The AEC had acted too fast in response to public outcry : one of the five Commissioners, James T. Ramey, had not been consulted before announcing the establishment of the Biomedical Research Division. Gofman reported that "Apparently it would have been too embarrassing, with the extensive AEC publicity about the program, to cancel it outright. Instead, the budget was cut even from the low starting value and we were given to understand, in no uncertain terms, that the program was not going to be supported at the level required to do the tasks outlined originally." However, Gofman and colleagues "accepted the reduced program, knowing that could certainly still do much of the important work on radiation hazards."