A Process to Resolve Issues Relating to Human Radiation Experiments Conducted or Sponsored by the Federal Government

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Department of Defense Radiation Experiments Command Center Office of the President University of Cincinnati President Clinton recently established a process to resolve issues relating to human radiation experiments conducted or sponsored by the Federal government. This process includes a Human Radiation Interagency Working Group, consisting of the Secretaries of Energy, Defense, and Health and Human Services, the Attorney General, and several other Cabinet-level officials, and an Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, made up of 15 individuals from outside the government, to provide advice and recommendations to the Interagency Working Group on the scientific and ethical standards applicable to these experiments. As directed by the Interagency Working Group, the Department of Defense (DOD) has begun a process to locate all records of human radiation experiments conducted or sponsored by any DOD component since 1944. This includes all research activities involving intentional exposure of humans to ionizing radiation conducted by DOD personnel or by non-DOD personnel under a DOD contract, grant or other agreement. I'n reviewing DOD records, we have determined that your organization was a DOD contractor in connection with one or more human radiation experiments. Specifically, we have identified a series of contracts from 1960 to 1971, including the following June 1964; and DASA-01-69-(-0131, June 1969. The principal investigator for this research project was Eugene L. Saenger, M.D. (Additional support for this research may have been provided through grants from the National Institutes of Health.) At this time, we are asking all DOD contractors in connection with human radiation experiments to locate all records of such experiments and not to destroy any such records. Further, we request that your organization report to us the records that you have located. We anticipate that we will later request, in coordination with the Interagency Working Group, that a copy of pertinent records of some experiments be sent to a central repository, where they will be available for review by the Advisory Committee and, after screening for personal privacy considerations, the public. Further information regarding this retrieval process will be provided at a later date. Presently,

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our request is only for a report on the existence and location of any records of human radiation experiments supported by the Please respond in writing to: DOD Radiation Experiments Command Center The Secretary of Defense believes it is of vital importance to provide maximum possible disclosure to the public regarding human radiation experiments previously conducted, to reaffirm our commitment to the protection of human subjects in research, and to identify any possible ways to improve and strengthen government research programs. On behalf of the Secretary, please accept our thanks in advance for your cooperation and support in If you have any questions regarding this request, please