Attachment 7

Letter from Dr. Robert S. Stone to Dr. Shields Warren, AEC (dated
July 26, 1948).

July 26, 1948

Shields Warren, M.D.
Div. of Biology and Medicine
U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
1901 Constitution Avenue, N. W.
Washington, D.C.

Dear Doctor Warren:

In connection with the hematological program conducted at the
University of California Hospital, I would like to make the
following statements:

The treatment of arthritic patients with x-rays and radioactive
materials has never been a function of the Atomic Energy
Commission nor of its predecessors O.S.R.D. or the Manhattan
Project. It has repeatedly been stated in the reports that the
program of the contracting agency was to make use of patients
being studied or treated by the physicians on the staff of the
University of California Hospital. The selection of the patients
and the choice of the type of therapy is made by a doctor or
group of doctors having no connection at all with the Atomic
Energy Commission. The actual administration of the radioactive
material or x-rays is of course done under the direction of
Doctor Low-Beer or myself, but in all instances the radiations or
radioactive materials are given to the patient with a reasonable
expectation that there will be direct benefit to the patient. We
have never treated a patient in our capacity as subcontractors to
the Atomic Energy Commission, nor have we ever treated a patient
in any capacity simply for the purpose of observing the effects
on the blood.

The basis on which our work was started was work reported by
Gilbert Scott in the book entitled Wide Field X-Ray Therapy. We
believe that we were and are justified in using this type of
treatment on the patients on whom we have used it.

By this letter, I wish to make it clear that the selection of the
patients, the administration of the treatment and the
responsibility for this are not a part of the Atomic Energy
Commission's activities, but are activities of the staff members
of the University of California Hospital, acting in their
capacity as individual doctors. The Commission's interest arises
out of the fact that patients are being treated in this manner.

Yours sincerely,

Robert S. Stone, M.D.

RSS:ab

P.S.: See article "Wide Field Roentgen Therapy" by S. Gilbert
Scott, Am. Journal of Roentgenology. Vol. 143, #1, pg. 116.