Letter to J S Herrington, Subject: Forwarding Results of Subcommittee Staff Report Titled, "american Nuclear Guinea Pigs: Three Decades of Radiation Experiments on US Citizens (Companion 704410)

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JOUN BRYANT TIXAS CARLDSJ MOO A IT ~ FCNI ~ OONU JOHN 0 DINGEU MICHIGAN The Honorable John S. Herring ton Depa rt ment of Ene r gy Dear Secretary Herring ton : A s you know? the Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power has been conducting an investigation into radiation experimentation for human subjects. I am forwarding to you the results of that investigation,a Subcommittee staff report titled, "American Nuclear Guinea Pigs : Three Decades of Radiation This report reviewed Department of Energy documents? which revealed the frequent and systematic use of human subjects as guinea pigs for radiation experiments sponsored by the Department' s predecessor agencies. Some of these experiments were conducted in the1940s and 1950s, and others were performed during the supposedly more enlightened 1960s and 1970s. The report describes in detail31experiments during which about 695 persons I n many of these experiments,individuals were exposed t o radiation which provided little or no medical benefit to the subjects.The purpose of several of these experiments was actually to cause injury to the participants. Many others sought citizens thus became nuclear calibration devices for experimenters - simply t o measure the effects of radiation on humans, American Ina number of experiments,subjects received doses that exceeded presently recognized 1i m its for occupational radiation exposure. Doses were a s much as98 times the body burden recognized at the time the experiments were conducted. Too many of these experiments used human subjects that were captive audiences or populations that some experimenters elderly,prisoners,hospital patients suffering from terminal diseases or who might not have retained their full faculties for

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The Honorable John S. Herring ton Some of the more repugnant or bizarre of these experiments patients believed to have limited lifespans were injected with Technology, 20elderly subjects were injected or fed radium or patients with good kidney function were injected with uranium salts to determine the concentration which would produce renal Boston, approximately12terminal brain tumor patients were injected with uranium to determine the do seat which kidney damage --From 1963to1971, 67 inmates a t Oregon State Prison and 64 inmates a t Washington State prison received x - rays to their testes t o examine the effects of radiation on human fertility and National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho, radioactive iodine was purposely released on seven separate occasions.Inone experiment,seven human subjects drank milk from cows which had grazed on iodine - contaminated land. --From 1961to1963,at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory,102 human subjects were fed real fallout from the Nevada Test Site ; simulated fallout particles containing radioactive material ; or solutions of radioactive cesium and Montef i ore Hospital,the Bronx, 12terminal cancer patients were injected with radioactive calcium and strontium. These experiments, and others described in the Subcommittee staff report, shock the conscience and represent a black mark o n the history of nuclear medical research. They raise one major horrifying question : did the intense desire to know the consequences of radioactive exposure after the dawn of the atomic age lead American scientists to mimic the kind of demented human experiments conducted by the Nazis ? Did the Department or its

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The Honorable John S. Herring ton predecessor agencies fund or sponsor programs which crossed the line that no scientific research can ever be permitted to While it is clear that present public and scientific officials are generally not responsible for these experiments, these circumstances nonetheless represent a historical, institutional failure. To compound the evil,intoo many experiments, no long term follow up was conducted of subjects. While these experiments cannot be undone, though they must never be repeated,there are potential remedial steps that can be taken to help the victims who served as human nuclear guinea pigs. I therefore urge the Department of Energy t o make every practicable effort to identify the persons who served as experimental subjects,to examine the long term histories of ' subjects for an increased incidence of radiation - associated diseases, and t o compensate these unfortunate victims for suspected damages. A Defense Department program provides a model C u ._for such follow up. The Nuclear Test Personnel Review, --- administered by the Defense Nuclear Agency, is a registry for military personnel exposed to fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests.The primary objectives of the Review are to identify the approximately200,000Defense Department personnel involved in of death or ill nes sp-<--.-, ---U------I acting in the line of duty,surely a similar effort should be possible for the far smaller number of peaceful atomic soldiers used as unwitting human subjects in radiation experiments. feel that new TeC isla tion would be necessary,the Subcommittee will be pleased to work with the Department to develop it. If such an effort can be carried out for military personnel I f you have any questions on the material in this letter or the Subcommittee staff report,please contact John Abbotts or November 15,1986a description of the Department ' s plans for long term follow up of these experimentally irradiated subjects, and your recommendation for what new legislation,if any, might be