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 N

MEMORANDUM

TO:       Members of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation
          Experiments

FROM:     Advisory Committee Staff

DATE:     August 31, 1994

RE:       The Thyroid Studies:  A Follow-up Report on the Use of
          Radioactive Materials in Human Subject Research that
          Involved Residents of State-Operated Facilities within
          the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1943 through
          1973


Submitted by the Working Group on Human Subject Research to
Philip Campbell, Commissioner, Department of Mental Retardation,
Commonwealth of Massachusetts (June 1994)

In December 1993 a  Task Force was appointed by Philip Campbell,
the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Retardation of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to examine reports of human
radiation experiments involving residents of state-operated
institutions.

The main report of the Task Force was included as Tab E in your
briefing book for the meeting of July 5-6, 1994.  In that report,
the Task Force stated that its examination of a series of thyroid
studies would be issued as a supplementary report.

Enclosed in this tab is the supplementary report on the thyroid
studies. It places the studies within the context of medical
knowledge of their times (pp. 1-12), examines the risk from the
doses administered to subjects (pp. 13-26), and discusses how
consent was obtained, with copies of the letters sent to
parents/guardians of subjects requesting consent (pp. 27-31).  It
concludes with a section on "Findings and Recommendations" (pp.
32).