Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Supplemental Report of Human Radiation Experiments, 31 January 1995

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BUREAU OF MEDICJNE AND SURGERY SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT OF HUMAN RADIATION EXPERIMENTS request for a DoD-wide review of Human Radiation Experiments. Previous supplemental reports were submitted on: This is a supplemental report to the Secretary of Defense (Atomic Energy) (1) This report summaries search activities for December, 1994 and January 1995. It reports documents identified in the Search of the Office of Naval Research Minutes of the Naval Research Advisory Committee, further search of the Directives archives at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, and specific responses to requests of the President's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. Two additional studies are reported. (2) This brings the total Naw studies reaorted at 871. Of these 851 have a primary DurDose of clinical research, i.e., treatment of disease or injury, examination of human physiology, and 20 were conducted arimarilv for a militam amlication, e.g., development of saturation diving decompression tables, decontamination of skin, determination of a racial or sexual bias in body weight standards, etc. Naval Research Advisory Committee Minutes, Office of Naval Research. Radiological defense Laboratory's archived documents. Section III. A. provides indexes of documents identified in the search of the Section 111. B. provides the results of the search of the last two boxes of the Naval Section 111. C. provides responses to outstanding ACHRE requests, Section 111.D. provides an index of documents submitted with this report. Section IV provides abstracts for the two research projects

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II. Search Activities. The following search activities have been completed since the of the Naval Research Advisory Committee for years 1946 through 1994. Approximately 6 cubic feet of records were reviewed plus 500 Megabytes of imaged information. The review consumed approximately 20 person-days. of the Medical Department was expanded. This review consumed approximately 4 Medical Department in association with Operation Paperclip were reviewed. Approximately 75 person days were expended. being reviewed. Thus far 5 person days have been expended in this review. The Office of Naval Research has completed its search and review of the minutes The review of the BUMED Circular Letters and Directives pre-dating the Manual Research reports and publications related to scientists employed by the Navy The personal papers of Captain Ben!&, MC, USN have been located and are The total person-days expended by Navy personnel totals 2,199 as of 3 1 January A. Naval Research Advisorv Committee, Office of Naval Research. Committee Minutes. 1946-1994 The Interim Report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments stated the records of the Naval Research Advisory Committee must be located and reviewed The minutes of the Advisory Committee have been reviewed. In general the minutes discuss broad issues related to organization, technological trends and general research needs. We found very little related or only vague references to bio-medical research and nuclear research. No specific information was found relating to use of human test subjects. The following documents made some reference to bio-medical research, Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory or Atomic Research. Relevant sections 14 October 1946 I st Meeting, Naval Research Advisory Committee, Organization and Research Program Overview

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12 February 1947 Minutes of January 15-16, 1947 meeting of Naval Research 26 March 1947 Naval Research Advisory Committee, Preliminary Report of Subcommittee on Planning Division LTR to Honorable Charles A. Wolverton, House of Tentative Agenda, 16 September 1948 Meeting Naval Research Advisory Committee Agenda, Tenth Meeting 34th Meeting Naval Research Advisory Committee, Brief Minutes B. Naval Radioloeical Defense Laboratorv Archive Search. (I) The previous searches of the National Archives, San Bruno included all holdings for the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory with the exception of two boxes sent to the Washington D.C. archives for declassification. These two boxes have been searched and hold no information within the scope of the human radiation experimentation review. The two boxes were: (2) Additional documents have been received in the mail as a result of the searches at the Federal Records Center and National Archives at San Bruno. These are listed in Section D.

