The first atomic bomb dropped at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing 140,000 people. Below, the former Hiroshima Prefectural Building for Promotion of Industry, which was preserved as the “Atomic Bomb Dome.” Both images at pegasus.phys.saga-u.ac.jp/peace Why Does a Pediatrician Worry about Nuclear Weapons? 153 ------(Dur James N. Yamazaki took note of the occasion with Children of the Atomic Bomb: An Ameri- Why Does a Pediatrician New York NewTimes York is the author of Worry about Nuclear Weapons? Worry amazaki N.Y Thebest man at our the wedding hus was MinoruYamasaki, Aki and I have warm memories of Lower Manhattan—we ames a photo captioned “Japanese American soldier and studenthis at Columbia’sbride, Teacher’s College.”a The photo is the only picture we have of the wedding. Aki was able to go fromNew York thedirectly SantaAnita Assembly to Center, where she had been ordered to report along with other Japanese Americans af ter the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. ing to Shethe Amache Concentrationthus Camp, avoidedwhere her parents were go interned. Terri, Aki’s sister, was a graduate studentSchool of Music, athaving beenJulliard awarded a scholarship following a nationwide audition. Aki then left Teacher’s College to be with Army attendingCarlisle,U.S.wastheatPennsylvania I me where Medical Field Service School at Carlisle Barracks. band of Aki’s sister—and, later, the architect who designed World Trade Center. theWhen Yamasaki went to New York for the first time after graduation in the mid-1930s, no architectural job was available. He finally found work wrapping dishes in a Japa nese import firm, even though he had graduated with the most can Physician’s Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands Marshall the and Hiroshima, Nagasaki, of Memoir Physician’s can ham and London: Duke University Press, 1995). He is currently a Clinical Clinical a currently is He 1995). Press, University Duke London: and ham Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California,Angeles. Los J denly a cascade of memories beginning before World War II be- gan to tumble out and become entangled with the terrible scenes that now confronted us. were married at Grace Church at Broadway and Tenth Street on April 1, 1944. The Present War, Past Wars War, Present When my wife, Aki, called me to the television first thought itthat was a scenario of whatmorning, could World happen to the I Trade Center, but the caption read: “live”—the real thing. Sud Amerasia Journal 27:3 (2001)/28:1 (2002): 153-166 27:3 (2001)/28:1 Amerasia Journal 154 Amerasia Journal went to Japan, expressed his intent to go to Viet Nam with his his with Nam Viet to go to intent his expressed Japan, to went soldiers. our for disastrous was encounter initial The Pusan. approaching Army Korean North the halt to combat into sent immediately and notice on a out day’s were shipped Calvary First the of soldiers U.S. from Nagasaki, jet by minutes few a only by Separated 1950. June Peninsula, Korean the on War out broke Korean the Nagasaki, in was I When me. on impact lifelong a left children surviving in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Their has tragedy on radiation nuclear of effects the study cy.to Japan to sent was I residen pediatric my completing was I as just 1948, of spring the in Commission Casualty Bomb the Atomic join to persuaded was ended. finally had killing the that We relieved followed. all were that surrender the of and Japan of for facility veteran POWs, I heard the news of the atomic bombing Pacific the rehabilitation from the at in America, me Back home. returned War I until distanced This Bulge. the of Battle the ing follow Germans the by imprisoned was I where theater, ropean bers of our family of man were sacrificed in that conflict. at war for survival! We must not forget that over fifty million mem Europeofies vastthePacific inand theater war. of world a was It was a part of daily life for everyone on both the battlefields and cit those dark days, the stark and violent reality of survival and killing ed in camps in desolate areas of the western United States. During weresummarilywhodispossessed,ilies uprooted, incarcerat and be turned onto us. I worried about what would happen to our fam might Japanese things all and Japantoward of America wrath the So when war was declared after Pearl Harbor, my concern was how with anxiety that a war between Japan and America might happen. had that filledwere years adolescent Mywar me. to back came life earlier my shaped the of images the all WAR, was 11 tember ing structures during the building’s planning stages. planning building’s the during structures