Part IV

Acronyms and Abbreviations

ACBM

Advisory Committee for Biology and Medicine (a civilian advisory panel established in late 1947 to advise AEC's DBM on various aspects of biomedical research; dissolved in 1974)

ACR

American College of Radiology (professional society)

AEB

Army Epidemiological Board (established in 1942; through a series of various commissions, whose members were civilian health professionals, sponsored studies of infectious diseases of interest to military; succeeded by Armed Forces Epidemiological Board in 1949)

AEC

Atomic Energy Commission (established by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 and inherited most functions of the MED; succeeded in 1974 by ERDA and NRC)

AFEB

Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (1949 successor to AEB)

AFMPC

Armed Forces Medical Policy Council (established by the secretary of defense in January 1951; formerly the Office of Medical Services [OMS]; members included a civilian physician as chairman, other civilians from medicine or related fields, and the surgeons general of the three services; developed basic medical and health policies for DOD and reviewed the medical and health aspects of the policies, plans, and programs of other DOD agencies; succeeded by the ASD [H&M] in late 1953)

AFPC

Armed Forces Policy Council (established under National Security Act of 1947, this panel advised the secretary of defense on broad policy matters and specific issues as requested; its initial members included the secretary and deputy secretary of defense; the secretaries of the Air Force, Army, and Navy; the chairman of the JCS; chiefs of staff of the Air Force and the Army; and chief of naval operations)

AFSWP

Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (established by the secretaries of war and the Navy in January of 1947; inherited certain functions of the MED in the areas of nuclear weapons development, testing, storage, and training of personnel; succeeded by DASA in 1958)

AMA

American Medical Association (professional society)

ANL

Argonne National Laboratory (established in 1946 and operated by the University of Chicago; inherited many of the facilities and functions of Met Lab; one of the three original national laboratories, the others are BNL and ORNL, established in 1946 and 1947, respectively)

AR

Army regulation (policy directive)

ASD (H&M)

assistant secretary of defense (health and medicine) (succeeded the AFMPC in 1953; provided advice and assistance on health and medical aspects of DOD policies, plans, and programs and collaborated with ASD [R&D] in the development of policies and the review of requirements for biomedical research by DOD)

ASD (R&D)

assistant secretary of defense (research and development) (replaced the RDB in 1953; provided advice and assistance to the secretary of defense on R&D policies, plans, and programs, developed an integrated DOD R&D program, assigned specific responsibilities for R&D programs where unnecessary duplication would be eliminated by such action, examined the interaction of R&D and strategy and advised the JCS, and reviewed proposed R&D budgets and made recommendations thereon; succeeded by ASD [R&E] in 1957)

ASD (R&E)

assistant secretary of defense (research and engineering) (combined the offices of ASD [R&D] and the assistant secretary of defense [engineering]; succeeded by the director of defense research and engineering [DDR&E] in 1958)

BNL

Brookhaven National Laboratory (established by the MED in 1946 and operated by the Associated Universities; created to facilitate cooperation between universities and the federal government in performing research in physics and nuclear science)

BuMed

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (operates Navy's hospitals and medical research centers, as well as sponsoring most of its outside biomedical research)

CDC

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CEQ

Council on Environmental Quality (three-member panel within EOP, established by National Environmental Policy Act; has environmental oversight responsibilities)

C.F.R.

Code of Federal Regulations (compilation of federal regulations available from the Government Printing Office and in many public and private libraries)

CHR

Center for Human Radiobiology (created within Argonne National Laboratory in the late 1960s)

CMR

Committee on Medical Research (established in 1942 under OSRD to sponsor nonradiation-related biomedical research of interest to the military; disestablished in late 1946)

CMS

Committee on Medical Sciences (RDB committee in existence from 1948 to late 1953 that reviewed, evaluated, and made recommendations on all biomedical research conducted by or for DOD entities; members included both civilian and military health professionals; from late 1953 to 1957, an advisory group to ASD [R&D] and ASD [R&E], functions transferred to the Committee on Science in 1957)