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C. ACHRE OUTSTANDING REQUESTS. (1) 17 October 1994 ACHRE (Mr. Dan Guttman) Reauest Concerning Our review indicates six scientists sponsored by "Operation Paperclip" were assigned to Navy laboratories to perform bio-medical research. Review indicates none participated in research involving radiation exposure Further these scientists worked under supervision of Navy personnel and their research was controlled by Navy rules and regulations, the same as other researchers. (2) ACHRE Reauest 11-14-94. Classified Files Related to Exoosure to ACHRE Request 11-14-94 asked for additional information concerning the Operation Crossroads requirement to prepare duplicate copies of physical examination results for personnel participating in the test, mark the exam results "Confidential", retain one in the test site radiological health office and forward the other to the Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Specifically, ACHRE 11-14-94 asked: "What was the origin of the "classified" Navy files and what has become of them?" A Time-line is helpful to address this request. the Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery with the responsibility of establishing safety regulations to protect personnel from ionizing radiation exposure. Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery issued Radiation Safety Regulations for work on Target Vessels. The regulations were designed to prevent injury from radiological hazards which may have been present on the vessels. Included in the regulations was a requirement for all personnel who may be exposed to radiation or radioactive hazard to have a physical examination prior to work assignment and at monthly intervals if indeed they continue to work on the target vessels. The examination results were to be classified "Confidential" and a copy was to be forwarded to Chief, BUMED for review. 23 January 1948 BUMED Circular Letter No. 48-10 forwarded revised Radiological Safety Regulations for use by the Navy. These superseded the 3 1 January 1947 Safety Regulations for work on Target Vessels. A copy of this set of Radiological Safety Regulations (presumably the original NAVMED P-1283) is not

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BUMED Circular Letter No. 48-35, directed results of all physical and laboratory examinations made on personnel exposed to radiological hazards be entered on the health record medical history sheet, listing any abnormalities and indicating action taken. There is no mention of classifying the information. NAVMED P-1283 March 1948 Revision. still required a duplicate copy of the radiological physical examination be prepared and forwarded to BUMED for review. There is no requirement for the information to be classified. An abstract of the examination was to be entered in the special Radiation Abstract of the Health Record. The abstracts were to remain in each Health Record for the duration of service of personnel involved. BUMED Circular Letter No. 48-134 modified the Radiological Safety Regulations. A copy of this change is not held. This document may have been the original NAVMED P-1325. Photodosimetry Manual, NAVMED P-5005 provided dosimetry badging requirements and reporting policy. BUMED Circular Letter No. 51-5 revised the photodosimetry NAVMED P-1325, Radiological Safety Regulations, Revised, canceled previous instructions and states that the results of physical and laboratory examinations given preliminary to individuals' commencing radiation work and subsequent to final separation from all such duties shall be recorded on Standard Forms 88 and 89 and shall be transmitted through regular channels to the activity normally receiving those forms. (It is not clear who the normal receiving activity was, possibly the clinic maintaining the health record. SF 88 and 89s' are currently filed in the health record.) Interim and special examinations shall be recorded on the NAVMED H-8 of the Health Record or the Industrial Health Jacket as appropriate. It appears that from January 1947 to March 1948 duplicate copies of preplacement and periodic radiological physical examinations were prepared by test site personnel with one set being forwarded to BUMED for review to ensure that radiation safety precautions and work practices were adequate to ensure safety of the workers; thus, complying with the CNO directive of August 1946. The content of the exams are clearly looking for any signs of high radiation exposure, radiation changes or injury, or internal contamination due to poor work practices.

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Classification of the radiological exams appears to have been limited to the atomic tests and consistent with classification requirements of information associated with the tests and the target ships. The March 1948 directive NAVMED P-1283 applied Navy wide and did not require classification of the physical exams Our searches have failed to locate any copies of the results of the physical examinations. Considering the numbers of people at the test site (approximately 42,000) and the limited number of medical personnel it seems unlikely that exams were performed on everyone. Most likely examinations were only performed on individuals expected to receive the higher exposures, e.g. initial survey teams, damage assessment teams and possibly gross decontamination teams. If the radiation control and work practices protected these individuals then they would protect those expected to receive

