Hanford Conducted Human Experiments, Washington State Prisoners Took Part in Radiation Testing (Spokesman-Review)

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c Spokane, WA Al . in radiation testing in past 25 years . By Lonnie Rosenwald fects of Hanford Nuclear ReservaRICHLAND - A series of radia- In one performed tion experiments on humans - in- from 1963-1973, 64 inmates a t the eluding one performed on testicles Washington State Penitentiary vOof Washington prison inmates - lunteered to have their testicles xwas overseen by Hanford nuclear rayed. They later underwent vasecofficials in the past 25 years, ac- tomies to prevent them from cording to documents released conceivingdamaged Tests also were conducted on 67Monday, prisoners at the Oregon State PrisThe US. Department Of Energ on between August 1963 and May made the documents available a[ 1971. ter a request from a rf~emberof a In a 1958 test, a woman in an uninational studying health ef- dentified city was given a dose of ’ during the war in Nazi German or’ , determine the effects of radiation , and people were informed what ! The pur ose apparenll was to a r workers and to help find cures Asked if the tests were a good idea, Lawrence replied, “You’d have to ask the medical community Dr. Wayne Attwood of Spokane, local president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, compared the experiments to those conducted “This is the type of thing we saw wood said. “It rings of that t pe of activity in my mind. I woulcfview this as a very serious matter.” Attwood said experiments have been conducted before on prisonen to find cures for diseases, but radiation is more dangerous because of its possible long-term effects. agent, such as radiation, it can be been done in the ast, but it has been condemned gy the medical perimentation has been viewed with concern, and considered unac10th week of pregnancy. Atcording to the documents, she was given an abortion six days later because the fetus had sickle-cell anemia. Eight people were paid to submit to radiation doses at the University of Washington Hospital in 1965 and then have their excretions measured for signs of radioactive discharge, the documents say. None of the test participants was The tests were supervised by Hanford under the jurisdiction of the DOE or its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission. “We’re not talking about human experimentation the way I think some people would characterize it ized human radiation studies as be acknowledged such human tests, done on site and elsewhere, no longer are done at DOE. He said he didn’t know why they were Lawrence said Hanford “provided the overall management and were tests requested by Washington Details of the experiments were provided to Congress in 1984, he (See Experiments on page 8)

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Experiments -(Continued from page 1) In a September 1984 letter to Energy Secretary Donald Hodel tice to inform participants in human volunteer studies with rerpect to the purpose of the experiment and the potential hazards laThe documents provide only scant details of the tests. In the prison experiment, inmates had their testicles irradiated, and then were examined for up to six yean for changes in their sperm and hormones. The signed consent forms before t l e study began, according to tom were accepted for the study, but In several instances the volunteers changed their mind and did not desire a vasectomy a t the conclusion of the study,’’ it says. “Subjects were prison inmates only, thus eliminating the possibility of conception durin the study.” The report says alk the inmates ‘ fully recoverpd within 501 days. 6 Tim Conner of the Hanford EMUcation Action League said, “The testing has a touch of the barbaric “DOE has shown a rather callous disregard for human beings and this is another example of it.” said Conner, who had not heard of the In another study, three women - including one who was 10 weeks The documents don‘t say where the women lived. The roject was conducted by severa! research groups, including Pacific Northwest Laborato a t Hanford and Po measure the effect on fetal and effects of Hanford activities on ber of the Environmental Policy Inenvironmental watchdog grou . On another matter, state oftcials told the panel that infants in the sive doses of radiation in their thyroids as a result of Hanford reA study by the Department of Social and Health Services estimated doses of Iodine-131 to a baby living in Pasco were as high as 2,295 call out the National Guard,” Allen Conklin of the Office of Radiation ’ , Protection told reporters. Information on the tests was requested by Robert Alvarez, a rnemPanel, which be an a week Of The panel was appointed by the national Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, which was asked b Washington to study possible head The study said Spokane infants , could have recpiveLdoses of up to ubi*c hearings and &SCuSSiOns in ;the effect of such doses, but most The DOE allows its workers to receive no more than 100 mildiation over a year. Radiation gets to the th roid af- ~ ter being ingested in milk from COWS that graze on radiation-conThe CM: anel is to recommend ies should be conducted. Conklin said, ‘‘there would be no way to tell” health effects. Lawrence, however, questioned the accuracy of the dose estimates because little accurate environmental data exists from 1945. ber of the Hanford Health Effects 256remS. 7