Evening star., 1951-06-13
Birth Rates on Increase
In Hiroshimo, Nogosoki
Atomic Bomb Sterilization
Fears Called Nonsense
By Thomos R. Henry

ATLANTIC CITY, N. j., June 13.-
Birth rates in both Hiroshima and Ma
gasaki, Japanese cities which were hit
squarely with atomic bombs, now are
on the increase after long decline.
The birth rate in Los Alamos, New
Mexico. where the inhabitants certainly
are exposed to as much atomic radiation
as people anywhere else in the world. is
about four times that of the average
American city.
So, the bugbear that the human race
can be sterilized by extensive atomic
warfare seems false alarm. DR.. John
z. Bowers, dean of the University of
Utah medical school who made exten-
sive studies of japanese survivors for
the Atomic Energy Commission. told the
American Medical Association here.
Study Of the people Of the two Japanese
cities, he insisted, still is a fair basis
for estimating the physical effects of
the bomb even though vastly improved
weapons may be in existence. The ma
jor effects still will be the same, he said.
and in order to double the area affected
1t will require bomb eight times as
large. Such a rate Of difference soon
Three Groups Of Survivors.
Medical advances during the past few
years. DR.. Bowers explained. have made
1t highly probable that many more per-
sons will be saved. It now Is customary
to divide survivors into three major
groups. First is the Illuminating type
with severe nausea from the first and a
fever which goes higher daily in
step-like progression. Patients get stead
lily worse until they die in six or seven
days. Second is a group which has
about the same symptoms at first but
apparently soon starts to recover. This
development lasts for about week. and
then there is a severe relapse. Patients
may die in three to six weeks or recover
very slowly. The third group generally
can be expected to recover.
It is with the second group. he pointed
out, that the major improvement will
be evident. Much Of the improvement
can be expected to come from the eff
cacy Of some of the newer antibiotics,
especially aureomycin, in preventing in
fection. The result of the radiation has
been to kill white blood cells. Until
these can be replaced there is nothing
to fight germs which get into the body.
While the new drugs. cortisone and
ACTH. are valuable agents in fighting
the various types of arthritis, now one
Of the country's major disease problems.
they leave much to be desired, DR.. Rus
sell L. Cecil of Cornell University told
the medical association. A major draw
back, he said, is that they produce an
adrenal gland disease known as Cush-
ing's syndrome which usually brings an
extreme emotional upset. Patients fall
into deep melancholy and 1t may be
necessary to treat them in psychotic
institution for a time.
For some unknown reason, DR.. Cecil
declared, men tolerate both the new
drugs much better than women.
Most Common Form.
Rheumatoid arthritis, the most COM
mon form of the malady, can be con-
sidered as essentially an incurable dis
ease with present knowledge, and about
the best doctor can hope to do is to
secure remission. In the best cases
this may last for several years. Before
the introduction of the new drugs the
most common treatment was with gold
salts. and these sometimes brought long
remissions. He urged that they be given
thorough trial before the newer reme-
dies are used. In many cases, of course,
they do not work.
Both cortisone and ACTH, DR.. Cecil
insisted. bring very rapid relief. Pain
stops and the patient feels much better
all around. They seldom, however. bring
a prolonged remission: the treatment
must be continued indefinitely, the cost
is very high. and when it is necessary to
stop the treatment the victim is apt to
relapse into condition worse than be-
fore it was started Eventually. he said.
it may be possible to work out COM
bination of cortisone and gold salt
treatment.