HUMAN RADIATION EXPERIMENTS

C. C. Mann, Science 263 p 470 (1994) gives a balanced and moderately detailed discussion of human experiments with radioactive substances that have "appalled, shocked, and saddened'' Department of Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary and have also given the Clinton administration some press distraction that it desperately needs.

Five of the 31 experiments were done by researchers on themselves. Exposure of 18 terminal patients (already near death) to plutonium without informed consent was the worst infraction, but research was needed to assess health affects of plutonium on thousands of wartime workers. Informed consent could not be obtained, because government secrecy then required that "Plutonium couldn't even be named - it had to be called 'product.' All doctors could tell them was that they were going to get a product in a small dose.'' The only other people potentially harmed were 6 patients injected with uranium salts and 131 prison inmates who received testicular doses of x-rays. These prisoners not only volunteered but also agreed to have vasectomies.

Six other studies used informed consent procedures less rigorous than required today and 17 used currently acceptable consent procedures. For research in an era (1945-1963) when many scientists overexposed themselves to radiation, the record is remarkably good. Martin Kamen gave us C 14 while absorbing very large amounts of radiation and is now 80 years old. Other scientists, however, died.