Song Among the Ruins

Abstract

As international tensions mount in the Middle East, it is perhaps timely that we are presented with a book that reminds us of the unthinkable consequences of nuclear conflict. Spanning more than 40 years, William Schull'sSong Among the Ruinsstems from his work in Japan with the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission—currently the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. Though they are not the primary subject of this book, the author summarizes the genetic findings of the work conducted by him and his Japanese and American colleagues. Under radiation exposure conditions similar to those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the results suggest that for a dose of 100 rad (1 Gy), the risk of untoward pregnancy (in children conceived after parental exposure) is increased less than 10% over natural baseline risk. While commenting on the difficulties in extrapolating to lower doses, he states that exposure to 5 rad (0.05 Gy, the current annual