ing to able attention safety for the future and occupants the surround Worldconsider Tradethe Ironically, paid Center.of he struction con Yamasakithe 1970s, planned late the to 1960s early the From society. in advancement later our for education the provided that institutions, state the especially universities, the was it ertheless, ington. Such was the lot of Wash Asians in America in those days. of Nev University the at credentials architectural outstanding Years later, my son, Paul, who was five months old when we when old months five was who Paul, son, Years later,my I became aware of the of enormity the atomic bombing when I Like many young Japanese in I men, the Eu Japanese fought young many Like American When President Bush declared that the crushing blow of Sep of blow crushing the that declared BushPresident When ------Why Does a Pediatrician Worry about Nuclear Weapons? 155 ------However, following Pearl Harbor, applications for service Following my internship at the City Hospital in St. Louis, I When I completed Armythe Medical Field course at Carlisle, classmates (jocks). I was able to dissuade him from enlisting. He protested at the time, but a year later he was an activist protest ing the War—for which he received a jail sentence of six months in solitary. II: the With U.S. War Army World In the early summer of 1941, I felt the first chilling winds of war. An embargo on steel followed by an embargo on oil clinched my decision to immediately fill out an Army application postedthe bulletin on board at Medical School of Marquette University. I barely received my Reserve Commission, following a careful re view of my citizenship status by the oneU.S. Army, week before Pearl Harbor. I hoped this would settle the question of “loyalty” of JapaneseAmericans that we faced at that time. in the U.S. Army were initially denied we were Moreover, branded as toenemy aliens—without a country, Japanese Americans. despite being citizens. But before long, Washington inexplicably asked these young Nisei, confined behind barbed wire, to volun when wemade ourteerdeci forcombat inthe Yet, armed forces. from parents our release to governmentrefused theserve, to sions their imprisonment! was the last of the interns to receive CarlisleatSchoolService FieldMedicalArmy myU.S. the at dutytive order to report for ac Barracks in Pennsylvania. En route to Carlisle, I visit Aki,stopped a friend by from UCLA,to who I last met over a year earlier A York. New instudy to way her Chicagoon stopoverin a during month-and-a-half later we were married in NewYork. Aki and I went on a brief honeymoon in the Poconos before I be gan a tour of duties that eventually sent me totry the Division,106th encampedInfan at Franklin, Indiana, during of the D-Dayperiod in Normandy (I was the only The AsianDivision was preparing to injoin theArmy in theirthe advance to Division). dis Divisionsoonthe departure, our before Even Germany. ward contingentcasualtiespatchedlargethe helpreplaceato D-Day. of The Division departed Camp Attebury, arriving at Camp Myles Standish in Massachusetts. From there, we crossed the Atlantic, arriving in Liverpool. then We crossed the Channel to Le Havre, casmolineexaminedand were weaponsOur front. the forleaving removed on the outskirts ofin St.Belgium Vith before we depart 156 Amerasia Journal have been unable to find out what happened to the other boxcars. I call. close piece. A one in still was boxcar over, our finally only was raid the Whenboxcar. the levitated and us shook bombs the of thudding The shelters. the for ran and boxcars into us locked shorter intervals as the planes came closer. Meanwhile, the guards planesaccompanied thebleatingby airraidsirens thatrepeated at roaring of cacophony the hear couldHanover, we at yard shaling of the airmen survived and would later join our POW group. and the plume’s trail would plummet earthward. Amazingly, some black cloud would suddenly burst in the carpet of planes overhead, Sometimesa approachedplanes bombs. overheadtheirunload to below.of countriesThousandsfrom up coming Power Allied Air upon. came we bodies same the haps per soldiers, a black American erected massacred the have of memory in cross Manderfield near Wereth of hamlet nearby the in people The memory. my in forever seared massacre sol diers—a black our of bodies dismembered the saw We snow. the in ordered us to leave the rest of the wounded men behind. wounded and to treat them for the next six hours, until our captors white cloth and surrendered. Germans allowed us to search for the of our group, realizing our untenable position, walked by us with a officerTietze, seniorIrving Majora overwhelmed.were men and Batallion was