European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 21, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes thursday. December 21. 1989 a rays cancer risk estimate raised Washington a Low level exposures to a rays and Gamma rays pose a cancer risk three to four times greater than earlier believed a National research Council report said wednes Day hut experts said the finding should not cause great concern to the average Citi in. Arthur c. Upton the chairman of the study said the findings May Lead to changes in accepted standards of Radia Tion exposure among Industrial workers and suggest that unnecessary exposures of patients to medical a Rajs should be  Bui Upton who 15 on the faculty of the new York University medical Cen Ter emphasized that the findings should not prevent patients from receiving appropriate diagnostic a rays or treat ments because the added risk from such medical radiation is very slight. A Chest a Ray might increase an individual s risk by i in a million he said. It s essentially negligible. But it s not negligible to Public health authorities who Analyse risks for the Popula Tion As a whole. The average citizen should nut vie this As a source of great concern. It Marc in endorses earlier reports that we really Don t know thai there is a Safe ice a of radiation exposure Upton said. Based on new methods of estimating and assessing the health effects of Radia Tion the committee concluded that a 1980 study by another arc committee significantly underestimated the amount of cancers caused by Low Levels of a rays and Gamma rays. The new study said that the risk for solid tumor cancer is three times greater than the earlier estimate and the risk for leukaemia is four times greater the com Mittee concluded. And the committee found a much greater danger for mental retardation among unborn babies exposed to Low level radiation from the eighth to Isth weeks after Conception. Women the report said arc slightly More Likely than men to develop cancer from to v Levels of radiation and in some types of cancer children arc More susceptible to radiation effects than Are adults. The report called biological effects of ionizing radiation or Beir 5. Is pan of a series of studies by the arc assessing the health effects of the Type of radiation produced in nuclear reactions from Nat ural uranium and from the stars such As the Sun. The committee said its Mudy updates risk estimates compiled in the Beir 3 study released in 1980. New studies of Low level radiation were conducted the committee said be cause of concern about fallout from nuclear reactor accidents such As the 1979 three mile Island incident in Pennsylva Nia and the soviet Accident at chernobyl in i9s6. The study said there also was new con Cern about radioactivity around nuclear facilities and that there was new knowl Edge about the  of radiation expo sures from natural sources and medical the study is based partly on the medi Cal history of 76.000 survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings in Japan health studies of workers at nuclear facilities and the records of patients who were treated with a rays for certain medical conditions. Part of the increased cancer danger seen from Low level radiation is based Ona reduced estimate of the radiation received by japanese survivors of the Hiro Shima and Nagasaki atomic bomb at tacks. Previously the committee said Neu tron radiation was erroneously consid ered to have a major influence on the health of the a bomb survivors. Removing neutrons from the equation it said Means that the survivors arc experienc ing higher rates of cancer from lower radiation doses. This is interpreted by the committee to mean that there is an increased risk of cancer and other health problems Bromlow level radiation. A few rays of Comfort despite the late afternoon Sun frigid temperatures form ice on the nostrils of to horses seeking shelter near some Trees in Wausau wis. Veterinarians say Hurst s can Ith land the bitter temperatures if they have Access to water and a Windbreak. Arctic cold still Tkv upped the Midwest wednesday. Gen. Wedemeyer who drafted winning Wii strategy Dies fort Belvoir. A. A Gen. Albert c. We Demeyer. Who drafted the Germany first strategy under which the Allied coalition led by the United slates and Britain won world War ii is dead. Hews 92. Wide Mcyr. Who had alzheimer s disease died sunday at the Fairfax retirement Center at fort Belvoir. Wedemeyer was a temporary lieutenant colonel when the United states entered the War in de Cember 1941. His first major assignment came earlier that year when Wedemeyer president Franklin  asked the then War department for suggestions As to How to win the War that the nation was surely going to have to enter. Wedemeyer at that time the Only . Officer to have graduated from the German army general staff College Drew up what became known As the Victory program advocating the defeat of German armies on the continent of Europe by Allied ground troops. After the . Entry into the War a refined version of the plan was adopted by Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill and despite a few detours led to the invasion of Normandy in june 1944 and the defeat of Germany. Wide Mcyr stayed with the War department until october 1943, when he was made Deputy chief of staff to British adm. Lord Louis Mon Batlin the com Mander in chief of the Southeast Asia come. After returning to the United states in 1946, he took on a fact finding Mission in China racked by civil War Between communist and Kuomintang forces for president Truman and he held stateside posts until his retirement in 1954. In retirement he served As director of several corporations published his memoirs and settled on a farm in Boyds my. He moved into the Fairfax retire ment Home earlier this year. Wedemyer is survived by his wife Elizabeth two sons six grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. Stateside Reader s digest to sell shares on Stock Market new York up Reader s digest association inc., publisher of the most widely read Magazine in the world said tuesday it intends to Trade 25 million com Mon shares on the new York Stock Exchange. It would be the first time since the Reader s digest Magazine was launched in 1922 that the privately held publishing company sold shares to the Public. The company however will not give up any of its operating control since the offering will not carry the voting rights that usually go with common shares. The monthly Reader s digest general interest mag Azine publishes 39 editions in is languages and has a world id circulation of 28 million with an estimated 100 million readers. The proposed Price for the shares is in the $18 to$22 Range which could generate As much As $555 Mil lion for the Sellers. At to to Cut rates Jan. 1 on ., International Calls Washington a american Telephone Telegraph co. Announced wednesday it will reduce rates by $300 million a year on interstate and International Long distance services used primarily by residential and Small business customers. The Price reductions will take effect Jan. 1, at to said. The company said they would apply to its Basic Long distance service plus International Calls and the at & t reach out America and optional Long Dis Tance plans. The reduction would be the company s 10th since 1984 and would bring total rate decreases to 40 per cent in the six years since the breakup of the Bell system the company announcement said. 146 whooping cranes make Long flight to Texas san Antonio a a record number of endangered whooping cranes 146, have made the 2,500 mile annual journey from Canada to the National wildlife Refuge. Yes Wpc Are ecstatic Refuge manager Brent Giezentanner said recently. The 5-foot Birds with Snow White plumes flocked from Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta Canada to the Austwell Refuge along the Texas coast. Last year s flock consisted of 138 cranes. The whooping Crane population has increased Al most tenfold since u Low Point in 1941, when 14 Birds and two Chicks were spotted on Refuge land. Since then the population has slowly increased. Bird watchers and biologists credit Public awareness and Protection of natural habitats in Canada and Texas with helping to nurture the flock. President Franklin d. Roosevelt authorized the creation of the Arkansas National wildlife Refuge in 1936 when it was discovered that Only 14 adult cranes an four Chicks were left in the species. It also was discovered then that the Texas Peninsula covered with Black Jack Oaks was the Birds Only known Winter feeding area