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SUBJECT: Freedom of Information Act Request We have been unable to locate the memo from Rowland to Schultz dated December 21, 1972 which you requested about 5:15 p.m. yesterday following the receipt of a letter from D. T. Goldman t o A. Sch ries heim concerning this matter. A s today is the last business day before the deadline, December 2, further search is not pos sibi e without missing the deadline. complicated by the fact that Rowland retired about two years ago and Schultz Locating this memo is Other intra - laboratory memos on the 18 plutonium research subjects referred to in the Goldman letter, mention them by name and give personal information about them. The release of such documents would be a violation of the patients ' privacy and the right - t o - privacy is protected by law. It would also constitute a violation of normal ethical practice in the handling of patient The subjects referred to have been studied by several organizations since the literature.A good review and guide to the literature up tothe time of its publication can be found in Patricia W. Durbin, "Plutonium i n Man: A New Look Non-personal information can be found in the scientific atthe Old Data," pp.469-530, Radiobiology of Plutonium, Edited by Betsy J. Stover and Webster S.S. Jee, Published by the J. W. Press, Department of Anatomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1972.
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ARGONNE PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED Plutonium Exhumation Cases CHR RECORDS i s made to your question, this date, regarding informing relatives of cases to be exhumed of the actual plutonium injections. In reviewing my records, I found t h a t , shortly after having received instructions t o inform survivors, I told (May 10, 1975) that his sister had had plutonium injections. While this does not appear in my records, I do recall thatI have informed all , of the fact that plutonium injections had been given to Ialso informed and, during my last visit, the two brothers, And that had received plutonium injections. I did not go back to those relatives of cases that had refused exhumation permissions prior t o 1975, namely (40-007), (40-008), and In all future contacts with relatives of plutonium cases proposed for exhumation, I will make it a special point to.inform them of their deceased relative's exposure and report this disclosure to file. /
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NATIONAL PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REM3VER LABORATORY INTRA - LABORATORY MEMO TO: CHR Records Room FROM: Jan Lieben, M.D. SUBJECT: Rochester Cases 4-7-73: On arrival at Rochester, checked phone book. Found listed on , phone I . Made appointment to visit. She is in her seventies,has no children, no other relatives, but will not go along with exhumation.2 (Maybe court order after herdeath?) Re: : No in phonebook, but many others listed. Visited Funeral Home, phone No children listed only wife. and a Spanish War Veteran. Obituary states : He was a janitor atthe YWCA Spent 3 hours looking for Lake View Ave. in Lea Breeze and Trandequoit, none listed on city map at fire house. none has a number 9 9 . Visited 2 Lakeview Terraces but whether is still alive. There are two sons : ;. I lives at Street near t h e funeral home (off Goodman). - other son - no address. Went t o above address, nobody home. Called later, nobody home. R e : : Went to undecipherable undertaker a t - doors closed, for speedy service call Idid, " A m not in my office - call m e Monday". PRIVPXY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED
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the Environinental Health Section(previously Center for Human Radio biology),I refer you back to the fact sheet furnished Dr. Thiessen i n 1984 (copy With respect to your telephone inquiry relating to plutonium studies in i n 1984 o f causes not reasonably rel a table to plutonium. asof several days ago. Both the interviewer who contacted the household, and a review ofthe case file, suggest that the functioning of this subject is such that direct contact is contra indicated.I hope this is of some assistance to you. Case HP-6 is living Best personal w i shes. Epidemiology Group Leader
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ARCONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY Mailstop E-201, Human Health Studies Office of Health and Environmental Research Office of the Environment U.S. Department of Energy SUBJECT: Congressional Investigation i n t o Health and Safety Policies of the Department of Energy (DOE) In response to ~ r .C. W. Edington's memorandum of June 278 1984, on the The fact sheet is i n the format requested by above subject,I have enclosed a fact sheet on "Plutonium Studies at the Center for Human Radiobiology (CHR)," Please l e t me know i f you need more information or documentation.