located: vehicles, 105mm howitzers, Artillery Field artillery 590th cannon, the where valley the into side mountain the of incessant barrage from the Germans. They were firing at us from joined him, responding to the cries of “Medic! Medic!” in the midst detachment medical our in Others shoulders. his over stretcher a carrying Island Rhode from Pinna George Sgt. recall I battle, the of heat the In ridge. mountain the on house farmer’s a in station tured.We treated thewounded—both oursandtheirs—in ouraid cap 15,000 and killed 19,000 including casualties, 80,987 had we fighting, of month a nearly After snow-coveredForest.Ardennes the in fought men million oneEventually POWs. MIA, KIA, ties: school,most-lyhighbecame8,000barelyaboutcasualkidsof out Bulge. the of Battle the was This front. seventy-five-mile a on war the of counterattack largest the unleashed Germans the rival, ar our after week a than Less Forest. Ardennes the in Germany and Luxembourg, Belgium, of boundary the at position our to ed A few days after the surrender, from inside a boxcar at the mar of onslaught the Germany,felt inside we war of prisoners As crossroad a by marched we forest, the of out led were we As combat, the in engaged 106th the of soldiers 10,000 the Of ------Why Does a Pediatrician Worry about Nuclear Weapons? 157 ------A dayA or two later we arrived in Falingbostel, our first POW The barbed wire fences and the guard towers around the Fal During our 800-mile trek by foot and by rail we saw the dev I would be remiss if I didn’t relate how a Task Force of Pat camp, filled with Frenchmen, British paratroopers wearing red be red wearing paratroopers British Frenchmen, with filled camp, rets captured inArnhem, and Russians. As the prisoners had no access to the progress of the war in recent weeks, they were anx ious to learn the latest news at the front. the Were Germans able to hold back the Allied assault from land and air? our I talesexchanged with the Mongolian Russians in their spoke sufficient elementarygreenWe German that ablewe were to con uniforms. able been ever had I how explain to me wanted they first At verse. to don a uniform of the U.S.Army and come so far from home. I replied it seemed they too were a long ways from home. ingbostel camp reminded me of the incarceration of our families father, my visitedhad I Arkansas,where Jerome, the in home back and sistermother, before I left for the war in Europe. astation and terror that the air war rained over Germany. The car The Germany. rainedoverwarair the that astationterror and march were webombingAs pet would sometimes hours.lastfor ing out of Nuremberg one morning, the raid andbegan lasted after until dawn midafternoon. The tail of our column in wasthe andcity, stillone of our buddies in the 590th Field Artillery of the 106th to which I was attached was among those killed in that Nuremberg bombing. ton’s 4th Armored Division came to rescue us, attackingus,waytheir rescue Division toArmoredcame 4thton’s for 50 miles ahead of the battlefront to liberate us from the POW Camp at Hammelberg: 450 men were assigned to and fifteentwen-ty-five tanks half-track carriers led by Capt. Abe Baum that fought their way to our camp to liberate the prisoners. Underes timating the number of prisoners, they were only able to smallnumbertake back with them. decidedI togo with thea task force on get toable was I camp.prisonerstothereturned ofmostwhile a tank and then told to jump on one of the armored carriers. Not long after the column began their return we hearddistance, and soon we tankscould see their cannon barrels onin the ridge the of an elevation. Knowing the accuracy of their 88mm guns,immediately we fled into the forest. Before the day was over, all of destroyedwere Force andthemany tanks andcarriers oftheTask men were killed. The next day we were flushed out of the woods and recaptured. How do you thank those who would risk their lives for you? The rescue expressed the same indomitable cour age Tradeas the Center. firemen Worldand police at the 158 Amerasia Journal targeted someday? someday? targeted suddenly be may they think they if react and feel lands distant in pas others do How target? human nuclear some toward headed eerily senger a carrying space in satellite Why a about worry weapons? he does nuclear about worry pediatrician a does Why WeaponsNuclear and 11 September years. three next the for pediatricians fine exceptionally from ing train obtain to able was I Rights, of Bill GI the from supplements with Together her. to grateful am I During and worked Aki years, those Cincinnati. in then and Philadelphia in first Childrens Hospitals, the at pediatrics in residencies with training medical continue