Attachment F

Assistant Secretary of the Army memorandum to Director of Medical
Services, Office of the Secretary of Defense, May 3, 1950

MEMORANDUM FOR DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES
Office of the Secretary of Defense

SUBJECT: Recommendation that the Armed Services Conduct
Experiments on Human Subjects to Determine Effects of Radiation
Exposure

1. Reference is made to your memorandum, L5-2/M3-4 April 1950,
subject as above, forwarding for comment a copy of a letter from
the Secretary of the NEPA Medical Advisory Committee, dated 22
March 1950, together with a paper, "Irradiation of Human Subjects
as a Medical Experiment," prepared by Dr. Robert Stone, Professor
of Radiology at the University of California School of Medicine,
San Francisco.

2. The Department of the Army recognizes the need to establish
the limits of man's tolerance for single and repeated exposures
of total body-ionizing radiation. To define these tolerances
within narrow limits by a significant number of volunteer human
exposures would be exceedingly difficult and dangerous.
Considering our present knowledge on treatment of radiation
injury, the damage is irreversible at levels of radiation
exposure that would give significant information of value to
national defense.

3. Significant progress has been made in protecting animals
against radiation injury by use of certain endocrine products or
chemicals acting through the endocrine systems. It is believed
that these studies should be continued. When it appears that
reliance can be placed upon these findings, one or two cancer
patients, who must have intense radiation treatment for their
condition, should be sought on a volunteer basis to undergo what
appears to be, from animal experimentation, the probable maximum
tolerance level for man. If these acute experiments prove
successful, and the treatment methods as good as prior
experimental results indicate, then it is recommended that
consideration be given to establishing a significant experiment
to validate the limits of human tolerance to radiation.

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4. It is believed that the Armed Forces need to know:

a. the level of radiation exposure that will make the individual
a casualty within 7 to 30 days;

b. the level of radiation exposure that will significantly
shorten an individual's life;

c. the chances for recovery of individuals showing signs of
radiation sickness within one week after exposure to radiation.

5. The Committee on Medical Sciences, Research and Development
Board, did not support the views of the joint panel on Medical
Aspects of <unreadable word> <unreadable word>: at its
<unreadable word>, the Committee "revoked its previous endorse
out of the motion of the Joint Panel on Medical Aspects of Atomic
Warfare in <unreadable word> the <unreadable word> of the NEPA
Medical Advisory Committee with regard to human experimentation,
and voted to refer the matter back to the Joint Panel on Medical
Aspects of Atomic Warfare for further consideration."

6. In view of the above, and until experimentation cited in
paragraph 5 above, has been accomplished, it is recommended that
the proposed piecemeal experimentation at low levels of exposure
to radiation injury not be undertaken.

Archibald S. Alexander
The Assistant Secretary of the Army


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