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Declassified record · U.S. Department of Energy

Interview with M M Shanahan and DR R D Evans re Plutonium Injection Program (Draft)

Dated
May 31, 1974
Document type
Employee record
Length
3 pages
Open the original scanArchive record OSTI ID 16368365 · public domain

Document text

Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.

Page 1

Interview with Mrs. Mary Margaret Shanahan and D r . Robley D. Evans by Marks and Miazga conducted inthe Southwest Field Station of the MIT Radioactivity Center; the Field Station is located inMrs. Shanahan's home i n Phdenix. The interview was held a t about 3 : O O pm on 4 / 2 2 / 7 4 . Radioactivity Center i s the principal satellite of the Center for Human Radiobiology. The Southwest Field Station is the headquarters for operations to obtain permission for exhumations for the CHR. Mrs. Shanahan isa Deputy Director of the M.I.T. Radioactivity Center and Dr. Evans isa consultant t o Dr. Evans mentioned immediately that he had briefed Mr. Edward J. Bauser of the Joint Committee on Atomic dn the Relative tothe matter of obtaining permission for exhumations, Dr. Evans and Mrs. Shanahan recalled that this program was an outgrowth of the activities a t M.I.T. When Dr. Evans and Mrs. Shanahan transferred their principal locus of activity to Phoenix, they continued to obtain permission for exhumations for Dr. Rowland a t the Center for Human Radiobiology. Their principal contact person i n the field is Dr. Jan Lieben who formerly performed this function for Dr. Evans when Dr. Lieben was a public health officer in the state of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lieben continued this activity when he left the public health field and assumed his current responsibilities in the FMC Corporation. Authorization ti0 obtain permission for exhumation of the plutonium cases was provided ina memorandum from Dr. Stehney toMrs. Shanahan. The memo also provided guidance with respect to what would be told to the survivors i n order Dr. Evans and Mrs. Shanahan contacted the sister of the exhumed patient from the brother of the deceased i n && case. Dr. Evans said that he and

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t o request permission t o study the composition of a mixture of radioactive isotopes that had been given t o the deceased patient at some time before her death. Since the sister did not inquire into the reason for the injections,that issue was not discussed. Before discussing the matter, Dr. Evans acquainted the sister of the book, "Delayed Effects of the authorship of a chapter includes Dr. Evans and Mrs. Shanahan. The sister was responsive tothe request for permissiern' 4cfr. Evans and Mrs. Shanahan said that the instructions from Dr. Stehney did not call for mentioning plutonium. When the instructions to seek permission for exhumations we>e & Mrs. Shanahan, Dr. Lieben refused t o do anything about the matter until the v - & d a nThen discus sed the matter briefly with Dr. Lieben and also had him contact Dr. Stehney toget further clarification. After that Dr. Lieben proceeded t o seek permission for exhumation of the plutonium cases. However, at the time of the interview only one complete permission had been obtained and t h e exhumation was performed already for that case.

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valid permit may require the consent of several individuals in a single family, he had completed his mission for only one deceased in addition to the case that is al re a hy exhumed' Mrs. Shanahan for final action in accordance with customary procedure, but H e kfts-turned that case over t o -Mrs-,-Shnaharr-~~--Dr.Stehney. Lieben mentioned that in the case of the already exhumed body, he interviewed a brother in addition to the sister who was interviewed by Dr.Evys and Mrs. Shanahan. Dr. Lieben was concerned that in t h e already- held discussions, He was also distressed at the thought that repercussions from the plutonium program might have an adverse effect on the much larger and, inhis estimation, more important radium program.