DASA

Defense Atomic Support Agency (1958 AFSWP successor)

DBM

Division of Biology and Medicine (established in early 1948 to direct and coordinate all AEC biomedical research activities; became the Biological and Environmental Research Division with the creation of ERDA in 1974)

DDR&E

director of defense research and engineering (succeeded ASD [R&E] in 1958, reviewing, evaluating, and directing all R&D conducted by or for DOD)

DHEW

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHHS predecessor, established in 1953)

DHHS

Department of Health and Human Services (1980 DHEW successor; the principal federal agency charged with advancing the health of Americans and providing essential human services)

DNA

Defense Nuclear Agency (1971 successor to DASA)

DOD

Department of Defense (new name established in 1949 for the National Military Establishment, which had been created under the National Security Act of 1947 to replace the War and Navy Departments)

DOE

Department of Energy (1977 successor to ERDA)

EOP

Executive Office of the President

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency (federal agency charged with monitoring the quality of the environment)

ERDA

Energy Research and Development Administration (succeeded AEC in 1974, with responsibilities for civilian nuclear power and isotope licensing and distribution transferred to the newly created Nuclear Regulatory Commission; succeeded by DOE in 1977)

FDA

Food and Drug Administration (established as part of the Department of Agriculture in 1862; became a regulatory agency in 1906; transferred to Federal Security Agency in 1940, which became HEW in 1953; became part of PHS in 1968; enforces laws to ensure the safety and efficacy of foods, food additives, drugs, biologics, cosmetics, and medical devices)

HEDR

Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction (established by DOE, later transferred to Centers for Disease Control, this project assesses human exposures to ionizing radiation due to radioactive emissions from the Hanford, Washington, plutonium-production plant)

HEW

See DHEW

HHS

See DHHS

HURB

Human Use Review Board (within Army surgeon general's office, reviews proposed research involving greater than minimal risk)

ICRP

International Commission on Radiological Protection (international body of scientific experts, created in 1928, which functions on an international basis as the NCRP does within the United States)

IG

inspector general (office in federal departments and agencies that conducts and supervises audits, investigations, and inspections of department and agency operations)

INEL

Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (originally named the National Reactor Testing Station, INEL was established in 1949 as a remote site to work with experimental civilian and military reactors)

IRB

institutional review board (See Glossary)

JCAE

Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (congressional committee established under the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 to oversee AEC; disestablished in 1974).

JCS

Joint Chiefs of Staff

LANL

Los Alamos National Laboratory (established as Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory by the MED in 1943; operated by the University of California since it was established; originally created to design and build a fission bomb; designated a national laboratory in 1977)

LBL

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (1971 successor to UCRL)

LLNL

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (successor to the Livermore weapons lab which had been established in 1952 as the second weapons lab and had been operated by UCRL)

MED

Manhattan Engineer District, also popularly known as the Manhattan Project (established in 1942 within the U.S. Army to build the atomic bomb; functions transferred to AEC and AFSWP in 1947)

MetLab

Metallurgical Laboratory (University of Chicago-based MED laboratory established in 1942; most functions transferred to ANL in 1946)

MKULTRA

A domestic CIA program in the 1950s and 1960s involving human experimentation to investigate control of human behavior through the use of chemical, biological, and other means (including psychoactive drugs, psychology, and possibly radiation)

MLC

Military Liaison Committee (established under the Atomic Energy Act of 1946; chaired by a civilian, its other members included two senior officers from each of the three services; advised the secretary of defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff on priorities for DOD atomic energy R&D, which component should conduct it, and liaisoned with the AEC on DOD activities)

MPA

multiple-project assurance (research institution's assurance, covering a number of different research projects, to OPRR or the funding agency that the institution will comply with federal human subjects protection policy)

