Radiation Tests Used Hanford Volunteers (Tri-City Herald)

Page 1

I A Congressional subcommittee Is .reviewing documents that show the federal government paid for radiation experiments on people, including state prisoners and 14 Hanford !workers who volunteered for the The documents were mentio‘ned in Richland on Monday at a hearin being conducted by the Hanforz. Health Effects Review Panel, put together by lhe Centers for Disease, Control and the state of WashingCopies of some of those documents show studies were conducted in Richland in 1967 to “determine the uptake, retention, distribution dioactive isotope) i n humans following both oral and intravenous administration and to study the ef-. The report stated that, “These concentrations were relevant to possible exposure of plant person-, NO conclusions were eiven. r An aide to Rep: Edward Markey, mittee on Energy, Conservation and Power, confirmed such docu- ,merits are being reviewed and that a report will be issued by Markey in ! The aide, who asked that h i s name not be used, said the Department of Energy provided documents to the subcommittee in 1984 when Rep. Richard L. Ottinger then beaded up Uie subcommittee. ! Those documents are now being reviewed by Markey’s staff, the i Markey, who has been critical of ,the nuclear industry, did not return telephone calls Monday. 1 Don Hodel, the former Depart- :ment of Energy Secretary, wrote ,Ottin erin September 1984 that, been conducted for many years for #“Mefical radiation research has ’ Please see TESTS, Pege A2 b Continued from Paae A I a variety of reasons. In some projects, such as the production and use of plutonium during the war years, there was an urgent need to obtain radiobiological data on certain radionuclides for the purpose of establishing safety criteria for protection of individuals in t h e hlike Lawrence, manager of the THE TRI - CITY HERALD DOE’S Richland Operations, said Monday that “over time there were increased regulations about informing workers, but that in all cases the experiments followed the protocol of the tide for human experimentaments, which h e described a s press secretary, said the testing involved all types, including whole body, injection and inhalation. The documents say f4 volunteers were tested by physicians of the. Hanford Environmental Health Foundation. “Whole body counting a n d excreta measurements were 1 ratory for one year,”after the tests. , Both the Hanford Environmental. Health Foundation and the Pacific tions to the study were funded by the Atomic Energy Commission, a redecessor of the Department of Radiation testing began in 1938 and continued into lm, according to copies of documents that were rovided to panelists in Richland on R onda studying the health effects, of Hadrd on the public. . Samples of the testing, according to the documents, are that: B From August 1963 to May 1971,67 volunteers a t the Oregon State Prison were subjected to testicular irradiation to obtain data on the effects of ionizing radiation on testicular cytochemistry and function in B From June 1963 to February 1973, 64 volunteers at the Washington State Penitentiary i n ?Valla Walla, were irradiated for further testes studies. Vasectomies were charge from the University of Washington study to “eliminate the possibility of defective offspring.” Only men agreeing to a vasectomy were accepted for the tests. Men who changed their minds signed consent forms that they understeod the risks of fathering a child. m From 1938 to 1%3. internal irradiation was administered to patients with chronic leukemias and m From 1950 to 1980, tracer studies were done on humans to study the hysiology and metabolism of la-