THE MARCH OF MEDICINE

Oh morning I saw the b-29 flying overhead but I didn't think anything about it but something made me turn behind and I saw a flash and it was five seconds before I walked away from it and I went flat on my stomach and I ran home to see my home just erect I thought we were the only casualty [Music] [Music] [Music] greetings America this is van growls speaking to you from the seventh annual family doctor meeting of the American Academy of general practice in Los Angeles California the doctors gathered here helped make up next to the largest medical association in the United States caring for 85% of all our sickness and dedicated to the proposition that it is the doctors beauty to his patients never to stop learning there is then perhaps no more fitting group than this before whom to make this special report to you on the 10th anniversary of Hiroshima 20,000 member doctors and the distinguished officers of this Academy the men who would be most concerned with your medical care in event of an atomic attack upon our country and all the face of our earth there is only one spot in which the effects of radiation on people can be studied Japan which uniquely possesses the essential material a selected human center and so against this background the march of Medicine now focuses its cameras on Hiroshima [Music] this was euro Shima in the words of dr. Hachiya who lived through its most remembered day Congo homo Pathan Dulce bit there the percent of our doctors for casualties almost all our nurses were injured and died medical facilities are non-existent medical super destroyed the treatment of the severely wounded had to be improvised the dead more than half of Hiroshima's 300,000 population were slow to be recovered [Music] this is Hiroshima the new Hiroshima that was built over the ashes of the old ashes that it was once erroneously believed would not again support human habitation for 75 years this railroad station is roughly two miles from point 0 where the a-bomb bursts from here on out damage was not great radiation delivered insignificant moving in from about a mile and a quarter from point zero of the 100,000 survivors more than a third were within this 2000 meter radius and many showed definite signs of radiation effects at 750 yards the Fukui department store once gutted today restored and in operation [Music] you are now at point 0 this is the hypocenter which once standing proudly as a Hall of Science and Industry is the bombs last significant material vestige and this is the cloudless sky in which at 8:15 a.m. on August 6 1945 a single miniature Sun exploded some 650 yards above the ground the ghost of a building that remains is preserved as a memorial of that moment that day that event and to the souvenir stand at its foot come Japanese tourists daily to purchase tokens of their visit there are still other vestiges of the atom not often observed anymore burns from the bomb barely visible on this woman's hand have long since been healed and been noted in the medical notebooks but in this unique population of Hiroshima might there be unseen effects delayed effects destined to turn up in these people those are the questions being asked up on the hill overlooking the town where since 1946 the u.s. atomic bomb casualty Commission has gathered together a select staff of American doctors and Japanese doctors and technicians a monument to cooperation between East and West to study the effects of radiation on the a bomb survivors the scope and purpose of this one of the world's most absorbing scientific investigations is described for the March of Medicine by the director of the ABC see dr. Robert H Holmes the basic material in our study in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is people but a very special group of people in Hiroshima they are shown within the area on this map this circle is 2,000 meters are yards from the point zero where the explosion occurred from here to 3500 meters that people were likely they supposed to radiation we are using this group as a comparison our control our eyes are focused primarily however on this innermost circle the 2000 meter range roughly defined by these dots which represent individuals whose hair fell out due to radiation effect there are 31,000 survivors now living within this area the nucleus of our study is 6,000 of these people who showed the early signs and symptoms of radiation effect our research is concerned with the delayed effects of radiation upon this unique human population approximately 200,000 persons in the city below are with the help of man's most efficient machines kept on record here let us follow as from this vast file of a bomb survivors the name of one member of this unique human population a living question mark is withdrawn and assigned to an investigator to be sought out that the facts may be known that another Santos on this neck I do out of the a bcc in search of Santora Takenaga goes the investigator over a hundred thousand times before him have others gone on similar contacts as he winds down the hill toward the city consider the task he faces he must convince someone someone who may or may not be ill as a consequence of radiation to give up a half day's pay and come up on the hill for a medical examination some are suspicious some have never heard of a BCC some cannot understand why moreover a Japanese city is literally an oriental puzzle few street names house number five next to number 64 through such a puzzle the investigator seeks his man the investigator makes contact in the little antique shop down a side street to get checks taka Nagas presence in the city when the bomb exploded yes I was right here don't you doubt it I was back in the store by the counter okay sure I was seriously burned especially on my arms my hair fell out he agrees to a medical examination it is now some weeks later and taka lagers turn to go up on the hill the contact - who calls for him this time has no trouble finding him since the original investigator always draws a map that tells how to get there again as the car sets out for the ABC see Santoro Takenaga becomes one of thirty thousand seventy five percent of all contacted for examination who despite all encumbrances and no recompense whatsoever have willingly agreed to cooperate the study to see if Takenaga has been affected by radiation begins with an interview in the lobby prologue to perhaps one of the most thorough physicals to be received in all Japan [Music] dr. George Suzuki starts the examination so significant to Santoro Takenaga