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http://www.archive.org/stream/falloutprotectio00unitrich/falloutprotectio00unitrich_djvu.txt

Nuclear attack

[snipped]

Fallout protection:

If you do not have a radiation instrument, stay in shelter
until you are assured, by radio, by contact from local author-
ities, or by other means, that clean areas are established near
you and that it is safe to proceed there.

In areas of heavy fallout where the first decontamination
actions can be started, if well organized, within the second week
after attack, there is relatively little danger from fallout par-
ticles getting on people doing cleanup work — especially if
normal habits of personal cleanliness are maintained. The
most likely articles of clothing to pick up fallout particles are
shoes, so keep them brushed clean.

On a farm

If you live on a farm, your pre-fallout preparations will have
a lot to do with your cleaning up afterward.

You should place as much of your livestock and produce in
barns as you can. A normally filled hayloft affords some shield-
ing from fallout radiation for animals below. Farm machinery,
troughs, wells, and any produce you cannot get into barns should
be covered with tarpaulins. You should store as much water in
covered containers as you can, taking the precautions already
outlined.

Afterward, any livestock exposed to fallout could be washed
or brushed to remove fallout particles. Water from wells and

streams would be safe for animal use. Even water standing in
a pond could be use since fallout particles would settle to the
bottom. Pond water could be made even safer by stirring up
a clay bottom and then letting it settle out. Feed and fodder
stored under cover should be used first. If no other feed is
available, animals could be turned out to pasture after a few
days when the radioactivity has decreased.

Farm animals and poultry would be an important source of
human food and they should not be allowed to sicken and die
from thirst and starvation. Animals which have been exposed
to early fallout or which have fed on contaminated pastures
could be slaughtered and the muscle meat would be fit for
human consumption. Internal organs, however, such as the
liver and spleen, should not be eaten unless no other food is
available. It would be easier to preserve meat on the hoof
than on the hook. Hogs and steers could be kept alive even
with water and feed containing early fallout particles.

Animals, like humans, can have radiation sickness. If the
radiation level in your area indicates that animal sickness may
be widespread, you probably will be told and given instructions
on slaughtering. Care must be taken in slaughtering to prevent
contamination of the carcasses by fallout particles from the
hides and digestive tracts.

Chickens and eggs would be a particularly important direct
food resource because they are relatively resistant to radiation,
especially if they are raised under cover using safe packaged
feeds.

Milk from cows that have grazed on contaminated pastures
would be radioactive, but in the absence of other food in an
emergency, it could be used.

Potatoes, corn, and other field crops exposed to early fallout
would be safe to eat after cleaning. Grain that has been covered,
as in elevators, would be safe. Threshing would reduce the
amount of fallout particles in grain. Threshed grain exposed
to fallout could be made safer by washing.

If county agents are available, they can help you decide what
crops, pasturage, and methods will be best and safest to use.
Seeds of all sorts are quite resistant to radiation and do not
require any special protection.

ORGANIZING

FOR CIVIL DEFENSE

Fallout shelter is only one part of a complete Civil Defense
Program. The details of a Civil Defense Program may change
with changes in the kinds of missiles that might be used against
us. But the essential elements of the program remain the same.
They consist of a warning system to alert the civilian population
to an imminent attack; a system of shelters equipped and pro-
visioned to furnish protection against those effects of an at-
tack for which protection is feasible — i.e., radioactive fall-
out; and a system to provide training and equipment, so that
the survivors can monitor the effects of the attack and carry out
the tasks of decontamination, fire fighting, rescue, and recon-
struction, that would be necessary to restore a functioning
society.

An effective civil defense requires the participation of every
citizen. It calls for advance planning at every level of govern-
ment — local, State, and national. This planning must be flexi-
ble enough to adapt itself to changes in enemy weapons and
tactics. It must be comprehensive enough to cover people liv-
ing under widely different ^conditions from ranch houses, to
apartment buildings, to frame cottages.

[continues, this page is the full 1961 publication]