The Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) (Japanese:原爆傷害調査委員会, Genbakushōgaichōsaiinkai) was a commission established in 1946 in accordance with a presidential directive from Harry S. Truman to the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council to conduct investigations of the late effects of radiation among the atomic-bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[1] As it was erected purely for scientific research and study, not as a provider of medical care and also because it was heavily supported by the United States, the ABCC was generally mistrusted by most survivors and Japanese alike.

[3] In 1946, Lewis Weed, head of the National Research Council, called together a group of scientists who agreed that a "detailed and long-range study of the biological and medical effects upon the human being" was "of the utmost importance to the United States and mankind in general.

[5] The key members in the ABCC were Lewis Weed, National Research Council physicians Austin M. Brues and Paul Henshaw, and Army representatives Melvin A.

It did, however, find increased incidence of microcephaly and mental retardation in children most proximally exposed in utero to the bombs' radiation.

[15] In 1957, Japan passed the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law, which qualified certain people for two medical exams per year.

The flooring in the waiting room for mothers and babies was polished linoleum, and women in their wooden clogs would often slip and fall.

They had them come for examination during weekday working hours, causing the person to lose a day of pay, and they offered little compensation to the survivors.

ABCC was there that they performed medical exams on hibakusha and autopsies on the dead, as well as collected countless numbers of blood and urine samples.

[20] In 1956, Neel and William J. Schull published their final draft of The Effect of Exposure to the Atomic Bombs on Pregnancy Termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[25] While Japanese doctors treated and collected patient data, creating records, these reports were later taken by the United States, prohibited from publication, and remain difficult to access at the National Archives in Maryland.

[27] Many hibakusha testified to the humiliation of being required to remain naked for hours while being photographed, filmed, and examined like test subjects by the ABCC.

They had to endure the embarrassment of exposing severe baldness, giving blood samples, and undergoing tissue extractions without any support.

[30][31] The hours spent under examination posed an additional burden for hibakusha, making it difficult for them to secure jobs, with no financial compensation or even refreshments provided, despite their extreme poverty.

The ABCC also conducted numerous autopsies, up to 500 annually, extracting tissues and body parts, often without family consent, to send to the United States.

Due to the censorship of reports, no Japanese individual could learn about the consequences of radiation exposure, leading to the deaths of those who remained exposed to radioactivity.

[36] When hibakusha were finally granted medical assistance from the Japanese government, they were required to provide documentation to prove their status.