to able was I Massachusetts, in Hospital General Lovell me. for Mamaronek nearby in found Aki They families. our with us connected banks phone at women Cross Red debarking, refrains. But we ready singing them weren’t quite yet to sing. On join to us get to tried and us at kisses blew who ladies lovely with filled were Boats nozzles. fire their from bursting water of arches with us Wesaluted us. greet that to fireboats came by sels passed ves small of fleets as Liberty of Statue the passed later, we ocean An POWs. veteran with packed (1945) May of end the towards troops awaited their passage home. The convoy had left Le Havre next the of By thousands of where tens Strike, Lucky Camp at arrived we day Allies. the to surrendered Germans the where Rhe at ims stopped train the 7, May of morning early the late In in April. POWs 50,000 over of camp a at Munich near Mooseberg Dachau. of inmates dying and starving the with face-to-face had volunteered from America’s concentration camps. They came Team Combat who Regimental 442 the of Battalion Field Artillery 522d the of soldiers American Japanese the were Dachau to gates the opened war. in first sink that can forces we the Allied Among which to depravity of depth the reflect beings human fellow our for disregard utter The died. or killed were 900,000 that reported is it alone Treblika In Germany. throughout camps of hundreds to began todown us. filter fromEuropeJews were throughout herded into holocaust the of word then, by for, building, the from emerge group first the see to relieved were We fluid. delousing toward Nuremberg, we walked into chambers and showered with In 1949, I had just completed my third year of a pediatric resi of a pediatric my third year completed I just had In 1949, at 1946 of March in Army the from discharge my Following at time second the for us liberated tanks Patton’s General in March our After liberation failed of our during 1945, march - - - - - Why Does a Pediatrician Worry about Nuclear Weapons? 159 ------However, However, not long after reporting to ABCC, in Hiroshima, I Meanwhile, Aki and Paul had to remain in Tokyo because Nagasaki lies on the southwestern shores of Kyushu, the dency when I arrived in Japan for the first time, hardly speak ing the language, with Aki and my five-monthgin my oldassignment with son—totheAtomic Bomb Casualty be Commission (ABCC).The Commission was established by the AcadNational emy of Sciences and the National Research Council. The NAS/ NRC was designated by Congress to advise the government onmatters of vital national interest. President Truman, of theappraised findings of the Joint Commission of the Medical Effects of theAtomic Bomb in Japan, directed the NAS/NRC to extend the study of long-term consequences of exposure to radiation among the survivors. A major part of the investigation wouldchildren. involve I was assigned to lookchildren who were in forthe wombs of the malformationmother at the time of the among the bombing. I was also instructed to visit JamesDr. Neel, a geneti cist at the University of Michigan, who would need pediatricians to examine the infants of the next generation whose parents were exposed. Dr. Neel had developed a study endorsed by geneticistsleading which has continued now for over fifty years. Before my departure, Dr. Joseph whoWarkany, was at the forefront of studying environmental factors, including radiation, that would result in congenital malformations, instructed me in conducting a field study of a large population. My training, heretofore, had only involved the treatment of a single child. which had not was assignment even given been an dis- additional a relation foster to Nagasaki to go to I was Washington. in cussed ship and rapport with the community and the physicians in order to develop a to program complement the A studies in Hiroshima. the be would I established. be to need would laboratory and clinic ABCC. the with affiliated Nagasaki in physician American sole available housing for ABCC representatives in Hiroshima—con trolled in this sector of Japan by British Occupation Forces—was available only for those of European descent. You would that think wouldWashington have straightened this out before our de partureor at least informed us about this. The last place I expect edthat segregated housing would continue to plague us after our private homewas eventually A EuropewasJapan.inreturnfrom found for us in the village Aga,of where I also headed ABCCthe program. The village of AGA is several milescompound. Soon we were en route to Nagasaki.from the British 160 Amerasia Journal Nagasaki. and Hiroshima of toll human real the public the American telling in delay considerable a