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Internal Cor respondence MARTIN MARIETTA ENERGY SYSTEMS, INC. TO: Bany A Berven Subject: The Boston-Oak Ridge Uranium Study ' The above study, conducted by the Massachusetts Gcncral Hospital, the Veterans Administration, and the Health Physics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 195Os, should be called to the attention of those tabulating past experimental studies involving humans. This study is documented in the references listed below, The study's initial objective was to determine if enriched uranium and neutrons could be used in therapy in a manner similar to work with boron salt and neutron irradiation €or patients with advunsd brain tumors. ORNL was interested in information on the metabolism of uranium in man that could be obtained as a byproduct of this study. Eleven patients in terminal stage of central nervous system disease were injected with uranium solution. Insufficient uptake of uranium in the tumocs was achieved to realize cherapeutic application; however, a very complete effort was made to define the metabolism of uranium horn the data acquired in the study. During the past year, we discovered that data on 3 of the 11 subjects has apparently never been used in any technical publications. In cobborative efforts wirh Drs. Durbin (Berkeley) and Wrenn (Utah), these additional subjects will be noted in future publications. Thc study was conduct4 using hospital patients 4 t h "informed consent"at a rime when such studies were easier to arrange. Dr. Stannard, in his historical review, commented "Although there is no widencc that ihese administrations were in any way harmhi or ill-considered at the time, it is diflicult to imagine a picsent-day 'human use' in man of hexavalent uranium following intravenous administration.Am. J. Roenfgenof. Radium Ther. excretion of hexavalent uranium in man. In Proceedit@ of the Itillranationat Conference an rhe Peaceful Uses ofAtomic Energy, VaI. 10, pp. 186%. Held in Geneva, Aug 8-20. 1955. New York: Bernard, S.R. 1958. Milximum permissible amounts of natural uranium in the body, air, and drinhng water based on human experimental data. Healrh Phys. 1:28E(-305. i o 2 4 0 3 2 Human Subjects Project