著者

中川 保雄

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.25, no.157, pp.20-33, 1986-05-15

被引用文献数

1

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It has been asserted that the investigations of atomic bomb radiation effects in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were conducted in the high traditions of scientific inquiry. These scientific data has been used for the assessments of the radiation effects from nuclear wars and for the risk estimation of low level radiation. However, the investigator for acute radiation effects was the U. S. Armed Forces Joint Commission, and then the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission was founded by the request of the Surgeons General of U. S. Army and U. S. Navy. The Japanese scientists who worked under the control of U. S. officers had been engaged in the survey after the dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which had formed a link in the chain of the survey by the scientists who had worked for development of Japanese atomic bomb. The conclusions from the investigations by the U. S. Armed Forces Joint Commission and ABCC were derived from the following underestimations: 1) Among a variety of acute radiation syndrome, only epilation and purpura were designated specific symptoms of the acute radiation injuries. Other injuries such as fatigue, fever, anorexia and vomiting and so on were excluded from acute radiation ones. 2) Data of acute deaths in relation to the distance from the ground zero were also understimated on a basis of underrating of radiation injuries. The threshold dose of 100R for acute radiation death was a result of these underestimations. 3) The threshold dose of 25R for radiation injuries was derived quantitatively from the animal experiment during the Manhattan Project and adapted to the survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to deny the radiation injuries among the people who were exposed out of 2 km from the ground zero where the atomic radiation dose was estimated about 20R. But that animal experiment of the reduction of lymphocite from X-ray dose showed that there was no threshold at 25R, but the effect could be found far below the value. The important results of acute deaths and acute injuries from atomic radiation exposure in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been based on a number of underestimations of radiation effects. These underestimations were in connection with the American nuclear strategy in those days for monopolizing nuclear weapons, preparing nuclear wars, and developing commercial uses of nuclear power. The assessments of the radiation effects from nuclear wars and the risk estimation from low level radiation, which were based on the investigations of acute radiation effect in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, should be reexamined.