Radiation and child health.

147 PEDIATRICS, July 1961 B ECAUSE of tile considerable complexity of tile field of radiation hazards, no one of us is able to explore every aspect in the detail necessary for a complete understanding. I shall discuss details that pertam to public health. The swift changes in the field of science affect our personal roles. Speaking personally, some years ago I was one of the principal architects in the national community-wide mass x-ray survey program. I now find myself in the present position of discouraging such a special type of effort, except of course for particular population groups where that tecilnique clearly carries more benefit tilan it does risk. One theme that is worthy of special mentioll concerns the role that the physicianand today it is the pediatrician in particular -needs to exercise in the important field of radiological health. During the spring of 1960, the Joint Committee on Atomic Energ of tile 86th Congress conducted open public hearings for nearly 2 weeks on the subject of radiation protection standards. Some of us present at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Pediatrics participated in the hearings, as well as in others held earlier. Frequent references were made to the important work of Dr. Friedell’s special ad hoc committee of tile National Committee on Radiation Protection and Measurements dealing with human population exposure to the radionuclide, strontium-9() (published in Science, 131:3399, 1960); that important document should be read and re-read. At the hearings we tried to represent the profession of medicine and public health. It is worthy of note that ours was only one of many professions to appear. Many disciplines are concerned about the management of problems in this field, with each profession responsible for special aspects falling within its own distinctive province. The field of radiation and child health represents one of the more important problems of the field. Its importance derives from the special significance of ionizing radiation for the health of the young.