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Fallout, the Scariest Word of the Day
... Odds are Nil It Will Hurt You
Editor’s Note — Soviet weap
ons testing has set off a world
wide wave of concern over
radioactive fallout. Can the
hazards, to you and your
family, be accurately assessed?
What’s the best scientific con
sensus? This is the first of three
articles on the subject.
By Alton Blakeslee
Associated Press Science Writer
NEW YORK — The scariest
word of the day is fallout.
But experts say no one can
point to any human being and de
clare: “He’s been hurt by fallout
from bomb tests.” Or: “That
woman’s baby will be bom de
fective because of fallout, or her
grandchildren will.”
The odds are practically nil
that present amounts of fallout
will hurt you as an individual.
Yet it is equally true that some
people somewhere will be dam
aged or will die too soon—pos
sibly ultimately thousands of
people — from fallout already
loosed by bomb tests.
Hie Soviet 50-megaton bomb
test could add perhaps hundreds
or even thousands of potential
victims to the list.
But one fact must be made
clear. All such estimates mean
thousands out of hundreds of mil- j
lions or even billions of persons
who would be bom in the next
30, 50 to 100 years or more.
Scary Words
“Fallout” triggers a host of
other scary words: Radioactivity.
Mystery. Bone cancer. “Poisoned
milk” for babies. Children doom
ed from bad genes. Leukemia.
Strontium. Ashes of death. ;r
Fallout stirs vast emotions, in
cluding worry that testing of
weapons increases chances of nu
clear war.
For 15 years, scientists have
been gathering the story about
fallout.
But they cannot yet answer a
key question: Exactly how little
radiation does it take to cause
human cancer or leukemia? Or to
damage the genes which determine
children?
statements
■
Sedvice official, “is a cause for
concern, but not yet for alarm.”
Look at the significant details
in the fallout story, and you can
judge better for yourself what
the hazards are.
First, fallout can be a lion or
a mosquito, relatively speaking.
Lion-Sized Danger
The lion-sized danger would
come in H-Bomb warfare.
Bombs striking cities and mis
sile bases would suck up mil
lions of tons of dirt, making it
highly radioactive, carrying it
perhaps 20 miles high.
In an hour, it would start fall
ing down, carpeting great areas
with radioactivity if they did not
have shelter.
In 48 hours, it would lose 99
iper cent of its intensity, and be
come safe enough so you could
move about, or get out of the
area.
Fallout from bomb testing is a
mosquito compared with war
bombings.
Scientists generally agree that
all the radioactivity from testing
—until the Soviets resumed—had
increased by only a few per cent
the amount of natural radioacti
vity in which all humans have al
ways livod.
Current Soviet tests could in
crease the added amount by two
thirds. But that still means per
haps a total over-all of 5 to € per
cent more radiation than has al
ways existed naturally.
What, first of all, is the natural
or background radiation?
It means that every minute,
1 5,400 potassium atoms break down
and emit rays in the body of a
130-pouqd person.
Every minute, more than 2,000
radioactive carbon—14 atoms ex
plode also.
You get in food the radioactive
potassium, which has always been
on the earth. Carbon-14 atoms,
created by cosmic rays, drift down
from the atmosphere to enter
living plants, animals, and hu
man beings.
Cosmic Rays
Cosmic rays zip through the
human body at a rate of about
•i.QOfcper prdnute, and some might
cause gcaaetic chsuiges. If you
live at an altitude of*one mile,
as in. Denver, you are hit by twice
as many cosmic rays as persons at
sea level.
We all breathe radioactive
gases from radium and thorium.
Uranium, radium and thorium
in the ground, and in rocks, hi
cement and in bricks, shoot at
you constantly with X-rays.
All of*this unavoidably adds up
to an average exposure of about
4M> roentgens, of rradiation in 30
years of living. Roentgens are a
measure of Radiation Intensity. An
efficient Xrray of the chest ex
poses you to l-10th to l-25th of
one roentgen.
A 5 per cent increase in radia
tion due to oomb test fallout
means that in 30 years, the aver
Pe person would get exposed
out 1-lSth of i roentgen more.
But there are other important
considerations beyond this.
Next: Fallout and ^effects on
. he^ity. .?! ^ g ^ |j
Skagway Sets
Up a Museum
For Its Tourists
You might wonder why Skag
way ever thought it. needed a
museum. The town itself amounts
almost to a living, exciting pic
torial of Alaska history. Old
false-fronted buildings construct
ed during the rip-roaring Gold
Rush Days retain their frontier
atmosphere. Residents put on a
! “Days of ’98” show three or four
nights weekly in the summer,
taking visitors back to the last
century. And a ride on the nar
row gauge railroad connecting
Skagway with Whitehorse, Yu
kon Territory, Canada, transports
travelers in 20th Century com
fort beside the man-killing but
fabulously scenic Chilkoot Trail
to the gold fields.
But Skttgwwy wanted a museum
and Skagway produced one. and
it’s fast developing into one ci
the most interesting local mu
seums in the northwest. The col
lection includes a full-sized In
dian war canoe; a samovar dat
ing back to the Czarist Russian
occupation of Alaska; Chilkat In
dian blankets, robes„ and regalia;
native baskets from all over
Alaska; a robe entirely of duck
feathers; an Eskimo sled; a “one
horse open sleigh”; paintings,
frontier mining supplies; and
scores of other items of Alaskans.
The museum building — first
granite structure in Alaska — is
of considerable interest itself.
Originally opened in 1899 as a
Methodist College the building
later became U.S. District Court
of Alaska, No. 1. Many old court
room furnishings remain intact,
including the judge’s bench and
jury chairs. Old court records—
some tragic, some humorous, some
relating to millionaries, others to
paupers—have been preserved
and may be viewed under glass.
