L.A. Doctor to Aid Victims of Soviet Nuclear Accident : Moscow’s 1st OK of U.S. Help

The Soviet Union has given permission for an American doctor, a specialist in bone marrow transplants, to help aid victims of the catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, four senators announced today in Washington.

The physician is Dr. Robert Gale, chairman of the International Bone Marrow Registry and a practicing physician at UCLA.

Sens. Albert Gore (D-Tenn.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) announced that top Soviet officials had approved Gale’s trip and that the State Department has also given its approval.

Allowing Gale to help with the victims of the catastrophe is the first time the Soviet Union has accepted, in any form, the technical and humanitarian assistance offered by the United States.

To Leave Today

Gore said Gale was scheduled to leave this afternoon and arrive in Moscow at 6:10 p.m. Moscow time Friday.

In Los Angeles, the 40-year-old Gale said, “One of the major consequences of a nuclear accident is irradiation and the destruction of bone marrow.”

He added, “We have got to act very fast. Death from high radiation exposure occurs in two to four weeks.”

The offer of help from the bone marrow registry came from industrialist Armand Hammer, whose ties with Soviet leaders stretch back six decades. He made the offer in a personal note to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

“They said they were anxious for me to come, confer with my counterparts in the Soviet Union and, if necessary, take whatever steps are necessary,” Gale said.

International Effort

Those steps, he said, would include determining the number of people exposed to potentially fatal doses of radiation, then overseeing massive international efforts to locate suitable bone marrow donors and perform transplants.

Gale said he received a call this morning from Soviet Embassy officials in Washington accepting the offer of help.

Gale said that when registry officials decided on Tuesday to offer help to the Soviet Union, they asked Hammer to intercede. Hammer, the head of Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., did so the same day.

The Soviet Union isn’t a participant in the registry, and Soviet doctors apparently have only limited experience with marrow transplants, Gale said.

Of Soviet efforts to treat victims, Gale said, “My guess is that the Soviets are taking care of the immediately ill” and may be unable to care for those who need transplants.

Bone-marrow transplants have been used for years to treat leukemia and a marrow-destroying disease called aplastic anemia.

Offer extended, Page 5.