Re: HUMAN RADIATION EXPERIMENTS

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

	IT WAS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT WE WERE DISCUSSING THE PLUTONIUM
INJECTION EXPERIMENTS OF 1945 for which DOE announced they were giving
large cash settlements. We were not discussing the Washington State
experiments which I believe occurred about 1970.

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 Tue, 26 Nov 1996, Conklin, Al wrote:

> I normally don't get into the middle of RADSAFE discussions, but, rather 
> just enjoy them, BUT on this topic, I feel the need to comment. I am 
> absolutely and completely appalled by the efforts to excuse the Plutonium 
> injections and many of the other experiments in the interest of national 
> defense, or for whatever reason. This defense is just why this industry 
> has such a lousy record with the public or news media.
> 
> I was involved in researching those experiments that occurred in the 
> Pacific Northwest, and obtained the full files for a few of them. I then 
> testified for the Washington Department of Health, Division of Radiation 
> Protection to the Committee, when they came through Spokane. From 
> researching the files, it was clear, that even at the time, informed 
> consent was definitely lacking. Were people harmed? Probably not. Is that 
> an excuse? Definitely not!!
> 
> I've appreciated and concurred with Sandy Perle's comments on the 
> subject.
>