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Pro je ct Name : Date Started: 2 January 1 W 3 Plutonium Studies a t the Center for Date Terminated: Ongoing Objectives of Test : 1. !l’o determine the excretion rate of plutonium 27 years a f t e r injection. 2. To determine the retention and body distribution of plutonium. I n 1945-1947, 18 hospital patients of limited life expectancy were injected with plutonium i n order 9,o btain information about the retention and organ distribution of plutonium. A n important objective was to determine the relationship between the body content and the rate of excretion i n order t o provide data f o r estimating t h e body content of plutonium from measurements of The data in LA-1151 were reviewed ina manuscript prepared by P. W Durbin for publication in the 1972 volume, Radiobiology of Plutonium. (25 Tissue and bone samples had been obtained a t autopsy from s i x of the cases a t tdms ranging from 5 days to 456 days after injection, and the longest collection time for excreta was about 5 years. I n addition to preparing the manuscript, ’ Durbin traced the later h i s tory of the cases and discovered that four were sal1 living in 1972. The results of this study were described i n The Center’s direct knowledge of the plutonium injection cases dates from December 13, 1972, when Dr. Durbin brought her records t o CKil for possible further follow-up. The Center then undertook t o determine excretion rates i n study subjects who were still alive and to exhume deceased subjects in order t o determine the amounts and body distribution of plutonium. During 1973, CHR obtained metabolism samples from three living patients, obtained permission t o exhume from next of kin of three deceased patients, and disinterred and transferred to CHR the remains of one of these deceased. The metabolism samples (blood and excreta) were taken a t Strong Memorial Hospital (SMH), Rochester, New York. I n 1974, the U.S. Atomic Ehergy Commission (AEC) reviewed the Origins and subsequent follow-up of the plutonium studies. On December 31, 1974, the AEC authorized CEIR to proceed with the program of study of the living patients who were injected with plutonium during 1945-1947 and of the bodies of deceased individuals from that group for whom legal consent for examination is Table 1 summarizes CIiR follow-up activities and last known status (July 5, 1984) for each of the plutonium injection cases. CHR per onne have published 10 reports on r e s u l t s obtained by study of these cases. ls3-12f Copies of these reports are attached.
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Summary of CHR activities and last knownTable 1 . Plutonium injection cases: Old Case CHR Case CHR Activities status Aug 78: Re turned No contacts; said to have died in Australia N o contacts; cremation ashes No contacts; case unidentified 1973: Next of k i n refused permission to exhume 1973: Next of k i n refused permission to exhume and radioactivity measurement 1973: Next of k i n refused 1973 and 1977: Next of k i n refused permission t o exhume
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excretion of plutonium administered to man. Los Alamos Scientific P.W. Durbin. Plutonium i n man: a new look a t the old data. I n The Press, Salt Lake city, UT, pp. 469-537 (1972). Robinson. The excretion rate and retention of plutonium 10,000 days after Proc. Seminar, Vienna, 8-12 December 1975, IAEA, Vienna, pp. 15-22 (1976). R.E. Rowland and P.W. Durbin. Survival, causes of death, and estimated tissue doses ina group of human beings injected with plutonium. Health Effects of Plutonium and Radium, Proc. Symp. Sun Valley, Idaho, 6-9 I n Diagnosis and Treatment of Incorporated Radionuclides, of 239Pu deposited i n bone from a human injection case. Effects of Plutonium and Radium, Proc. Symp. Sun Valley, Idaho, 6-9 In The Health J. Rundo and F.H. Ilcewicz. Blood content and excretory plasma clearance of plutonium lo4 days after injection. Health Phys. SOC., Atlanta, 3-8 J u l y 1977, Pergamon Press, NY, p.26 ROE. Rowland. The risk of bone sarcoma from plutonium-239. I n Biological Implications of Radionuclides Released from Nuclear Industries, Proc. Symp.8 Vienna, 26-30 March 1979, V o l . 11, IAEA, Vienna, pp. 211-224 R.P. Larsen, R.D. Oldham, and R.E. mohey. Macrodistribution of plutonium i n the human skeleton. I n Actinides in Man and Animals, FTOC. Snowbird Lake City, UT, pp. 191-197 (1981). J. Rundo. The late excretion of plutonium following acquisition of known amounts. In Actinides i n Man and Animals, Proc. Snowbird Actinide Workshop, 15-17 October 1979, M.E. Wrenn (Ed. 1, RD Press, S a l t Lake City, R.A. Schlenker and B.G. Oltman. Plutonium micro distribution in human bone. In Actinides i n Man and Animals, Proc. Snowbird Actinide Workshop, 15-13 October 1979, M.E. Wrenn (Ea. 1, RD Press, Salt Lake City, UT, pp.
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1 1 . R.A. Schlenker and B.G. Oltman. Uranium concentrations in human bone. In Actinides i n Man and Animals, Proc. Snowbird Actinide Workshop, 15-1 7 October 1979, M.E. Wrenn (Ed. 1, RD Press, Salt Lake City, UT, pp. 473-476 of plutonium i n hair following intravenous injection. Health Phys. 40,-881-886 ( 1 981 ) . Reprints of references 3-12 are attached.