MPBB

maximum permissible body burden (amount of radioactivity that, if deposited in the body, is estimated to deliver the highest allowable dose rate to the most critical organ over a defined period of time)

NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (established in 1958; agency responsible for the development of space aviation, technology, and exploration)

NCI

National Cancer Institute (established in 1937, part of NIH)

NCRH

National Center for Radiological Health (1967 successor to PHS's radiological health and safety program; conducted biological and epidemiological research on radiation effects)

NCRP

National Committee on Radiological Protection and Measurements (1946 successor to Advisory Committee on X-ray and Radium Protection, known after 1964 as National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements; an independent body of scientific experts, it recommends limits for occupational exposure that are widely followed and periodically issues reports on special topics)

NEPA

(1) Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Airplanes (1946-1961 Air Force program for developing nuclear-powered bomber)

(2) National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (Federal statute requiring that the U.S. government consider and publicize the environmental impact of its actions)

NIH

National Institutes of Health (part of PHS; begun as a one-room Laboratory of Hygiene in 1887, now the world's largest biomedical research facility; based in Bethesda, Maryland; conducts and sponsors research dedicated to health promotion and the discovery of causes, prevention, and cure of diseases)

NIOSH

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (part of CDC)

NRC

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (established in 1974 as a successor to AEC to run civilian nuclear power program and radioisotope licensing and distribution program)

NTPR

Nuclear Test Personnel Review (DNA program established in 1978 to, among other things, compile unclassified histories of atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, determine which DOD civilian and military personnel were present at these tests, and establish their exposure levels at the tests)

NYOO

New York Operations Office (AEC regional office)

OPRR

Office for Protection from Research Risks (established within NIH in 1966 to educate investigators and others about research ethics and to implement regulations for the protection of human and animal subjects)

ORAU

Oak Ridge Associated Universities (1966 successor to ORINS)

ORINS

Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies (established in 1946, and operated initially by a consortium of fourteen Southeastern universities under AEC contract beginning in 1947; a research and training site for users of radioisotopes in medicine and site of biomedical research)

ORISE

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (1991 successor to ORAU)

ORO

Oak Ridge Operations Office (AEC/ERDA/DOE regional office)

ORNL

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (established in 1947, succeeding Clinton Labs; has conducted a wide range of research for AEC, ERDA, and DOE)

OSG

Army Office of the Surgeon General (operates Army's hospitals and medical research centers, as well as sponsoring most of its outside biomedical research)

OSRD

Office of Scientific Research and Development (through numerous committees, coordinated and directed all nonatomic energy R&D of the War and Navy Departments from 1942 to 1946; succeeded by the Joint Research and Development Board)

PBI

partial-body irradiation

PHS

Public Health Service (the federal government's principal health agency, restructured three times since World War II, now one of five operating divisions of DHHS; functions to improve public health through the promotion of physical and mental health and the prevention of disease, injury, and disability)

R&D

research and development

RDB

Research and Development Board (reviewed, evaluated, and directed all research and development conducted by or for DOD; functions transferred to ASD [R&D] and ASD [R&E] in late 1953)

RDRC

radioactive drug research committee (reviews proposed use of radioactive drugs within an institution)

RSC

radiation safety committee (monitors radiation safety within an institution)

RW

radiological warfare

SAM

School of Aviation Medicine (Air Force component; conducted radiobiology research beginning in the late 1940s; coordinated efforts with other government agencies)

TBI

total-body irradiation

UCRL

University of California Radiation Laboratory (lab established in 1936 by Ernest Lawrence on the Berkeley campus; conducted a wide range of research for the MED and AEC; operated the Livermore weapons lab from its establishment in 1952; redesignated the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1971)

UCSF

University of California at San Francisco (biomedical research site)

U.S.C.

United States Code (compilation of congressionally enacted laws available in many public and private libraries)

VA

Department of Veterans Affairs (successor to 1930-1989 Veterans Administration)

WMA

World Medical Association (professional organization; issued Helsinki Declaration in 1964)