ATTACHMENT 3

 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Office of Public Affairs
News Service
Washington, D.C.  20420
(202) 273-5700

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VA INSPECTOR GENERAL CONCLUDES RADIATION RECORDS SEARCH

     Washington, Jan. 17 -- The Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) Office of Inspector General has reported it found no
evidence that a "confidential" Atomic Medicine Division, which
had been referenced in decades-old documents previously uncovered
by the department, was every activated.

     Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown had asked the
Inspector General to use his office's audit expertise to help
identify any additional sources of documentation that might have
been overlooked in VA's initial search for records on
radioisotope nuclear medicine or radiation research that may have
involved human subjects.

     The Inspector General based its conclusion on a review of VA
references, documentation provided by the Advisory Committee on
Human Radiation Experiments and retired VA officials who were in
positions to have had personal knowledge of such a division.  The
Inspector General found that claims from veterans as a result of
exposure to radiation from atomic weapons testing, but these
claims never materialized and the organization was never
activated.

     Said Brown, "I'm pleased with the Inspector General's
efforts in searching for any clues to the existence of the Atomic
Medicine Division.  While the Inspector General found the
division existed only on paper and was never activated, I am
committed to reviewing any lead that might surface in the
future."

     Following reports in late 1993 that government-sponsored
research involving human subjects and radioactive materials may
have been conducted in an inappropriate manner in the '40s and
'50s, Brown immediately ordered all VA Medical center to begin a
comprehensive search for records on radioisotope nuclear medicine
or radiation research that may have involved human subjects.
                              -more-
Radiation Research -- Page 2

     In addition to the searches, VA reviewed the licenses issued
for radionuclides by the Atomic Energy Commission for cross-
referencing with research information.  VA also reviewed the
protection of human subjects in VA research and reaffirmed the
vigorous enforcement of policies and procedures in place to
assure that all VA patients who participate in research are fully
informed, consenting subjects.

     All federally sponsored radiation research will be reviewed
by the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation experiments, a
committee established by the White Hose and made up of
nongovernment scientists, physicians and ethicists.  VA provides
the committee with historical and other information.

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                                             (Dist: 5,7,9,10)