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Argonne Area Office 9800 South Cass Avenue r - . Argonne National Laboratory - SUBJECT: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA) REQUEST DATED OCTOBER 30, 1985, The enclosed FOIA request is fora copy of a memo from R. E. Rowland t o H. A. Schultz dated December 21, 1972, which discus see records of 18 plutonium documentation and any subsequent memos regarding the subject. Due to statutory time limitations for responding to FOIA requests,we must have your response no later than December 2, 1985. The request or is also asking for any supporting
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U.S. Department of Energy Freedom of Information and Privacy A c t Branch To the FOI Officer: This request is &de under the federal Freedom of Information Please send m e copies of. Memorandum, dated 12-21-72, from Dr. R.E. Rowland t o H.A. Schultz, senior staff assistant, Records and Data Processing, Center f o r Human Radiobiology, Argonne National Lab. Memo discusses instructions from Rowland t o Schultz on records of 18 plutonium research subjects. Records were transferred t o Schultz f o r his disposition. Please include any supporting documentation and any subsequent memos regarding this subject. A s you know, the FOI Act provides that if portions of a document are exempt from release, t h e remainder must be segregated and disclosed. Therefore, Iwill expect you t o send meall nonexempt portions of the records which I have requested, and ask that you justify any deletions by reference t o spec$fic exemptions of the FOX Act.I reserve the right to appeal your decision t o withhold any materials. I promise to pay reasonable search and duplication f e e s in connection with this request. However, i f you estimate that the total fees will exeed $50, please notify me so thatI may authorize expenditure of a greater amount. Iam prepared t o pay reasonable search and .duplication fees i n connection with this request. However, the FOI Act provides for waiver o r reduction of fees if disclosure could be considered as "primarily benefiting the general public." I am a journalist employed by The Knoxville Journal and intend t o use the information Iam requesting as the basis fora planned article. Therefore, I ask that you waive all search and duplication fees. If you deny this request, however, and the fees will exceed $50, please notify me of the charges before you fill my request so thatI may decide whether t o pay the fees or appeal your denial of mYq -.c.- As I am making this request as a journalist and this information DEC04 1985 is of timely value, I will appreciate your calling me by telephone, rather than by mail, If you have any questions. Thanks and I will look forward t o your reply within 10 business days, as required by law.
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The attached Freedun of Information (WI)request is being sent to you for action as the reoords requested appear to be principally within the purview of your organization. If our determination is incorrect, please inform me ~ ~ dia tel yto whan you are forwarding this request. If other divisions, offices or field organizations also have records relevant to this request, you as the appropriate FOI Office are responsible for requesting their participation and for coordinating the response. It is hportant that an appropriate response be forwarded to the requester within 10 working days as failure to act can be deemed's denial. On the reverse side of this re norah,a ”Reminder of Procedures for Handling FQI Requests” should assist your staff. If you have any questions, I can be Chief of FOI and Privacy Acts DJ:v i s i on of Reference and I nfom t ion bna gement
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WIVP,CY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED This patient, a fifty-six year old white male, was admitted to the hospital i n November 1945 with complaints of generalized weakness and difficulty in walking and swallowing of three in April 1946. The diagnoses at autopsy included amytmphic lateral sclerosis, bronchopneu- - 1s monia, generalized arteriosclerosis, renal cysts and adenoma of the right kidney. The clinical diagnosis was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Death occurred
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Muscle and Slun INTRAVENOUS INJECTION OF,P~U'I)ONIUM SALTS ("Tissues were obtained at the following times after injection: H>-t151-&$5;: Hp-9 456 days, (3)Calculated by dividing % / g of tissue by %/g of body weight i' a usit dose of Pu was equally (4)Hermann Lisco, Memorandum to AEC, July 21, 1947, Project Standard hlari. Hp-11 5 days; Chi. I 155 days; Chi. II 16 days; Bp-12 5 d a y s ; Cal. I 4 days. distr. in a 70 Kg. man. ( 5)Assumption made that vertebra, sternum and whole rib represcnt average l w w Of skeietal system. (6)Bone marrow not included m total recovery because bone sarrp1r.s were not ireed of mdriow be- I !("Balance assumed to have same Pu content as muscle. (8'Value for blood taken at 30 day point, Fig. 3.
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INJECTION OF APPROXI 5 pg OF PLUTONIUM AS Pu4 …
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