Labassi, F. Peter, General Counsel, Department of Health, Education, Lyon, Dr. Joseph, assistant professor and chief, Division of Epidemi- 255, 355 Matheson, Hon. Scott M., Governor, State of Utah____. Panel of Utah citizens to discuss the impact of radiation on sheep: Mr. Pendelton, Dr. Robert C., director, Radiological Health Department, Peterson, Dr. Chase N., vice president for health sciences, University of Additional material submitted for the record by- 16 243 227 255, 362 Blood. Lois S., Mrs. Cedar City, Utah, letter dated April 18, 1979, to Brower. Stephen L., Ph. D., professor, Brigham Young University, Health, Education, and Welfare Department: Attachments to Mr. Libassi's prepared statement : Memorandum dated May 9, 1978, from Stuart Eizenstat and Zbigniew Brzezinski, the White House, to the Secretaries of Defense, HEW, Energy, and the Administrator of Veterans Affairs re radiation exposure inquiry---- Memorandum dated November 27, 1978, from President Car- ter to the Secretary of HEW re Utah radiation exposure... Letter dated February 27, 1979, from Secretary Schlesinger. DOE, to Secretary Califano, HEW, re Utah radiation Letter dated February 27, 1979, from Deputy Secretary Dun- can, DOD, to Governor Matheson, Utah, re release of perti- Letter dated April 11, 1979, from Vice Admiral Monroe. De- fense Nuclear Agency to Governor Matheson, Utah, re re- lease of pertinent information........... Memorandum dated January 5, 1979, from Secretary Califano, HEW, to Assistant Secretary for Health, re release of stud- Memorandum dated January 18, 1979, from Secretary Cali- fano, HEW, to Dr. Fredrickson, NIH, re Federal research on biological effects of ionizing radiation____ Memorandum dated January 18, 1979, from Secretary Cali- fano, HEW, to Dr. Foege, Center for Disease Control, re study of possible health effects from worker exposure to Response to Chairman Eckhardt's question, can the study under- taken by HEW on low-level ionizing radiation exposure in the State of Utah be extended to the State of Nevada....... (V) 251 Additional material submitted for the record by-Continued Health, Education, and Welfare Department-Continued Response to Chairman Eckhardt's question, without necessarily commenting on the Government's liability in compensating civil- ians who suffered from radiation exposure as a result of open atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, what would be a practi- cal process by which remunerations might be developed for Page Health and Scientific Research Subcommittee, Labor and Human Re- Knapp, Dr. Harold A., Germantown, Md., attachments to prepared Letter dated September 9, 1963, from Dr. Knapp to John T. Con- way, Executive Director, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy re comments of a special committee that review Dr. Knapp's report, “Iodine-131 in fresh milk and human thyroids following a single deposition of nuclear test fallout". Letter dated January 5, 1979, from Dr. Knapp to L. Joe Deal. Assistant Director for Field Operations, Division of Operational and Environmental Safety, Department of Energy re relevant records from Dr. Knapp's files concerning what was known about radioiodine in the vicinity of the Nevada test site, with Lyon, Dr. Joseph, assistant professor and chief, Division of Epidemi- ology, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University Attachment to prepared statement, charts re fallout-exposure area map; adjusted leukemia mortality rates; according to year; and adjusted leukemia mortality rates for high-exposure, low-exposure cohorts for counties with high and low fallout____ Letter dated June 20, 1979, from Dr. Lyon to Chairman Eckhardt re percentage of the population at large is exposed to radiation from diagnostic X-ray procedures; and what percentage of those procedures is necessary for the health of the individual___--- McKay, Hon. Gunn, a Representative in Congress from the State of Utah, article entitled, "Clouds from Nevada," by Paul Jacobs----- Marriott, Hon. Dan., a Representative in Congress from the State of Utah, letter dated April 15, 1979, from Mr. Williams to Senators Hatch and Garn and Representatives McKay and Marriott, outdoor Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Committee on Interstate Peterson, Dr. Chase N., vice president for health sciences, University of Utah, letter dated June 11, 1979, from Dr. David G. Bragg, professor and chairman, Department of Radiology, University of Utah, to Dr. Peterson re Chairman Eckhardt's questions about population-at-large exposure to medical X-ray procedures, with at- tached article entitled, "The Overutilization' of X-Rays"- Rawlings, Wesley P., letter to Senate Health and Scientific Research 101 213 372 Schmutz, Donald, letter to whom it may concern re Amber T. Schmutz, 252 Appendix A---Miscellaneous articles by Gordon E. White.. Appendix C--Text of St. George, Utah hearing. April 19, 1979 HEALTH EFFECTS OF LOW-LEVEL RADIATION-1979 THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1979 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, INTERSTATE AND FOR- Salt Lake City, Utah. The subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 8:30 a.m., in suites A and B of the Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah, Hon. Bob Eckhardt, chairman, Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, chairman, Health and Scientific