also testing. Did fallout from these tests not reach 

 Alaska? 



BABBOTT: This particular study was done after the first 

 series of Russian tests. I am sure they are not the only ones. 



MITCHELL: Dr. Babbott, we could show that people in Florida 

 are taller than the people in Alaska, maybe on the average, and 

 perhaps attribute this to atomic detonation. When you make 

 studies of antlers from animals here in the Arctic, do you find 

 an increased amount of Sr^^ ^^ those antlers compared with 

 the antlers of animals gathered, say, in California, and sent 

 to Smithsonian prior to the detonation? 



BABBOTT: I think a baseline study would be very valuable. 



MITCHELL: It certainly would be indicated, because I have 

 been plagued with information of this kind. 



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