14 BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ATOMIC RADIATION 



Because the production of specific antigens and antibodies is important in both theo- 

 retical genetics and in many practical problems involving radiation damage, immunogenetics 

 is a field that should receive strong support in any long-term research program in basic ge- 

 netics. Especially in the genetic investigations of populations of cells in multicellular organ- 

 isms, immunogenetic methods are of significance. In the case of massive radiation damage 

 in mammals, the promise of bone marrow replacement therapy has already more than justified 

 this view. 



There is urgent need for deeper understanding of the primary effects of high-energy 

 radiation on living systems. New methods and tools for attaining this end are being rapidly 

 developed. The use of chemicals in preventing damage should be further studied so that a 

 better understanding can be reached of the metabolic steps between absorption or radiation 

 and mutation. Emphasis should be given to application of physical methods now available 

 for analyzing reaction pathways in mutagenic processes. 



In all such studies the experimental material used should obviously be that most appro- 

 priate to the problem being investigated. Nucleic acid or protein, in the test tube or analytical 

 ultracentrifuge, may be the system of choice. Viruses promise to become even more important 

 than they now are as tools of geneticists. The interactions of viruses and their host cells will 

 surely be of increasing importance in the search for new genetic knowledge. Bacteria, fungi, 

 algae, protozoa, as well as higher forms of plants and animals, will of course continue to 

 make their contributions. And whenever and wherever such basic investigations can be made 

 with human materials, including tissue cultures, these should by all means be used. 



IV. How To Expedite Needed Research 



Many of the investigations needed for the desired refinements of estimates of the genetic 

 hazards to man of given levels of radiation are now under way in various academic institu- 

 tions and in special research laboratories supported privately and by governments. No doubt 

 appropriate additional financial and other encouragement would be effective in speeding up 

 these efforts and in otherwise making them more effective without requiring unrealistically 

 large additions to present manpower at the higher level of scientific competence. 



Government agencies such as the Atomic Energy Commission, the Public Health Serv- 

 ice, and the National Science Foundation, as well as international agencies such as the World 

 Health Organization and United Nations committees, are constantly reviewing their over-all 

 research programs. It is especially important that this be done in the area of radiation hazards, 

 for the various large-scale uses of radiation for peacetime and military purposes are developing 

 at a rapid rate. 



In the specific area of genetic hazards — the special province of this committee — both 

 government and non-government laboratories and agencies in the United States and other 

 nations should see to it that needed research is done well and as rapidly as feasible. No doubt 

 in certain areas the research effort needs strengthening. In others in which there is now no 

 activity, it may need encouragement. 



How best to do this is a question on which both investigators and administrators have 

 wide differences of opinion. Some would say that all that is necessary is to see that able in- 

 vestigators are adequately supported — that they will find the gaps in our present knowledge 

 and devise ways of closing them. Others would say that coordinating committees are needed 



