SECRET radiation experiments on humans could still be done in the US today, says the American commission investigating controversial experiments conducted during the Cold War. Despite attempts to improve legislation, says the government鈥檚 Advisory Committee on Human Radiation, 鈥渢here is evidence of serious deficiencies in some parts of the current system for the protection of the rights and interests of human subjects鈥�.
After reviewing current research on volunteers, the commission says it fears that some people may have been coerced into taking part and that there may be little justification for some of the experiments. 鈥淚t was often difficult to assess whether the likely merits of the research warranted the imposition of risk or inconvenience on human subjects,鈥� says the draft of the commission鈥檚 report, which will be published in September.
The commission also points to loopholes in the country鈥檚 environmental laws that permit releases of radioactivity into the atmosphere in the name of national security.
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The commission says it has identified 鈥渟everal hundred occasions鈥� between 1944 and 1977 in which the government intentionally released radiation into the environment for research.
The secrecy surrounding the releases was probably justified at the time, says the commission. 鈥淗owever, information was withheld from the public for what is likely to have been a much longer time than was required for national security reasons,鈥� it says.
The draft report also says that the commission uncovered 鈥渟everal thousand human radiation experiments鈥�. Most of these involved small radiation doses unlikely to be harmful, says the commission. Those given larger doses were generally patients 鈥渨here there was at least arguably a prospect that the patients might benefit from the exposure鈥�.