272
22 Long-Term Public Health, Economic, and Societal Concerns
for radiation-induced cancer; these are health effects for which public health officials can plan in advance. The health effects of non-radiological agents (e.g. inhaled
dust, vapors, and fumes) are less understood but, as the experience with World Trade
Center survivors has shown, they can also continue having an impact for at least a
few decades.
22.1.1 Disease Registry
Even before the nuclear weapons were used against Japan the scientists and physicians of the Manhattan Project realized that their use would expose large numbers
of people to doses of radiation that could vary from inconsequential to lethal; they
also realized that medical science lacked an understanding of what to expect in both
the long-term and the short-term aftermath of a nuclear detonation. The Japanese
physicians (as well as Allied physicians who arrived after the Japanese surrender)
saw and treated tens of thousands of patients in the days and weeks following the
explosions and, in November 1946, President Truman ordered the formation of the
Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) to learn about the medical impact of
nuclear detonations.
The ABCC was an American organization that worked with Japanese physicians
and government; in 1945 the ABCC was superseded by a joint US-Japanese venture,
the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF). The RERF has organized its
work into six primary research programs and additional research areas:
• Life Span Study
• Adult Health Study
• Immunology
• Cytogenetics
• Atomic-bomb dosimetry
• Children of Atomic-bomb Survivors Study
• In utero study
• Radiation Biology
• Molecular Epidemiology
• Statistics.
Two aspects of RERF’s work should be of interest to public health officials in
cities at high risk of being subject to a radiological or nuclear attack: the manner in
which it is structured and the work it has been doing, and what can be learned from
the work already performed as it applies to the possible aftereffects of a future attack.
The structure of the RERF is not overly complex and is described on the Foundation’s website (https://www.rerf.or.jp/en/). While it does not make sense to staff
up a foundation of this sort anticipating that it might be needed at some point in
the future, it might be reasonable to at least establish the procedures and policies so
that, if needed, this “skeleton” can be fleshed out with staff. In addition, it should be
possible to establish a framework that will also lend itself to other events involving
22 Long-Term Public Health, Economic, and Societal Concerns
for radiation-induced cancer; these are health effects for which public health officials can plan in advance. The health effects of non-radiological agents (e.g. inhaled
dust, vapors, and fumes) are less understood but, as the experience with World Trade
Center survivors has shown, they can also continue having an impact for at least a
few decades.
22.1.1 Disease Registry
Even before the nuclear weapons were used against Japan the scientists and physicians of the Manhattan Project realized that their use would expose large numbers
of people to doses of radiation that could vary from inconsequential to lethal; they
also realized that medical science lacked an understanding of what to expect in both
the long-term and the short-term aftermath of a nuclear detonation. The Japanese
physicians (as well as Allied physicians who arrived after the Japanese surrender)
saw and treated tens of thousands of patients in the days and weeks following the
explosions and, in November 1946, President Truman ordered the formation of the
Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) to learn about the medical impact of
nuclear detonations.
The ABCC was an American organization that worked with Japanese physicians
and government; in 1945 the ABCC was superseded by a joint US-Japanese venture,
the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF). The RERF has organized its
work into six primary research programs and additional research areas:
• Life Span Study
• Adult Health Study
• Immunology
• Cytogenetics
• Atomic-bomb dosimetry
• Children of Atomic-bomb Survivors Study
• In utero study
• Radiation Biology
• Molecular Epidemiology
• Statistics.
Two aspects of RERF’s work should be of interest to public health officials in
cities at high risk of being subject to a radiological or nuclear attack: the manner in
which it is structured and the work it has been doing, and what can be learned from
the work already performed as it applies to the possible aftereffects of a future attack.
The structure of the RERF is not overly complex and is described on the Foundation’s website (https://www.rerf.or.jp/en/). While it does not make sense to staff
up a foundation of this sort anticipating that it might be needed at some point in
the future, it might be reasonable to at least establish the procedures and policies so
that, if needed, this “skeleton” can be fleshed out with staff. In addition, it should be
possible to establish a framework that will also lend itself to other events involving