been has there later. Yet years fifty over ongoing still is investigation collaborative This faith. good in ed initiat thus was ABCC the with undertaking collaborative joint future. the in survivors bomb atomic to happen would know what to wanted faculty, School Medical the as well as titioners prac city,the the of doctors Yet,the bomb. atomic an by tacked at was U.S. the event the in America prepare better would that that the lieved ABCC had to come information to obtain Nagasaki be Japanese the that clear was became soon it However, community forth-right. the with relationship my thought I and Team, without being killed what they had personally experienced. disclosed and mentors my became They explosion. bomb atomic an to be could people as close as were survived who doctors The perished. all surroundingtownship the in those structuresand en bomb.Forty percent ofthestaff survived, whereas those inwood the of effects the shielded partially building Hospital University the of concretewalls thezero,ground fromhundredmeters Eight city.The atomic attack, incredibly devastating, was over in a flash. fording considerable protection to the eastern central section of the af shield a as served Valley.ridge Urakami mountain the The in sections. residential and cial commer main the has ridge, mountain a by Valley Urakami the from separated side, eastern The armaments. and shipbuilding in engaged enterprises Industries, Mitsubishi large the by years war the in Valley, Urakami dominated is bay the of side western School. Medical University saki Naga current the of forerunner the was and physician Dutch ing enterpris very a by 1857 about Nagasaki in Japan to introduced first was medicine Western whole. a as Japan in percent 1 about to compared were Christians citizens the of percent 20 about saki, Naga In 1853. in visit Perry’s Commodore from prodding under West” the to doors its “opened Japan when reemerged centuries, two nearly for prohibition despite which, Christianity, of fluence West. the in the with was notable relationships Most maintained cen sixteenth the in tury. that Japan it was through Nagasaki centuries, In subsequent early begun had Spain and Portugal with relationship Japan’s Islands. Japanese major the of southernmost I wore the nominal Captain’s hat of the U.S. Atomic Bomb Bomb Atomic U.S. the of hat Captain’s nominal the wore I The atomic bomb was detonated 500 meters in the sky midway The city encircles the head of a bay.long and beautiful On the

A ------Why Does a Pediatrician Worry about Nuclear Weapons? 161 ------1 ; Ed Lau were andon shipsEd Turic treating casual kamikaze A A commemorative exhibit of the atomic bombing fifty years When our government first issued its official report on the weaponbeendevelopedhaspotentially thatis destructiveA be yondthewildest nightmareimagination;of weaponaideally so suited to sudden announced attack that a country’s major city might be destroyed overnight. . . The people of the country must be informed if they are to dis charge their responsibilities wisely—in a free country like ours such questions should be debated by the people. . . fect prohibited the dissemination of information about the bomb by the media, including some of our own scientific studies. So in Japan, except for the initial bulletin from Hiroshima and Nagasa ki,theconditions ofthesurvivors intheaftermath disclosedwere only after the end of the occupation in 1951. lateratthe Smithsonian Institute that initially was toinclude seri ous treatment of the effects of the bombs on the people of Hiro- shima and Nagasaki aroused strong objections from a veterans’ group, Congress and the press. They felt that thelighted theplight ofthe victims, exhibitrather than honoring thevalor of high U.S.servicemen. classmatesmyManyof Marquette atUniversity Medical School were assigned to serve in the final phases of the War: Georgeassault Collentinein the Pacific landed on the beach hitdestroyer a on Conway was John Jima; Iwo at wave first the on by a Yet Yet the Joint Commission Report on the Atomic Medical Bomb Effects in of Japan theby physicians from conducted ofGovernment Japanese the and Forces, the Armed U.S. Manhattan Project, October to December of 1945 was classified “Secret” and was not available even to our staff atABCC. Their report was eventually published for the Manhattan Project’s National Nuclear Energy Series in 1956, but did not receive a wide public distribution. So, eleven years after the bombing, the American virtually uninformed public about remained the only human beings who can tell theirstory of surviving nuclear weapons. In Japan, soon after the ef in thatestablished was code press a began, Japan of occupation