and medical science with heart blood pressure chest and so on the I checked the winking reflex prevented many serious injuries to the eye Takenaga like most Japanese remains indifferent to the securing of a blood sample the department's of bacteriology hematology parasitology all go to work that the results of taka nagas tests may be known before he leaves parasitic infection the realm of dr. Emerich dobos seen here while virtually unknown in the states afflicts almost half the Japanese nation and since it affects the blood complicates the search for radiation effects x-rays read by dr. Arthur pride helped to complete the radiation picture the result for Santoro Takenaga okay in time he will be checked again but so far no latent effects from the atom bomb and it been otherwise the report would have gone to his doctor and the Japanese government's atomic bomb treatment council children are of special interest to the doctors conducting this gigantic project for in animal experimentation it has been discovered that young subjects may be more susceptible to radiation than mature subjects who were exposed last year dr. Robert Miller's group examined 4,400 children between the ages of 9 and 19 seeking to check the lead from animal results so far he's found only 29 with residual injuries other than well healed scars from blast damage or Birds for those patients requiring longer study a small diagnostic ward is available with dr. Clarence Tinsley on sabbatical leave from Stanford University following through even death has no finality as far as the ABC C project is concerned whenever possible autopsy samples are secured of those who died in the city below and pathologist dr. Gert Locker enters the last report in the patient's record here is where all the data of all the thousands of citizens of Hiroshima who survived the blast medical facts distance from the bomb shielding are correlated by the studies biostatistician dr. Lowell Woodbury to produce summaries of the results so that man may know what a bursting atom may do while these machines continue to digest the facts director Holmes of the ABC C asks and answers the fundamental question with which we are all concerned almost 10 years have passed what have we found out examinations have revealed that more of the persons exposed to heavy irradiation have developed leukemia a sort of cancer of the blood the rate was sixteen times higher among those within the 2000 meter radius although this rate may seem quite high it actually involves only forty four persons in Hiroshima within this distance I would like to emphasize that this is not a special type of leukemia but the same kind that may occur anywhere in any population not exposed to radiation more cataracts also have occurred in those persons heavily exposed for the most part these have been minor cataracts and have not interfered with vision about 41% of those persons studied within the two thousand meter radius showed small spots in the lens of their eyes by way of comparison only about eight percent of a non exposed group showed a similar defect there have been no cases of established blindness related to the a-bomb now what about the effect of radiation upon future generations I know there has been considerable discussion of this subject let us begin with mothers who were carrying unborn children at the time of the explosion in Hiroshima there were 185 such mothers who survived within the 2,000 meter radius of all the children born of such mothers there were only eight that showed a significant defect which could be attributed to radiation these are children who were born with their heads slightly smaller than normal size and with some degree of mental retardation this defect occurred only in those infants whose mothers were within the seventh to fifteenth week of pregnancy we have noted also in a study including 70,000 babies that there has been a slight reduction in the number of male births this finding however may be related to other environmental factors some infertility was observed in individuals immediately following heavy exposure but as their general health returned these cases recovered as for an increase in malformations among the future generations of a-bomb survivors I must frankly state that we have no evidence that this will occur the families that we have seen have given no indication the offspring of the exposed generation up to now appear to be normal healthy and happy what the future will show is a problem or further investigation it is just as important to establish negative as positive findings our studies are continuing significant leads have been obtained from dr. Jacob Firth and others at Oak Ridge who exposed a large population of mice to radiation and followed them until their natural death there was an increase of leukemia and cataracts among these mice just as we have observed among a bomb survivors the mice also showed significant shortening of their lifespan and an increase in cancer these questions of course are before us will there be a shortening of the lifespan among the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will there be an increase in the number of tumors we do not know 10 years have not been long enough and only the passage of time can reveal these secrets and now may I remark in a more personal way that science cannot shrink the study of human beings to a mere collection of statistics there is a warmth and understanding of kindred need that must be felt not measured behind this maze of facts and figures their individual lives lives of people who go about their living in a modern Japanese city much as you do at home but in a city that 10 years ago was shattered debris this fact alone this amazing recovery should bring courage and hope to a nervous world and so the work continues all day long the familiar investigators leave the hill and spread out across Hiroshima the city whose name serves every man's tongue to mark the boundary of a new age in human history they passed the remnants of a bygone day stark and naked against the Japanese sky they passed the evidence of a new day rising from atomic ashes of peace Hall a Memorial Hall a public hall and they pass a schoolyard we're a new generation ten-year-old children with no recollection of what their parents remember happily play and sing in a new world a world which the atom can make full of promise if the lessons the doctors are learning on Hiroshima Hill are heated not only by a scientific few but by all humanity [Applause] [Music] thus is Hiroshima a single dot on a fast shrinking