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.


			STAFF MEMORANDUM

TO:	Members of the Advisory Committee on Human 
	Radiation Experiments

FROM:	Advisory Committee Staff

DATE:	June 28, 1994

RE:	Groupings of Experiments:  A Methodological Overview

	In order to understand both the content and the context of 
the experiments uncovered, we are seeking a way to group experiments 
that will likely lead to efficient investigations and meaningful 
reporting of results.

	Each group would be anchored in at least one of the data 
points in the experimental template; for example, a group could be 
comprised of experiments with a uniform scientific or medical 
research purpose, or a uniform military purpose, or it might contain 
experiments performed by a single institution.  The experiments in 
each group would likely differ in other respects; for example, 
experiments with uniform medical purposes may or may not have express 
government purpose, may have been sponsored by different agencies, 
and may have been governed by differing ethical codes and practices.  
Thus, by studying each grouping, and by viewing groups collectively, 
we may be able to view and understand experimentation from many 
angles of vision.

	It should be emphasized that the purpose is not to exclude 
experiments from study, but to place individual experiments into the 
larger context of the Committee's work.  As groups are defined, it 
may be easier to identify the best ways to group (or sample) those 
experiments, including experiments identified in master lists 
provided by the agencies which have not been included in a group.


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	In this tab, we enclose documents that illustrate some 
groupings that we hope will lead to efficient investigation and 
meaningful reporting.  The groups are:

1.	Government Purpose.  Here, as an example, we attach 
documentation of the research portfolio and program laid out in the 
1949-1952 period by the Department Joint Panel on Medical Aspects of 
Atomic Warfare.  (See Tab O-1)

2.	Total Body Irradiation.  This grouping, which might be called 
a grouping by research procedure, covers experiments conducted at 
dozens of sites, involving several thousand subjects, over many 
decades.  (See Tab O-2)

3.	Intentional Releases.  As indicated in the attachment, this 
grouping includes not only the examples enumerated in the Committee's 
charter, but, perhaps, a broad variety of environmental releases.  
(See Tab O-3)

4.	Radiological Warfare.  While the extent of human experimentation 
remains to be seen, questions of secrecy, military purpose, and 
therapeutic purpose make this group an important and interesting one 
which may overlap with intentional releases.  (See Tab O-4)

	These groupings are offered as examples.  Other potential 
groupings might include: 

1.	Biodistribution Experiments:  The plutonium injections and 
succeeding efforts to understand the metabolic and physiological 
effects of radioactive isotopes in the body, (i.e., based grouping).

2.	Experiments of Opportunity:  Experiments which were not 
intended at the onset, but in which the opportunity for study presented 
itself.  (This grouping is presented as an analytical category, and 
not a judgement on scope.)

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3.	Therapeutic-purpose Experiments:  a group, or series of 
subgroups, based on medical purpose.

4.	Contemporary Experiments:  a date-based grouping of experiments.



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