making of the bomb, published inAugust 1945, the author of the report, Princeton physicist Henry Smyth,DeWolf who contribut ed prominently in the Manhattan Project, wrote: ties evacuated from Iwo and Okinawa; and Bob Fox in the Philip pineswasassigned general toprepare hospitals casualtiestotreat from the anticipated invasion of Japan. Of course, they all felt 162 Amerasia Journal Mexico. A bomb whose blast was equivalent to 20 kilotons of of kilotons 20 one-hundred- a to on perched bomb, Nagasaki the to TNT, identical equivalent was blast whose bomb A Mexico. would drift toward Brooklyn. wind southeast prevailing the and Manhattan lower of all cover radioactivewouldspreadingdust Theof cloudradiation.nuclear penetrating and wind blast the by felled and black burned bodies half. Within a radius of 800 meters, the streets would be lined with atomic explosion. Fires would be ignited as far out as a mile-and-a- mixture to form a mushroom cloud, the unmistakable insignia of an tivedust,thesameandat timethe intense heatwould suckthe up darkness. Allof lower Manhattan would be covered with radioac into Manhattan lower plunging sun, the eclipse would that cloud crumbled debris would be violently stirred, forming the a Then massive dust survivors. no be would there zero ground At missiles. buildings.concrete,Debrisof steel,flyingglass wouldandlikebe portingframe ofboth building towers, aswell asthethree satellite followed by a roaring blast that, in an instant, would crush the sup quiredto kill. Such heat could penetrate concrete floors and walls, re radiation of amount the times hundred one perhaps neutrons, thespeedlight,of together withpenetrating gammaradiation and at radiation thermal emit would explosion atomic An 11. tember Sep on flame into burst fuel planes’ the when degrees thousand several the to contrast in degrees), of (millions sun the of interior perature would be like a giant heat lamp with a temperature of the tem fireball The center. city’s the reach and Manhattan, lower of all illuminate would light of flash Abrilliant-hued towers. the of tack, an expanding 400-foot red fireball would cover the top floors tor meltdown in the Soviet Union in 1986. in Union Soviet the in meltdown tor reac Chernobyl horrendous the about thought I 1954. in Islands Marshall the in tested was that bomb hydrogen megaton fifteen the from fallout radioactive and 1946, in Island Bikini at burst ter underwa the about Nagasaki; and Hiroshima about tested; was bomb atomic first the Trinitywhere Mexico, New at Alamogordo, about thought I plane? their on bomb atomic an carried had ists the atomic bomb upon human beings. beings. human upon bomb atomic the of effects the about uninformed remained public the see, would citizens of millions eventually that one exhibit, the canceling by But lives. their them cost have well might that the Japan of from invasion them spared and war the ended bomb atomic the that The first atomic bomb test took place at Alamogordo, New New Alamogordo, at place took test bomb atomic first The Had the WorldtheHad Trade Centerbeenground nuclearzeroaat in After September 11, September After I what if wondered, the have often terror ------Why Does a Pediatrician Worry about Nuclear Weapons? 163 ------2 In Nagasaki, on August 9, 1945, Dr. Raisuke Shirabe, profes aAugust Nagasaki, 1945,In9,Dr. on The tests give far clearer warnings of the insidious nature of ra dioactiveagent which makes it such an ideal weapon for use on entirelycivilAnnewdangerapopulation. atomic of warhasso saturatedeveryshipstargetcreviceofthat scientists andservice personnel could visit the vessels on only hurried forays. Were a Bikini-type bomb dropped in New HarborYork under favor radioactive distribution maximum condition meteorological able particles, two million people would die. In1946, yeara after thebombing ofHiroshima andNagasaki, ManhattheSafety inHealthand of head Warren, Stafford Dr. Nishimori, student,thena wassittingdeskDr. with aotherat foot tower, was detonated on July 16, 1945. ground from miles sixty to fifty RadioactiveMesa Chapudera the to traced was fallout cattle.grazing of skin the on deposited was fallout the where zero, radiationbetaThefalloutthe particlesof causeddishairlossand colorationskincancerandthickening developed theskin,of later, in these animals. naval vessels of every category from aircraft carriers rinesto were anchoredsubma in a lagoon of BikiniAtoll twenty-five miles long to assess the tactical use of nuclear weapons twentyNagasakikilotonidenticalbomb,thewasbomb, to inA fare. naval war detonated underwater with a massive eruption of the sea water forming a three-mile wide lethal radioactive foamy umbrella that