Research Subcommittee, presiding jointly. Senator KENNEDY. We will come to order. I want to first of all express our appreciation as the chairman of the Senate Health and Scientific Research Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate and also as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for the wonderful hospitality and cooperation that have been given to our committee by the people of Utah and by the people of this community in Salt Lake City. We regret very much that we are unable to visit St. George, as we hoped to do, but we are going to welcome a number of witnesses from there who will be testifying here today and will speak to these problems. We look forward to welcoming them. I want to say at the outset how much we value as a member both of the Health Subcommittee and the Judiciary Committee, the work of Senator Hatch, who is a member of both those committees, who has taken great interest in this matter, has written to me about it, and we look forward, of course, to his involvement and active participation at this hearing. Senator Garn has spoken to me frequently about these Issues that have affected so many of the people in Utah, and although he is not a member of the committee, we have invited him to participate in this matter which means so much to the people in Utah. Our House colleagues will be introduced by our good chairman and Chairman of this hearing, Congressman Eckhardt, who I have had the good fortune to know for a number of years. He is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and has t a very important record in this whole area over a period of time. He will speak for the House Members. At the outset I just want to personally say that it is a delight to be with Gunn McKay, who I have known for many years and have seen or. n. any different occasions out here in Utah. I know he has been vitally concerned and has been working in the House on these issues (1) and has spoken to me about these problems; also Congressman Marriott who has joined our hearing and will participate as well. We welcome his participation. Since this is a joint hearing, we will proceed in the following manner: Congressman Eckhardt and I will divide the responsibilities for the chairing of the hearing as we move through the witnesses. We have a number of witnesses. We are going to discourage the reading of opening statements from the witnesses. We hope that they will summarize their positions. I would hope that with the understanding of the members of the committees that Chairman Eckhardt and myself would be able to lay out the fact situations with the principal witnesses and then obviously involve and encourage whatever participation the members of the committee would be. It seems to me that that is the most expeditious way of moving through the course of our number of witnesses on our witness list along with the number of Members of the House and Senate that are here today. I do think we have a very full program. I expect that our hearing will run probably 5 hours or so. We have very important witnesses. So with that understanding, and I hope with the indulgence of our colleagues, we will ask a member of the staff to run a tight timeclock on the Members of the Congress. The House Members are used to it; the Senate Members are not. So-with unlimited debatewe are going to try and restrain ourselves so that we can make the kind of record that will be of great value to all of us in the House and Senate. I will make a brief opening statement, and then we will alternate back and forth with the members. Today's hearing is about the relationship of a democratic government to its people. A totalitarian society survives on the basis of fear of government. A democracy survives on the basis of trust in government. Today's hearing is, in a very real sense, about the erosion of a people's trust and faith in their government. For the record will show that for over 20 years the Federal Government placed the citizens of Utah at risk without their consent, without their knowledge, and without taking proper precautions. The record will show that the tests conducted in the 1950's may very well have resulted in the cancers of the 1960's and 1970's. The record will show that the people of Utah, who have always prided themselves on their patriotism, and who believed the repeated assurances of their Government, have come to feel that they were mislead, perhaps even deceived, by that Government. As the truth about what the Government knew and didn't know, did and didn't do, told and didn't tell, becomes public, the erosion of trust in Government spreads far beyond the boundaries of Utah. How many Americans believe today that they know the full truth about the Three Mile Island accident; that they know the truth about radiation levels in the Harrisburg area? That they can accept the health and safety assurances of their Government? That is why President Carter was wise to promptly appoint an independent commission to investigate the accident and report to the American people. We are only now beginning to understand the health implications of exposure to low-level radiation. We are only now learning that the risk is cumulative, increasing over time-long periods of time. We are only now learning to correlate the medical occurrences of today with environmental exposures that took place, or began, decades before. |