A-bomb survivors research funding could face reduction

摘要

Scientists in disciplines associ-ated with the effects of radiation exposure are disturbed by the possibility that proposed United States budget cuts could significantly reduce funding for the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) and its laboratories in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Follow-up of survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on the two cities was started by pioneer Japanese and American scientists in 1950, and RERF (set up in 1975) has consolidated the work. Currently the foundation's $40-million budget is met by both countries, with Japan providing 60 percent and the U.S. Department of Energy 40 percent. A recent report in the April 2 issue of Science said that the DOE warned scientists working at RERF in March "about possible funding cuts that could derail ongoing studies and force layoffs in the group of 40 scientists." RERF chairman Burton Bennett told Nuclear News in an e-mail from Hiroshima that negotiations were going on with DOE staff to ensure funding "as near as possible to normal," and that he was hopeful. "We have a unique, well-defined situation here that may never present itself again, and we cannot lose the opportunity of investigating this thoroughly. We really cannot justify any diminution of our efforts until after the peak in cancer mortality in the study cohort occurs (about 2015). The U.S. side should make a firm commitment to continue the study for the full duration of survivor lifetimes," he added.