Congresses, Meetings, Conferences, Scientific Societies

V. N. Ryabov

Scientific Work in 1950 in Connection with the Implementation of Stalin’s Plan for the Transformation of Nature

On July 1, 1950, the Institute of General and Municipal Hygiene of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences hosted a regular meeting of the commission attached to the bureau of the Academy’s Division of Hygiene, Microbiology, and Epidemiology. The commission is responsible for the overall coordination of scientific work connected with the implementation of Stalin’s plan for the transformation of nature. At the meeting, reports were heard from individual institutes on the research they were conducting in 1950. The commission noted positive developments in the scientific work of central and regional institutes and departments, both in the further advancement of this work and in the involvement of regional scientific and scientific-practical institutions. Experimental observations have begun on the construction of new ponds and field-protective forest plantations.

In 1950, the Institute of General and Municipal Hygiene of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences continues to study the hygienic effects of ponds and reservoirs in areas with field-protective forest plantations (Rostov Oblast). It is studying the principal conditions that determine the sanitary state and water quality of reservoirs constructed to regulate surface runoff, as well as the effects of existing and newly constructed reservoirs on the living conditions and health of the population.

The Erisman Central Scientific Research Institute of Sanitation, together with the Voronezh Medical Institute, is conducting a comprehensive study this year of the layout of collective-farm villages and reservoirs in Voronezh Oblast (Kamennaya Steppe).

In 1950, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Malaria, Medical Parasitology, and Helminthology of the USSR Ministry of Health is studying bodies of water in Stalingrad and Oryol oblasts. It is also continuing to study the effectiveness of antimalarial measures and to develop such measures for fish-breeding ponds and reservoirs.

The Department of Parasitology and Medical Zoology of the Institute of Epidemiology, Microbiology, and Infectious Diseases of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences is continuing its expeditionary research in areas with field-protective forest plantations in Stavropol and Krasnodar krais.

In 1950, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Disinfection of the USSR Ministry of Health is participating in the comprehensive development of measures to control rodents under field conditions, as well as insects that transmit certain diseases.

The Central Scientific Research Institute of Health Education of the USSR Ministry of Health is preparing and publishing in 1950 a series of popular science pamphlets and materials for talks and radio broadcasts on the hygienic importance of green plantings and the construction of ponds and reservoirs.

Scientific work connected with the implementation of Stalin’s plan for the transformation of nature is being expanded in 1950 in the Ukrainian SSR. The Ukrainian Institute of Communal Hygiene is studying the physiological and hygienic characteristics of shelterbelts in the Veliko-Anadol forestry district, as well as the sanitary and hygienic condition of ponds being created in Ukraine as amenities, facilities for cultural and everyday needs, and sources of drinking water for the population.

The Kharkov Scientific Research Sanitary and Hygiene Laboratory is conducting a sanitary and hygienic assessment of collective-farm reservoirs, studying the soil of the beds and banks of reservoirs under construction, and investigating the causes of increased mineralization of their water, including evaporation, leaching of soils, and mineralized runoff.

The Dnepropetrovsk Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology is also conducting a comprehensive study of the sanitary conditions of small reservoirs as they form.

The Department of General Hygiene of the Dnepropetrovsk Medical Institute is studying the role of field-protective forest plantings in maintaining clean atmospheric air, as well as the sanitary conditions of collective-farm reservoirs and the hygienic measures needed when reservoirs are used for sporting purposes. The Department of Communal Hygiene of the same medical institute is investigating the microclimate of a settlement in relation to the presence of protective forest belts and open bodies of water.

The Department of General Hygiene of the Vinnitsa Medical Institute is studying the sanitary and hygienic importance of forest plantings, ponds, and reservoirs in Vinnitsa Oblast.

The Kazakh Medical Institute’s departments of general hygiene, communal hygiene, and microbiology, together with the Kazakh Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, the Republican Tropical Station, and local sanitary-epidemiological stations, are continuing a comprehensive study begun in 1949 of sanitary and epidemiological conditions in settlements along the main state forest belt on the Ural River, within West Kazakhstan and Guryev oblasts, and are developing measures to improve those conditions.

The Department of General Hygiene of the Kuibyshev Medical Institute is continuing a study begun in 1949 of the sanitary condition of existing ponds and reservoirs and those under construction in Kuibyshev Oblast.

The Saratov Oblast Sanitary and Hygiene Institute, together with the Department of General Hygiene of the Saratov Medical Institute and the Saratov Malaria Station, is continuing a comprehensive sanitary and hygienic study begun in 1949 of ponds and reservoirs in the Ekaterininsky and Pugachevsky districts of the oblast and their effects on public health. Work is also being carried out to study the planning and development of state farms in areas with field-protective forest plantings.

The Department of General Hygiene of the Chkalov Medical Institute is studying the sanitary and hygienic characteristics of ponds and reservoirs and their effects on public health in Chkalov Oblast.

The departments of general and communal hygiene of the Rostov Medical Institute are investigating the effect of green plantings on sanitary conditions in settlements in the oblast’s Aleksandrovsky district. They are studying microclimate, village planning, and the condition of reservoirs.

The Department of General Hygiene of the Crimean Medical Institute is conducting a sanitary assessment of ponds and reservoirs in the Belgorodsky district of Crimean Oblast that were built pursuant to the resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of October 20, 1948, as well as their greening and their effects on public health.

The commission considered it necessary for institutes and departments to report more regularly to the Institute of General and Communal Hygiene of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences on scientific work under way and completed in this field, and to send the institute the relevant materials for systematization, publication, and subsequent use by all interested scientific and scientific-practical institutions.