driftingcloudthickseveraldownwindmiles.developedfor a into It released a downpour lasting for an hour. The radioactivity in the lagoon became so high that one could not approach the ves sels for several hours, and then for only brief forays. sor of surgery, dug himself out of the debrisWhen he thoughtthat of returning coveredto his office tohim.retrieve some valu ables, the smoke and fire was already billowing out ofdows. the He was unable win to reenter the building. He saw bodies en that fire couldroaringhearthewindowtangledHetheframes. in already engulfed the neighborhood surrounding the hospital. sense floor, the to him threwblast seminarthewhen a students at were desk the consciousness,atothers regainedthe he When less. stacked in the corner lifeless, apparently hurled into this position by the vortex of the blast wind. The hospital ground was littered with bodies, dead and dying, traumatized by the injury, burns, tan Project and later the first Dean of the UCLA School of Medi cine, observed: 164 Amerasia Journal incidence. In adults, the leukemia appeared years later and with with and later years appeared leukemia the adults, In incidence. high considerably a with exposure after years ten first the during developed leukemia children, in but bomb, atomic the of vivors other children who had been in the womb when the bomb was was disorders. learning and seizures bomb developed dropped the when womb the in been had who children Later,other deaths. neonatal and births, still miscarriages, of cidence in high a had also mothers These heads. malformed small, with children stunted the retarded of mentally effect unborn: the terrible on bomb the atomic time first the for seeing was I so, Even radiation. to brain developing the of sensitivity the demonstrated had others, by studies experimental by complimented treatment radiation X-Ray pelvic received who mothers pregnant of vation obser earlier My life. my of rest the through extend would that pregnancy. during of an involvement beginning the just was This exposure radiation of effects for time first the for checking bomb, Nagasaki the survived who children examine Wecould pleted. struction beginning in 1950, when our clinic in Nagasaki was com shima bomb was less powerful than the one that fell on Nagasaki. Hiro the though even died, 120,000 delta, flat a situatedinshima, saki, 70,000 people perished in the ten days that followed. In Hiro Nagacentralshieldedthat mountainous spur a byenclosed long, death. of cause major the be to believed were burns although trauma, and radiation burns, of effect by thesynergistic caused thebombing, after twoweeks first the within occurred deaths the of majority the Japan, In trauma. minor following even develops infection severe that so impaired is Immunity tissues. all in hemorrhage in results that body the of parts jury. sensitive most the is among system forming blood The in radiation of indicator early and sensitive a is Epilation thirst. extreme and vomiting, nausea, with responds regularly gastrointesti tract nal The radiation. of amounts massive of absorption the with Im overwhelmed is brain the radiation. when follows nuclear death mediate to reaction their in differently respond body the of parts Different disease.” “atomic called was quently subse that disease puzzling a of presence the revealed trauma or ently cremated, three feet deep in a circle fifty feet in diameter. pitalthree weeks later, he saw a mound of skeletal remains, appar and radiation. When Dr. Stafford Warren arrived at the gutted hos Cancer is the major late effect of radiation among the sur the among radiation of effect late major the is Cancer I became increasingly aware of the enormity of nuclear de nuclear of enormity the of aware increasingly became I In Nagasaki’s Urakami Valley, only a mile wide and three miles burns without those for death subsequent and Instantaneous ------Why Does a Pediatrician Worry about Nuclear Weapons? 165 ------What would happen to the coming generations of children, So far, however, convincing evidencegenetic however, of injury nothas far, So Still,forfifty years children of the survivors have been haunt Increasing the power of nuclear weapons a thousandfold with a weapons thousandfold the of power nuclear Increasing a lower incidence compared to the children. offspring of parents exposed to the atomic bomb radiation, was of considerable concern both in United States and in Japan. If the definite miscarriages, aincrease in wasstudiesrevealedthatthere stillbirths, and congenital malformations, this might be attribut able to the atomictheThus,abletoeverybomb. pregnant twowomanthe in cities was registered and their outcome recorded. In a five-year