SBA Approves
Business Loans in Alaska
Th? Small Business Administra
tion has announced that during
August it approved one direct and
ten participating loans in Alaska.
The direct loan was to Alaska
Timber Products, Valdez, flog
ging, lumber mill and sales),
$20,000. The participation loans
included:
Alaska Truck Transport, Inc.,
Anchorage, $20,000; Edwin Crit
tenden, Anchorage, (architect
urally $43,000; Kroesing Cold
Storage, Anchorage, $12,000; Ai
Renk & Sons, Inc., Anchorage,
(trucking), $05,000; Arthur L.
Nicholson Co., Bethel, (water dis
tribution service), $47,500; Alex
Garage & Construction Co., (auto
repair, sale of gas and oil), Haines,
$40,000; Derk’s Trading Post, (re
tail general store), Soldotna, $45,
000; Peter E. Oavidsen, Spenard,
(manufacturing jeweler), $15,006;
Stony River Trading Post, Stony
River, (retail general mercantile),
$27,250; and Kulstad Packing Co.,
Valdez, (seafood cannery), $15,000.
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Plane Hijacker
Receives Life Sentence
EL PASO, Tex. UP) — Leon
Bearden was sentenced to life
imprisonment Tuesday for the at
tempted hijacking of a jet airliner
Aug. 3.
His son, Cody, 16, was sen
tenced to a correctional institu
tion until he is 21. >£ody will be
17 Nov. 13.
The elder Bearden, 38, was
given the life term on a kid
naping charge. Federal Judge R.
E. Thomason also sentenced
Bearden to five years for viola
tion of the Dyer Act—stealing
the airplane and taking it over
state lines—and 20 years for ob
structing interstate commerce. All
terms run concurrently.
Cody pleaded guilty to a Dyer
Act violation Oct. 16.
The father and son, of Col
lidge, Ariz, seized a Continental
Airlines jet over Columbus, NjM.,
Aug. 3, on a flight from Phoenix,
Ariz., to El Paso, Tex.
An all-male jury took 22 min
utes to find Leon Bearden guilty
Oct. 18. Sentencing was postponed
until Tuesday for study of pre
sentencing reports.
The elder Bearden plans an ap
peal. After the sentencing he said
he thought his defense had not
been adequate.
POWER PLANT SHUT
DOWN IN UNALAKLEET
The electric radios are still, the
electric washing machines are
idle and the refrigerators are not
working in Unalakleet, where old
oil and gas lamps have been taken
out of storage. The Eben Bros,
who have been supplying power
have closed down their plant, it
was reported by a visitor from
there.
MMM HOSPITAL
Admitted: Ella Pasquan, Helen
Gogolin, Beatrice Crump, Ralph
Apatika, Darlene Scott, Patricia
Auliye, Dan Gilmore, Agnes Koo
nuk, and Carol Otton.
Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Crump of
FAA are the parents of a daughter
born on Oct. 30 at the Maynard
McDougal Memorial Hospital.
Silvario Ruiz Passes
At MMM Hospital
Silvario Ruiz, well known cook
and chef in (his area for the past
20 years, passed away at the
MMM Hopsital after a long Ill
ness.
Ruiz, who wa6 65 years old,
came to Nome as a cook for a
private family, married and made
his home here and has three chil
dren surviving him, Remona,
Gardenia and Silvario Jr. He also
has two children in Massachu
setts. He was cook at the hospital
for several years also.
The funeral will be from the
Assembly of God Church on
Thursday afternoon at 2:00, with
Veterans of Foreign Wars acting
as pall bearers and conducting
the graveside ceremony.
Mr. Ruiz was a retired U.S.
Navy cook, having served his
country for 20 years.
NEHRU OF INDIA TO
VISIT WITH KENNEDY
CAiLCUTTA, India OR — Prime
Minister Nehru waxed enthusias
tic about the United States today
and said there is no major con
flict between India and America.
Nehru leaves Friday for a visit
with President Kennedy and a
brief U.S. tour.
He told the opening session of
an East-West conference spon
sored by the Ramkrishna Mission
and the United Nations that India
and the United States have much
in common, for example, their
systems of government and demo
cratic institutions.
159 Lineal Descendants
WOODBURY, Tenn. OR — Nora
Mayo, 85, of Woodbury died yes
terday. Mrs. Mayo left 159 lineal
descendants — 11 children, 58
grandchildren, 75 great - grand
children and 15 great-great
grandchildren.
DEPARTURES
To Fairbanks: Gene Dagg,
Charles Dickerson, James Mc
Kone, Josephine Cannon, William
Posey, Charles Blevins. Bill Bou
cher, John Zettner, D. V. Grettie,
H. J. Schoenbom, Phillis Young,
{and William Munz.
■-———
. .. f “ ;
NEW SCHEDUL
Effective September 18,1961
Monday &, Friday Fit. 309/310
Lt: Fairbanks 8;0Q son. Ar; Kotzebue 8:50 a.m.
Lt: Koisebue 9:30 *jn. Ar: Nome 10:20 son.
Lt: Nome 2:40 pjn. Ar: Fairbanks 6:25 p-—
Wednesday Fit. 309/S10
Lt: Fairbanks 8:00 ajn. Ar: Kotxebut 9:20 ■
Lt: Koisebue 10:00 ajn. Ar: Nome 11:00 ■
Lt: Noma 3:50 pan. Ar: Fairbanks 7:35 pjn.
Tuesday, Thursday Sr Saturday
Flight 311/312
Lt: Fairbanks 8:00 ajn. Ah Nome 9:05 *-m.
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L,: W°m--_1.*. .-n.
Lt: Koisebue -11:20 ajn. Ar: Fmaoks 2:30 pja.