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FRIDAY, SEPT. 25, 1987
855-4848
o
OG
Saving lives in an emergen-
cy or through medical
research sometimes overrides
superpower politics, according
to Dr. Robert-Gale, the UCLA
bone marrow transplant ex-
pert who led an international
team into the USSR to treat
radiation victims after the
Chernobyl nuclear reactor
accident.
The team was a case in
point. When the Soviets ask-
ed Gale to suggest an
outstanding specialist to
assist him, he immediately
named Israeli biophysicist Dr.
Yair Reisner of the Weizmann
Institute in Rehovot, Israel,
an expert in tissue-typing and
in removal of white blood cells
that contribute to graft-
versus-host disease, work
funded by the Israel Cancer
Research Fund (ICRF) since
1981. Last year, he received
an ICRF career development
award.
Soviet authorities did not
hesitate to agree. And Gale
said he made it clear that
Reisner was Israeli. "Cancer
research and saving lives
supersedes diplomatic rela-
tions," he explained. However,
he added that "it's certainly
very meaningful, and will not
be forgotten in the Soviet
Union) that an Israeli came to
their assistance!'
Gale was speaking upon his
latest return from the Soviet
Union to check on the victims
of the nuclear disaster. He ap-
peared at both a press con-
ference and luncheon in New
York recently sponsored by
ICRF, where it was announc-
ed that more than $1 million
will be awarded this year in
63 research grants to Israeli
scientists. Opera star Robert
Merrill received a
humanitarian award and a
fellowship established in his
name.
The researcher pointed to a
direct parallel between the 32
people who have died as a
result of the Chernobyl acci-
dent and the 37 men who
were killed aboard the USS
Stark in the Persian Gulf. All
the victims were there
"because of our quest for
energy," said Gale.
Barring Americans' will-
ingness to give up modern
machines and the curtail-
ment of naval activities in the
Straits of Hormuz, the use of
nuclear energy is
unavoidable, said- Gale. "We
don't have a viable alter-
native at this moment. And
there's no quegtion that we
have to go forward."
"The fact is that the rest of
the world is going forward
.
CMG
o
with nuclear energy . . . The
Soviet Union has indicated to
me and to other scientists
that they're going to increase
their use of nuclear energy
five-fold in the. next 50 years.
They're going to get half their
electricity from nuclear
energy.
"Last month the French 'got
72 percent of their electricity
from nuclear sources. The
Japanese are building 25
nuclear power stations. And
so there's a nucle arization of
the world. And it's just going
forward regardless of what we
in the United States would
like to do. And we just have to
learn that we're on this
planet together. Nuclear
power anywhere is nuclear
power everywhere. And it's
just a fact of life."
Gale called Chernobyl "a
turning point in the evolution
of (the Soviets') policy of
glasnost." The unavoidable
facts forced the Soviets to not
only go public with their pro-
blem but ask the interna-
tional community for help.
The Soviets have since releas-
ed "huge amounts of data" to
the Atomic Energy Commis-
sion, he said.
Gale trains Soviet doctors
in transplant skills and
brings much-needed medical
and technical supplies, acting
as a representative of the U.S.
He said that the Soviet
limitation in bone marrow
transplants is "merely a
reflection of the health care
system of the Soviet Union,
which is a poorer country!'
Gale cited Israel's
achievements in the field of
bone marrow transplant, per-
forming about 50 or 60 such
operations yearly.
In response to a question,
Gale said he brought up the
issue of cancer patient
refuseniks whenever he spoke
with Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev and Communist
Party Secretary Anatoly
Dobrynin. About a month
ago, he said, he proudly
delivered letters to Dobrynin
on behalf of several hundred
refuseniks, including those
suffering from cancer.
The cases of- these ailing
refuseniks are given low
priority despite an ongoing
simultaneous cancer research
agreement between the U.S.
and USSR. Gale explained
that the agreement has been
"relatively dormant since the
Reagan Administration,
because it was felt that
cooperation with the Soviets
was not going to develop!'
But "cancer is a problem
that should go beyond
.