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(3). 17 October 1994 ACHRE IMr. Dan Guttman) Reauest for Information on N a w TBI Activities As mentioned in earlier reports the Navy has conducted two clinical trials utilizing whole body irradiation. In both trials patients received whole body irradiation as part of their clinical treatment. The clinical results were reported in the literature; there are no research progress reports. As provided earlier, a research proposal indicated that urines from one set of whole body irradiation patients was retained. However we have found no documentation that it was analyzed for dosimetry purposes. There is evidence and anecdotal comments that researchers did perform analysis on urine of test animals to see if a biological dosimeter could be developed. (4) INTERIM REPORT OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RADIATION EXPERIMENTS, OCTOBER 21.1994. Interim Report stated classified NRDL histories were once housed at the Naval Historical Center and suggested these remained to be found.. Previous efforts have been unable to find any classified NRDL histories at the Naval Historical Center. A repeated search reports eleven (1 1) histories which are and have always been unclassified. Ref: Naval Historical Center letter 5750 Ser M 2 1 5 4 (5) ACHRE 17 October 1994 Reauest (Mr. Dan Guttman and Mr. Don ACHRE 17 October 1994 Request asked for any information concerning sampling of radioisotopes in the body fluids of test personnel, or in other persons in relation to tests. Monthly Radiation Safety Reports submitted by the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory routinely included within their workload data the number of urine samples analyzed for radioactivity. The reports state they were submitted in accordance with BUMED Circular Letter 48-10. It is not clear if the analysis was from samples from the Pacific Test Range or nor; however, Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory supported the Test Range, Monitoring for internal contamination appears to have been a routine function of the radiation safety program. Copies of the Radiation Safety Reports are listed below. The Names of the individuals have been redacted in accordance with the

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The following documents are submitted: Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Radiation Safety Regulations for Work on Target Vessels. BUMED Circular Letter No. 48-10 BUMED Circular Letter No. 48-35 NAVMED P-1283 March 1948 Revision. BUMED Circular Letter No. 48-134. Photodosimetry Manual, NAVMED P-5005 BUMED Circular Letter No. 51-5 BUMED Circular Letter No. 5 1-93 NAVMED P-1325, Radiological Safety Regulations, Revised. Radiation Biology Excerpt from the History of the Naval Medical Radiation Dose Reconstruction U. S. Occupation Forces in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan 1945-1946. DTIC Document No Naval Historical Center Itr 5750 Ser AR/2154 dtd 26 October 1994, Reports no classified NRDL command histories. Twelfth Naval District Radiological safety of Ships in Operation General Radiological Safety Precautions, Crossroads Vessels NRDL Radiological Safety Reports NRDL Radiological Safety Reports

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9 June 1950 Radium Analyses on Fecal Samples from Instrument NRDL Radiological Safety Reports Mechanic Helper, N.A.S. Alameda, NRDL Radiological Safety Reports Notice of Research, Bio-Sciences Information Exchange, Office of Naval Research: Oral and Alimentary Effects of Ingestion of Circa 1954 Notice of Research Project, Medical sciences Information Exchange, Office of Naval Research: Research on the production clinical roentgenograms by means of compact radioactive x-ray

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IV. Study Abstracts: Abstracts for studies identified in the November searches are provided below by activity performing or sponsoring the research: Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI), Bethesda, MD. Naval Hospital St. Albans. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, Cairo, Egypt. National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda Naval Hospital Chelsea/Navy Blood Lab Naval Hospital San Diego Naval Hospital Oakland, CA Naval Hospital Portsmouth, VA Naval Hospital Great Lakes Naval Hospital Philadelphia Naval Medical Research Unit, Taipei Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, Groton Naval Medical Clinic, Annapolis Naval Hospital, Jacksonville Naval Hospital, Guam Naval Hospital, Pensacola Naval Hospital, Orlando Naval Hospital, Memphis Naval Hospital, Charleston Naval Hospital, Naples Naval Research and Development Command Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory

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W. Office of Naval Research: Studv # -0NR-45:Oral and Alimentary Effects of Ingestion of Radioactive Location: The George William Hooper Foundation, College of Dentistry, University of California, San Francisco, CA Researchers: Dr. Hermann Becks Sponsors: Office of Naval Research Subjects: Unknown if animal or human research project. Purpose: A study of local and systemic effects from ingestion of radioactive elements. An attempt will be made to integrate the findings into a unified picture of radiation pathology of the alimentary canal and oral cavity. Category: Clinical research Records: Notice of Research Project, Bio-Sciences Information Exchange,

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Studv # -0NR-46 Research on the Production of Clinical Roentgeongrams by Location: Ohio State University Date: None noted, circa 1954 Sponsors: Office of Naval Research Purpose: Not described Category: Clinical Research Records: Notice of Research Project, Medical Sciences Information Exchange, National Academy of Sciences- National Research Council