A01=M. Susan Lindee
abcc
aging
atomic bombs
Author_M. Susan Lindee
biomedicine
birth defects
Category=JHM
Category=JPS
Category=MBGR
Category=MBX
Category=NHF
Category=NHWL
Category=NHWR7
Category=RNQ
cold war
disease
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethics
fertility
genetics
hiroshima
history
human subjects
japan
life span
medical treatment
medicine
motherhood
mutation
nagasaki
nonfiction
nuclear power
pregnancy
publication
radiation
radioactivity
research
science
survivors
weapons
Product details
- ISBN 9780226482378
- Weight: 595g
- Dimensions: 16 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 15 Dec 1994
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945, unleashed a force as mysterious as it was deadly. In 1946, the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), under the auspices of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), was formed as a permanent American agency in Japan with the official mission of studying the medical effects of radiation on the survivors. The next ten years saw the ABCC's most intensive research on the genetic effects of radiation, and up until 1974 the ABCC scientists published papers on the effects of radiation on ageing, life span, fertility and disease. This text provides a comprehensive history of the ABCC's research on how radiation affected the survivors of the atomic bomb. Arguing that Cold War politics and cultural values fundamentally shaped the work of the ABCC, it describes how the project raised disturbing questions about the ethical implications of using human subjects in scientific research. How did the politics of the emerging Cold War affect the scientists' biomedical research and findings? How did the ABCC document and publicly present the effects of radiation? Why did the ABCC refuse to provide medical treatment to the survivors?
Through a detailed examination of ABCC policies, archival materials, the minutes of committee meetings, newspaper accounts and interviews with ABCC scientists, Lindee explores how political and cultural interests were reflected in the day-to-day operations of the research programme.
