DISCLAIMER

The following is a staff memorandum or other working document
prepared for the members of the Advisory Committee on Human
Radiation Experiments. It should not be construed as representing
the final conclusions of fact or interpretation of the issues. All
staff memoranda are subject to revision based on further
information and analysis. For conclusions and recommendations of
the Advisory Committee, readers are advised to consult the Final
Report to be published in 1995.


                             Tab M

             **************** Staff Memo ****************

			Methodological Case
                 "Plutonium Injection Experiments"


TO:       MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RADIATION
	  EXPERIMENTS

FROM:     ADVISORY COMMITTEE STAFF

DATE:     MAY 12, 1994

RE:       DOCUMENTS ON "PLUTONIUM INJECTION EXPERIMENTS"  


     Staff requested information on the plutonium injection
experiments from the agency members of the Interagency Working
Group and the Office of Congressman Markey. Staff received two
boxes (approximately 2.5 linear feet) from the Department of 
Energy and additional material from the office of Congressman 
Markey.  Further contextual documentation was provided by earlier 
work by staff historians.    

     The experiments also were the subject of the Pulitzer Prize
winning series by Eileen Welsome, provided to the Committee in the
first delivery of press clips.

I.   DOCUMENTS RECEIVED

A.   From the Department of Energy (DOE)

     DOE documents included unclassified and declassified
documents.

     1.   1974 DOE Inspector General (10) Reports. In 1974. DOE's
          Office of Inspector General produced two reports on the
          plutonium experiments. The AEC's Director, Division of
          Biomedical and Environmental Research, concluded that
          "the inquiry uncovered certain violations of ethical
          standards." (See File No. 44-2-330.) The IG reports
          contain extensive references to contemporaneous documents
          and to recent interviews. As of May 10, DOE's Document
          Search Team told staff that DOE had not yet been able to
          locate the full source materials from which the IG
          reports were prepared.

     The bulk of the DOE material is organized by patient Files on
the 18 patients were prepared by the Center for Human Radiobiology
of Argonne National Laboratories (CHR). With come variation, the
patient files contain a treatment history, an experimental history
of the injection and the subsequent deposition and excretion
analysis, correspondence between researchers, and materials on
follow-up study, including radiochemical analyses of patient
samples.

     Additional material is loosely organized by document type
(e.g., scientific reprints interviews with researchers). In addition 
to material on plutonium injections, the investigators also compiled 
topical files on polonium and uranium injections in humans and on 
ethical standards at the time of the experiments.


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     The following documents from the DOE collection are included
in this briefing book:

          1.   1945 records; doctor's orders, including an order to
begin urine collection  (0003306-3308).

     2.   October, 1945 abstract of monthly Met Lab (Chicago
Manhattan District Lab) report. Contains information about (Chi-I),
and exemplifies a research section report (0002713-2714).

     3.   Graph of excretion data (Chi-l), apparently produced by
researchers in 1945 (0002785).

     4.   May 1946 monthly summary of research for Met Lab
Biochemical Survey Section. Among items of interest is a reference
to two plutonium inhalation cases (3021) and a summary of
"plutonium therapy studies" (0003021-3025).

     5.   1946 classified article, "Distribution and Excretion of
Plutonium in Two Human Subjects." Includes deposition charts,
hematological and excretion data (0002775, 0002746-2773).

     6.   1947 entries in patient chart of Elmer Allen (Cal-3).
Obtained from the record center at UC Richmond; transcribed by hand
in 1974, evidently from follow-up study of experimental subjects,
Entry at top of 2682 is the only recorded instance of notification
and consent in the unclassified files (002681-2683).

     7.   1950 report of Los Alamos Scientific laboratory (UC) and
Atomic Energy Project (U of Rochester): "Distribution and Excretion
of Plutonium Administered Intravenously to man." Includes statement
of subject selection criteria and bibliographical information
(0003069, 0003075-3096).

     8.   1978 internal memo of Center for Human Radiobiology,
noting the lack of a formal "Detailed Report" on certain
radioactive samples. The samples were taken from the exhumed bodies
of experimental subjects. Note reference to Am-241 (0002812).

     9.   1981 analyses of radioactive samples, taken from exhumed
body of Chi- 1. as part of the follow-up study (0002814-2836).


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B.   From the Office of Congressman Markey

Congressman Markey sent the Committee copies of documents provided
by the Department of Energy in January 1985 to the House
Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power. This material
includes a 1974 factsheet, a 1983 background memorandum, a 1976
ERDA background memorandum, an undated fact sheet with a summary of
patients injected, DOE response to FOIA request, the 1974 AEC
investigation report # 44-2-326, Inspector General report # 44-2-
330, an article on the health effects of radiation, May 1974 AEC
memorandum, AEC report # 1-A- 1151 by Langham and others, Durbin's
article, "Plutonium in Man: A New Look at Old Data". 

