Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 1, 1994 TAG: 9401010016
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
And at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, records show that as many as 125 mentally retarded children from the Fernald State School in Waltham, Mass., and 23 pregnant women ingested radioactive material in federally sponsored studies - without being told of the radiation, The Boston Globe and Boston Herald reported.
The VA probe and the newspapers' revelations add to the growing controversy over the government's role in human radiation research - with the White House planning an inter-agency meeting Monday to focus on the issue.
MIT records show that 23 pregnant women at the Boston Lying-In Hospital were injected up to seven times each with a radioactive form of iron in 1955, the Boston newspapers reported. The purpose: to discover how long iron transmitted from the mother's blood stayed in the baby after birth.
"You've probably received more radiation exposure at commercial flight altitudes this year than these kids got. I know I have," said Frank Masse, director of radiation protection at MIT.
Masse, who wasn't at MIT when the Fernald School experiments were conducted, said the experiments were within today's federal guidelines for use of human subjects in radiation testing. He said similar experiments would be approved today.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Jesse Brown announced the VA probe after the departments of Defense and Energy said they will review their files to learn the scope of the experiments.
"We plan to leave no stone unturned in our review of this research," Brown said in a statement, adding that the investigation will examine the circumstances surrounding nuclear medicine research at VA facilities.
"If we find that veterans were subjected to improper research, that would be morally and ethically unacceptable to me," Brown said.
"We are going to look at all the facts, and if we determine that VA was engaged in any inappropriate research, we will disclose that finding to the American people, notify veterans involved and take appropriate action," he said.
Brown said the VA is asking veterans' service organizations to make their members aware of the situation.
Veterans who are concerned should call the VA toll free at (800) 827-1000, Brown said.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Les Aspin ordered the armed forces and the Defense Nuclear Agency to review all files that may shed light on radiation experimentation on human beings by the military.
Aspin's action followed by days a directive from Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary directing her department to investigate.
O'Leary said as many as 800 experiments were done involving up to 600 people.
by CNB