Film footage taken in Hiroshima in March 1946 showing victims with severe burns
In the spring of 1948, the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) was established in accordance with a presidential directive from Truman to the National Academy of Sciences – National Research Council to conduct investigations of the late effects of radiation among the survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[236] One of the early studies conducted by the ABCC was on the outcome of pregnancies occurring in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in a control city, Kure, located 18 mi (29 km) south of Hiroshima, in order to discern the conditions and outcomes related to radiation exposure.[237] Dr. James V. Neel led the study which found that the number of birth defects was not significantly higher among the children of survivors who were pregnant at the time of the bombings.[238] The National Academy of Sciences questioned Neel's procedure which did not filter the Kure population for possible radiation exposure.[239] Among the observed birth defects there was a higher incidence of brain malformation in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, including microencephaly and anencephaly, about 2.75 times the rate seen in Kure.[240][241]
In 1985, Johns Hopkins University human geneticist James F. Crow examined Neel's research and confirmed that the number of birth defects was not significantly higher in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[242] Many members of the ABCC and its successor Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) were still looking for possible birth defects or other causes among the survivors decades later, but found no evidence that they were common among the survivors.[243][244] Despite the insignificance of birth defects found in Neel's study, historian Ronald E. Powaski wrote that Hiroshima experienced "an increase in stillbirths, birth defects, and infant mortality" following the atomic bomb.[245] Neel also studied the longevity of the children who survived the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reporting that between 90 and 95 percent were still living 50 years later.[243]
Around 1,900 cancer deaths can be attributed to the after-effects of the bombs. An epidemiology study by the RERF states that from 1950 to 2000, 46% of leukemia deaths and 11% of solid cancer deaths among the bomb survivors were due to radiation from the bombs, the statistical excess being estimated at 200 leukemia and 1,700 solid cancers.[246]
References:
236. Putnam, Frank W. "The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Retrospect". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
237. "The Radiation Effects Research Foundation Website". Rerf.or.jp. Archived from the original on March 8, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
238. Voosen, Paul (April 11, 2011). "Nuclear Crisis: Hiroshima and Nagasaki cast long shadows over radiation science". E&E News. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
239.Johnston 2008, p. 143.
240.McCormack 2008, p. 56.
241."Birth defects among the children of atomic-bomb survivors (1948–1954)". Radiation Effects Research Foundation. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
242. Krimsky & Shorett 2005, p. 118.
243. "The American Spectator, Volume 35". Saturday Evening Club. 2002. p. 57.
244. "Data India". Press Institute of India. 2008. p. 697.
245. Powaski 1987, p. 27.
246."Frequently Asked Questions #2". Radiation Effects Research Foundation. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
