Medicine: Generations Yet Unborn

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What finally happened to the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? As the first guinea pigs of atomic warfare, they are still being watched closely—and will be for many a year to come—by U.S. and Japanese doctors.

Last week a U.S. mission, returned from a checkup of survivors, had a report ready. Its gist: after 18 months, the biological effects of the 1945 Bomb had not disappeared, had not been finally tallied, might still show up in horrible forms years & years from now.

The mission, led by Dr. Austin M. Brues of the University of Chicago and Dr. Paul S. Henshaw of the Manhattan District, examined some of the victims and collected information from Japanese physicians on The Bomb's delayed after-effects.* Chief findings:

Keloids. The most mysterious delayed effect was a peculiar kind of scar that formed on the skin of burned survivors. Many months after their burns (from The Bomb's terrific heat and ultraviolet radiation) had healed, victims still had raised, flat patches of thick scar tissue, sometimes covering the whole face or back. These scars'("keloids"), ranging in color from pink to brown, were often extremely sensitive to the touch.

Most of the scars seemed to result from the patients' burns, but there were puzzling exceptions: when a skin graft was taken from an unburned part of a patient's body, a keloid often developed there too. Could the victims' exposure to fission products—neutrons, gamma" rays, etc.—have something to do with it? The doctors did not know for certain, but they suspected that keloids might be ugly forerunners of cancer.

Said the report: "There is good reason to believe that reproductive disturbances, malignancies of one form or another, shortened life span, altered genetic pattern, etc., will in time appear in greater or lesser degrees."

Sterility. Atomic radiation has a known effect on reproductive organs. How damaging was The Bomb? Months after it fell, Japanese doctors examined the sperm of 124 Hiroshima men, found one-third of them sterile. The explosion had produced sterility up to three miles from the target center. Two-thirds of the women exposed to The Bomb's atomic radiation suffered interference with menstruation; some who were pregnant had miscarriages.

Heredity. What worried the doctors most was the effect the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs will have on generations yet unborn. The full effects on the victims' descendants may not show up for many generations (atomic radiation usually changes only recessive genes, and the effects, if any, should not show up until a recessive mates with a recessive). The investigators hunted for mutations among Hiroshima's fast-breeding fruit flies and plants—with inconclusive results. But they did receive reports of malformed babies (most of them born dead). The doctors were not able to make an accurate count, but they strongly suspected that some Hiroshima and Nagasaki mothers have secretly killed and disposed of grotesque offspring.