Congressman Markey's office also provided the staff with copies of
letters from the Congressman to Secretary O'Leary on March 15, 1994
and April 11, 1994. The March 15 letter refers to recently released
documents indicating that one of those injected with plutonium
(Cal-A) was also injected with Americium-241 and requests that any
additional medical records be released. The April 11 letter refers
to indications in recently released documents that "other
experimental subjects definitely drank plutonium and still others
may have been injected" and requests additional documentation.

     In addition to the documents from the Department of Energy 
and Congressman Markey, further contextual documentation had been
previously culled from other sources by historians now on the
committee staff. These collections are at the University of
California Bancroft Library (Lawrence Papers), San Bruno Federal
Records Center, and the National Archives. These documents indicate
how the plutonium story can be further pieced together from primary
sources.

The following examples are included in this briefing book:

     (Please note that underlining on copies is not on the original
documents)

     1.   August 16, 1944 memo from Dr. Louis Hempelmann, 
Director of the Los Alamos Lab Health Group to lab Director 
Robert Oppenheimer. Following an accident in which a worker 
inhaled plutonium, Dr. Hempelmann advised that a "great deal 
of concern" had been generated by the inability to detect 
plutonium in the body, and urging study of methods of detecting 
plutonium in the lungs and excreta.

     2.   August 16, 1944 reply memo from Dr. Oppenheimer to Dr.
Hempelmann. Approving the proposal, and noted that the work "may
involve animal or even human experimentation."

     3.   August 29, 1,944 memo from Dr. Hempelmann to Dr.
Oppenheimer. Summarizing "the biological research program which 
was agreed upon."

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     4.   January 11, 1945 report to the Manhattan Project.
Concerns the "Proposed Biochemical Program at the University of
California."

     5.   March 15, 1945 memo. The Los Alamos Health group urges
Dr. Oppenheimer "to submit a request to the Manhattan Project for
an intense medical research program to be concerned with
detoxification of persons poisoned with plutonium."

     6.   March 26, 1945 memo. Dr. Hempelmann recommends that Dr.
Oppenheimer request the Manhattan Project "help make arrangements
for a human tracer experiment to determine the percentage of
plutonium excreted daily in the urine and feces. It is suggested
that a hospital patient at either Rochester or Chicago be chosen
for injection of from one to ten micrograms of material and that
the excreta be sent to the laboratory for analysis."

     7.   March 29, 1945 memo. Dr. Oppenheimer evidently forwards
the March 26 memo with his endorsement.

II.  STAFF SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION

     Methodological questions occurred to Staff in its review of
the plutonium injection documents. Additional documents which might
be searched for include the following:

     Documents underlying 1974 Inspector General's Reports. It
appears that key documents referenced in the 1974 Inspector General
reports are not presently available. These include, for example,
April 4 and 6, 1945 documents confirming the shipment of 5
micrograms of plutonium, giving instructions for preparing an
injection, and a "Protocol of Clinical Experiment." There may also
be additional documents relating to plutonium injections in 1944
and to six subjects who drank water laced with plutonium in 1946,
as noted in Congressman Markey's letters to Secretary O'Leary.

     2.   Contractual Documents. Presently available documents do
not appear to include contractual documents under which doctors and
staff performed the injections.

     3.   Documentation of Selection of Sites and Patients.
Documentation such as correspondence, might explain the choice of
Rochester and Chicago as initial sites, and the evident choice to
select and inject patients from geographically disparate locations.

     4.   Documentation of the relationship between plutonium and
whole body radiation experiments. DOE document 5 lists as a co-
author a J.J. Nickson, M.D. (See page 0002775). Other documentation
indicates that, at the Defense Department's

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direction, the whole body irradiation experiment done in Cincinnati
was undertaken in coordination with the work of Dr. Nickson (then
at Memorial Hospital in New York). (See, in the Cincinnati case
study, DOD reviews of 1958 Cincinnati grant proposal and May 8,
1961 "Research Proposal for Sub-Task in Nuclear Weapons Effects
Research.") Further cross-referencing is needed to explore possible
relationships between isotope injection and whole body irradiation
experiments.

     5.   Documentation Held By Contractors. The plutonium
documents show the Universities of Chicago and Rochester to be
central institutions in early atomic biomedical research. DOE has
told staff that it believes such institutions to be potentially
"rich" sources of documentation. What documents do they possess,
and what actions, if any, should,the Committee take to identify and
access their collections?



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