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In most of the ingestion cases, the radioactive material was encapsulated in plastic so that no radioactive material was absorbed into body tissues. These measurements were performed to develop and evaluate new whole-body counting equipment and to calibrate that equipment. The whole-body counting equipment was used to measure the amount of radioactivity inside the body of occupational radiation workers exposed to radioactive material. Policies for conducting these experiments limited radiation doses to volunteers to levels below the occupational radiationprotection guidelines in effect at the time. (This experiment was referenced in the Markey report and included in The DOE Roadmap of February 1995.) |
Two volunteer subjects (Hanford employees), were stationed in the expected path of the radiation cloud. These subjects intentionally inhaled I131 from the release and were subsequently measured for thyroidal uptake of I131. These experiments were performed under contract with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. (Included in The DOE Roadmap of February 1995, and since revised) DURING 1945 TO 1947, 18 persons were injected with amounts of plutonium at the Manhattan Engineer District Hospital in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, (1 patient), at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York (11 patients), at Billings Hospital of the University of Chicago (3 patients), and at the University Hospital of the University of California in San Francisco (3 patients). Excreta were obtained from patients and sent to Los Alamos for plutonium analysis. These data were used to establish mathematical equations describing plutonium excretion rates. This research was funded by the Manhattan Engineer District; followup studies were supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. (This experiment was referenced in the Markey report and included in The DOE Roadmap of February 1995.) PATIENTS IN Astate mental hospital were injected with radium as an experimental therapy for mental disorders. The experiment appears to have been conducted at the Elgin State Hospital, in Elgin, Illinois, between 1931 and 1933. Documents indicate that 70 to 450 micrograms of radium226 (Ra226) were injected. This experiment occurred prior to the establishment of the Argonne National Laboratory and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Argonne National Laboratory later collected records and attempted to locate the subjects. Researchers believed that if the patients could be located and body content measurements made in the 1950s, a valid retention curve for radium in humans over several decades could be constructed. Argonne National Laboratory made all later measurements. The records contain information regarding radium content of the located subjects, medical information relating to the subjects=admission to the hospital, periodic medical examination results, and causes of death and death certificates for deceased subjects. (Previously described in #31 on the original list of 48 experiments released by DOE in June 1994; included in The DOE Roadmap of February 1995, and since revised) IN 1963, milk from dairy cows fed iodine131 (I131) was consumed by eight General Electric/Hanford workers either as a single dose or as several daily doses. During the study, the amount of iodine in the cows=diet was increased from 5 milligrams per day to 2 grams per day. The resulting uptake by the human thyroid was determined in Hanford=s whole-body counter facility. Participants were Hanford scientists who had volunteered to drink the milk and be counted over a period of approximately 1 month. This work was supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. (Previously described in #41 on the original list of 48 experiments released by DOE in June 1994 and included in The DOE Roadmap of February 1995) DURING THE EARLY 1950s, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory conducted studies on the human uptake, distribution, and retention of tritium (H3). Three volunteers, all researchers working on the studies, participated as subjects. In one experiment, a male subject immersed his arm up to the elbow in water containing 0.1 millicurie of tritium per milliliter. This study showed that the rate of absorption through the skin was too slow to pose a hazard. The whole body would have to be immersed for more than 1 hour before the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission-recommended exposure limit was reached. In another study, all three subjects inhaled for 4 to 5 minutes oxygen that was saturated with tritium water vapor (HTO) which, when condensed, contained 1.16 millicuries of tritium per milliliter of water. Results showed that 98 to 99 percent of the tritium was retained in the body after inhalation. In a third study, the three subjects drank water containing tritium. Water volumes ranged from 100 to 1,000 milliliters (.33 to 4 cups) and level of activity ranged from 1,640 to 2,920 microcuries. These studies showed that water absorption from the gastrointestinal tract begins 2 to 9 minutes after ingestion, that absorption is a linear function of time, and that absorption is proportional to the amount ingested. All these studies were used to establish standards for occupational exposure to tritium. This work was supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. (These experiments were referenced in the Markey report and included in The DOE Roadmap of February 1995) IN 1951, the University of California, Los Angeles conducted a series of tests on humans to study the uptake of radioiodine into the thyroid gland. Additional tests were made on patients at the Sawtelle Veteran's Hospital. The main purpose of this study was to test a new automatic scanner and recorder. Initial scans were made using a collimated gamma scintillation counter. This equipment enabled a record to be obtained on which an image of the gland was visible and which the researchers concluded was better than a total activity count for clinical studies of thyroid disease. The second set of scans was made on a frozen tissue preparation obtained from a terminal patient who had been given 3 millicuries of iodine-131, 14 hours before his death. The measured total activity of the thyroid gland at the time it was scanned was about 50 microcuries. The results of these tests led to increased use of this equipment for clinical diagnostic scans in other patients with thyroid disorders. This work was supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. STARTING IN ABOUT 1950, the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies (ORINS) conducted studies on the potential therapeutic uses of gallium72 (Ga72) in human subjects. Previous animal experiments at ORINS indicated that Ga72 might be effective in the treatment of bone tumors. Therefore, patients with various kinds of malignant bone tumors were studied with Ga72. Two types of studies were conducted among male and female patients referred to ORINS in 1950 and 1951; most of these 54 patients had late-stage (terminal) disease that was not amenable to surgery or external irradiation therapy. In one study, 50 to 100 millicuries of Ga72 were administered intravenously to 21 patients with some hope of therapeutic benefit. In the other study, lesser amounts (10 to 50 millicuries) of Ga72 were administered to 34 other, similar patients, to determine the metabolism and biodistribution patterns of intravenously administered Ga72 in man. Several adverse reactions, typical of radiation toxicity, were observed in patients receiving greater than 50 millicuries of Ga72. These studies indicated that Ga72 was not suitable for therapy of bone tumors. As a result, subsequent studies focused on other isotopes, such as Ga67 or Ga68. This work was supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. (Included in The DOE Roadmap of February 1995, and since revised.) |
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like, wow, man. wonder who can explain this? you know you're out there. |