globe faded ever to live in the minds and on the lips of men for a word of its repercussions on American medical research Mr Francis Boyer president of Smith Kline and French laboratories here at home just as in Hiroshima our doctors are studying the effects of atomic radiation hand in hand with the medical research that will enable us to reap the benefits of the atom another kind of research now goes on in laboratories and universities all over the country to help us meet the dangers of the atom our duckies are concerned not only with the delayed effects such as those being studied at Hiroshima but with the immediate action on our bodies of atomic rays this must be largely basic research because we are just beginning to comprehend the forces we are working with basic research as someone put it isn't so much a kind of research as a kind of man unscored of such dedicated men are presently exploring the best countermeasures against radiation damage so that your family physician may arm himself against it in your behalf just as he does against the hazards and diseases of everyday life now for a report on some of the work which these men are doing at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont Illinois what happened at Hiroshima happens every day but under control in one of the most powerful nuclear reactors ever constructed for research here dr. Howard Vogel places laboratory mice for study afterwards of the effects of the bombarding neutrons on the animal system chickens uniquely sensitive are shedding light on the mechanisms of radiation damage since they may die a few hours after irradiation instead of running the usual ten to twenty day course of mice and men what are the effects of radiation on circulation dr. Douglas Smith uses the bat whose thin wings permit microscopic observation of the blood stream in the living animal grasshopper embryos have very large cells ideal for dr. Theodore tunisians research on the changing sensitivity to radiation in different stages of growth dr. harvey fad has discovered that in a cold state the irradiated frog can be kept alive for months but when warmed to normal temperature it has the same death pattern as irradiated animals who were not kept cold at the University of Chicago's Argonne Cancer Research Hospital the director dr. Leon Jacobson has learned that by shielding the spleen he can protect against the principal danger of radiation the damage to bone marrow which helps create the blood cells you need to survive he subjects mice to far more radiation than a human being can stand the unprotected Mouse gets sick and dies or it's bone marrow has been destroyed the protected Mouse becomes as frisky as ever for its blood forming tissue recovers but an unprotected mouse also recovers if given an injection of spleen cells dr. Jacobson is now searching for the essential life preserving ingredient of the spleen in Boston at the Children's Cancer Research Foundation the study of children with leukemia is helping doctors to control hemorrhage excessive bleeding that is also the life destroying result of too much radiation the able research staff is directed by Harvard's dr. Sidney Farber using the centrifuge they have now extracted valuable elements from the blood called platelets which appeared a halt bleeding and are pursuing the essential chemicals within the platelet that really do the job but perhaps of even more immediate satisfaction is the fact that platelets may now help to extend the lives of children in the late stages of leukemia a byproduct for peace of research in atomic medicine as scientists in our laboratories seek to master the medical problems posed by atomic radiation such as would be borne by the h-bomb what special challenge does the threat of this new monster weapon present to our community doctors our first line of medical defense well let us carry this question to the doctor who led the first official US government party into bomb blasted Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Dean of the medical school of the University of California at Los Angeles dr. Stafford Warren dr. Warren what about the medical problems of atomic radiation let's turn out let us picture the problem we might have here in Los Angeles where suppose I am standing and H bomb falls on the city we have the usual blast and fire going along with a detonation and then we have the radioactive fallout to deal with tell us about the fallout dr. Warren when these hot gases in the explosion rise above the city they suck up a lot of dust and along with the radioactive bomb fragments is a lot of other radioactive material and that drifts in the wind long distance downwind you see these circles how far out would that be what might go dangerous amounts the distance of a hundred two hundred fifty two hundred miles what's the thickness of the cigar depending upon the wind that may be twenty to forty miles in width not this way well then this this whole area is a no-man's land no not at all it won't be the same we'll need to use different procedures and the techniques take special precautions against atomic hazard that's right and the people that are inside their buildings and particularly in hospitals will need to have monitors measure with a Geiger counter what the fallout level is and to decontaminate clothes and operating rooms and things of that sort but the point is some medical help would be available here yes that's quite right well then as we travel along path these perimeters and out to the end where is the point where full medical protection and AIDS would be available well at the edges where it's not contaminated and of course outside of a damaged area which we have left here and at the end of this pattern in other words these are areas where the the victims could get full medical aid of the modern knowledge aside that's right we've got areas for setting up special hospitals emergency areas in which the doctors and nurses will come tell me doctor all the doctors ready for this situation yes I think so probably more than most because we've had special courses we've had dry runs we've got stockpiles and emergency hospital setups all around the city no matter which direction the fallout might come thank you dr. Warren friends hope America nourishes all mankind as we take one last look at this strange pattern of a new force on earth let us resolve to keep our strength in the council's of the world to reform this pattern to reform it as a symbol of man's most promising age and keep that hope beating in the heartbeat all [Music] [Music]