CURRENT EVENTS - Government-SponsoredRadiationExperiments In1940s and ‘50s Cause Uproar

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by dawugda

Reports on U.S.-sponsored radiation experiments carried out in the 1940s and 1950s, drawing widespread outrage after Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary announced the release of documents and called for compensation for victims. The article describes plutonium injections in hospital patients and radioactive milk programs for boys, highlighting that subjects often were not told what exposure involved. It also recounts atmospheric releases and bomb tests, explains the ethical breach of informed consent, and contrasts past wartime urgency with today’s stricter rules.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Nuclear Secrets

Plutonium Injections

The Science Club

Other Experiments

Informed Consent

Curb on Guns?

Uprising in Mexico

# CURRENT EVENTS NUCLEAR SECRETS ## Government-SponsoredRadiationExperiments In1940s and ‘50sCause Uproar WASM-INGTON, D.C.—U.S.secretary ofenergy Hazel O'Leary wasmore than upset.She wasangry,outraged,“appalled,shocked,and deeply sad-dened”over what the U.S.gov-ernment had done. 0'Leary expressed her emo-tions at a December 29 newsconference about U.S.gover-ment-sponsored radiationexperiments done in the1940s and 1950s.During thatperiod,the U.S.governmentsponsored some 800 experi-ments exposing humans todoses of radioactive material.What angered and saddenedSecretary O'Leary is thatapparently many of the sub-jects of the experiments didnot know,or fully understand,what was being done to them. Plutonium Injections From 1945 to 1947 scien-tists connected with theManhattan Project—the pro-ject that built the first atomicbomb in 1945—injected pluto-nium into 18 hospital patientsin New Mexico.The scientistswanted to see how plutoniumaffected the human body.Plutonium is a highly radioac-tive material used in makingatomic bombs,and in highdoses,can cause severe illnessor death. 0'Leary ordered her depart-ment to publicly release alldocuments about the experi-ments—and said that the vic-tims,if still alive,should becompensated for what wasdone to them.In particular,0'Leary mentioned the follow-ing experiments: The scientists pickedpatients who they thoughtwould soon die anyway.But atleast one of the patients, Observers wearing goggles watch a nuder explosion in 1955.No one then knew how dangerous even a smallamount of radiation could be. Elmer Allen,a railroad porterfrom Texas,did not die foranother 44 years.Allen wasgiven a shot of plutonium inhis injured leg.Three daysafter the injection,his leg wasamputated above the knee andtaken away by researchers. The rest of Allen's life,Allen's daughter told re-porters,was less than happy.He was often depressed andhad fainting spells. "I believe my father wasaware something had beendone to him,"she said.But sheinsists he was not told what."Iknow he didn't understandplutonium.” During the1940s and'50s,the U.S.conducted800 radiationexperiments. 一MikeDiGirgio NUCLEAR SECRETS continued from page one ### `The Science Club′ From 1946 to 1956,boys atthe Fernald School for theMassachusetts were fedradioactive milk with theircereal.The objective was totrace how the human bodydigests food.These tests werefunded by the Atomic EnergyCommission and Quaker Oatsand conducted by scientistsfrom Harvard University andthe Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology. Parents of the boys weregiven letters informing them ofthe experiments.But the let-ters did not mention the exper-iments involved exposure toradioactive material. The boys themselves weretold they were part of a“sci-ence club"to help scientistsunderstand nutrition. ## Other Experiments ●On a spring day in 1950,U.S.government scientistspacked a non-nuclear bombwith radioactive material andexploded it in the atmospherenear Los Alamos,NewMexico.No injuries werereported,but particles ofradioactive material fell onpopulated areas at least 70miles away. ●In the late 1940s,scien-tists at a weapons plant inWashington state deliberatelyreleased a huge radioactivecloud to see how far it couldbe traced in the atmosphere.The cloud floated overSpokane,Washington and allthe way to the California-Oregon border,dropping parti-cles carrying hundreds (per-haps thousands)of times moreradiation than would be con-sidered safe today. ●Between 1948 and 1952,the U.Sgovernment conduct- ed at least a dozen secrettests,releasing radioactivityinto the atmosphere in NewMexico,Tennessee,and Utah. Informed Consent What Secretary 0'Leary andmany other people find soshocking about those experi-ments is that they all seem toviolate the principle of informedconsent.This principledemands that before scientistsexperiment on human sub-jects,they make sure the sub-jects understand what is beingdone to them and what theknown consequences of th

FAQs

What public action did Hazel O'Leary take regarding the radiation experiments?

Hazel O'Leary ordered her department to publicly release all documents about the experiments and said victims, if still alive, should be compensated.

What was the purpose of injecting plutonium into hospital patients?

Scientists connected with the Manhattan Project injected plutonium to see how it affected the human body.

Why do the experiments violate the principle of informed consent?

The article says subjects apparently did not know or fully understand what was being done, what the exposures were, or the known consequences before experimentation.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by dawugda