period in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, each newborn was ex amined in the home. Over a five-year period 70,000 pregnancies evaluated,were coupled withrequestsforautopsies forstillbirths and neonatal deaths. However, statistical evidence of genetic in jury has not been demonstrated so far. In subsequent years, new methods to detect radiation injury were utilizedDNA study. technologyToday, is in being theapplied as geneticradiation-in duced mutation and links to cancer and immune disease are re vealed. insure To continuance of this program, blood samples of the most heavily exposed parents, their childrengroup are being preserved andto be made aavailable as controlnew develop ments in genome research occur. been found in the continuing epidemiological investigation that is now reviewed by international experts. studies,At it was therecognized that the outsetsurviving population received of the relatively low amounts of radiation compared to those who were killed by the bombs. The deaths of the latter victims reduced the likelihood of demonstrating a genetic effect. ed by fears that their progeny, the third generation,perhaps might third the progeny, theirthat fears by ed be tainted by the bomb. Significant advances have been made in understanding the mechanisms by which radiation induces can cer and genetic disorders is whendamaged DNA by radiation. the fifteen megaton hydrogen bombrevealed the that thatfallout; radioactive by thousandscontaminated be could miles square of and that radioac zero; can fallout be ground 120 lethal miles from tive iodine is the principal biological hazard that is ingested and concentrates in the thyroid, leading to thyroid tumors and cancer, among the especially young. has This consequence been repeated in the nuclear reactor meltdown at Chernobyl, where the fallout at in distance incidence of considerable resulted increased thyroid vulnerability. particular their revealing again children, in cancer 166 Amerasia Journal

Notes peace. in live to generations future of and world the of people. We must recognize and for struggle the right of all people all of objective primary the be must destruction mass of weapons other and weapons nuclear of threat the Neutralizing holocaust. atomic another prevent to man fellow our for compassion and es, resourc intellect, combined our requires that planet this on vival may have created another vision in its place. its in vision another created have may shattered. But, Minoru, the strong for advocate peace that he was, 11, peace.” world On seek and September achieve was that vision and become a expression physical of the effort universal of man to metropolis major its and country this to trade world of portance im the symbolize Yamasaki “could creation Minoru great his that Harbor,” hope York expressed New of entry the facing tion noted: and Crossroads at and Nagasaki, Hiroshima, in consequences human the observed backpack. a into put be can that now developed been have Weapons waves. blast hurricane powerful the and irradiation of storm to consume a population already immobilized by the effects fire- enormous an ignite zeroand fromground miles ten fires nite ig can weapon nuclear megaton one a that calculated been has It missile. single a of warhead the in placed be to weapons megaton 3 2 1. . .

We have reached a critical junction in man’s history for sur for history man’s in junction critical a reached Wehave When he designed the World Trade Center, “with its loca its “with Center, Trade World the designed he When world. the of people the by attained be somehow must be, it though obtain to difficult and unclear peace, to way the that and mankind, all for weapons destructive ultimate the be can weapons nuclear that It would seem that little imagination is required to accept the fact Dr. 1946, in Warren Era Stafford the Atomic into year one Just one- several allows now weapons nuclear of Miniaturization Stafford L. Warren, “What Science Learned at Bikini,” Bikini,” at Learned Warren,Science L. “What Stafford of Development the in Radiology of Warren,Role L. “The Stafford Henry DeWolf Smyth, DeWolfSmyth, Henry of the United States Government, 1940-1945 Government, States United the of Auspices the under Bomb Atomic the of Development the of Report ficial Surgeon General’s Office, 1966), 916. 1966), Office, General’s Surgeon D.C.: (Washington WarWorldII Radiology in Bomb,” Atomic the 11,1947. States Government. States in 1945 by the published United Press), 223, 226. versity Originally 3 Atomic Energy for Military Purposes: The Of- The Purposes: Military for Energy Atomic (Stanford: Stanford Uni Stanford (Stanford: Life , August , August ------