Re: HUMAN RADIATION EXPERIMENTS

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu


On Fri, 22 Nov 1996, Schoenhofer wrote:
> 
> I clearly said that I assume that at the time of the experiments US
> legislation did not allow experiments without consent of the patient. If I
> am wrong, please confirm.

---There was no law against it and it was common practice at that time to
simply get oral consent with no written record. There is good evidence
that oral informed consent was obtained. Written consent was not required
until after the Atomic Energy Commission was formed in 1946. In the one
case where injection was done after that, there is a written record of
informed consent.

 If it was not allowed, then it was illegal. If it
> was allowed then it was legal at that time. Whether it was ethically ok is
> another question. But one should be very careful: Any of the Nazi crimes and
> the Stalin crimes and any other crimes which were "legal" at their time are
> of good reasons not judged as being exempted from the laws of today.

---I believe that all the U.S. action, drafting men for national defense
and injecting terminally ill patients with plutonium to serve tha war
effort, were morally acceptable. They were also legally acceptable.

> 
> I personally do not think that drafting men for war where they might be
> killed or wounded badly is ethically acceptable. But I am sure you would
> agree that this is legally backed......... 
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Franz
> Schoenhofer
> Habichergasse 31/7
> A-1160 WIEN
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>