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NUCLEAR RADIATION
A public health problem begins to be presented by the rapidly increasing
use of radioactive substances. The rapid progress of research and experiment
on atomic fission has meant that nuclear power stations, the use of isotopes
for industrial measurements and processes, the use of isotopes and of ionising
radiations in therapeutics may be building up, however careful the shielding
may be, a potentially dangerous amount of radioactivity especially in industrial
areas. There is so much uncertainty about the amount of radiation which human
beings can endure and so much secrecy with regard to the use of atomic fission
material because of its War potential, that Medical Officers of Health find
themselves severely handicapped in the advice they can give to anxious enquirers,
and there is no doubt that this is causing serious mental disturbance in considerable
numbers of the population. Thus two types of observation require to
be maintained, to keep watch by enquiry and local monitoring on new sources of
radiation and particularly the disposal of waste material from premises using
atomic material, and to assess the extent of individual anxieties locally so as
to reduce by means of authoritative statements the fears which may produce mental
illness. This latter means that Medical Officers of Health should be in a
position to say with assurance that local danger does not exist. It is possible
to say that in Brentford and Chiswick at the present time there is no excessive
radioactivity from any source. In 1958 a small monitor apparatus was purchased
for the use of the Health Officers and in addition sampling for radiation was
carried out from time to time on the atmospheric pollution deposits from volumetric
apparatus in near-by districts.
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