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United States, 1944-1974.

Under the pretext of preparing the United States of a possible Soviet nuclear attack during the Cold War, thousands of U.S. citizens became victims of more than 4,000 classified experiments conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission and other government agencies as the Department of Defense, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service (now the CDC), National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration, the CIA and NASA.

Millions of people were exposed to radioactive fallout resulting from the detonation of more than 200 atmospheric and underground nuclear weapons, as well as hundreds of secret radiation releases to the environment. More than 200,000 veterans who worked at the site of nuclear detonations in Nevada during the late 50's and 60 were particularly vulnerable to the fallout.

were also affected thousands of residents living in small towns in Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. These residents (as well as animal populations) had the worst cumulative effects of radiation due to rain and polluted environment.

One of the declassified documents of the Department of Energy of the United States dating from the late 50's, described the population surrounding the nuclear test site in Nevada as a "low-use segment of the population."

nuclear arms race in full, doctors and government scientists were in charge of making people believe that exposure to small doses of radiation had no harmful effect. Some officials even tried to convince people that "a little radiation is good for health." The knowledge that radiation from exposure to radioactive fallout substantially increased risk of cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, diseases immune system abnormalities reproductive birth defects and genetic mutations was totally ignored. The maximum range of damage inflicted on the U.S. population during the years of the Cold War remains unknown.

A secret document from the Atomic Energy Commission, dated April 17, 1947, reveals that doctors were aware of the risks to human health from radiation exposure, but simply ignored them. Titled "Medical Experiments in Humans" , the memorandum states:

"No document relating to human experimentation
should be released because this can result in an adverse effect on public
or result in legal proceedings. Documents covering such work field
should be classified as "secret."

Some residents testified that the officers of the Public Health Service told them that his "neurosis" of the fallout would be the only thing that would cause cancer, particularly if they were women. Some women with severe disease due to radiation, hair loss and severe skin burns were diagnosed in hospitals as "neurotic." Other women seriously ill were diagnosed with "housewife syndrome." The Department of Atomic Energy had a habit of waiting for the wind blowing toward Utah (rather than on the direction of Los Angeles, California or Las Vegas, Nevada) to test its nuclear weapons.

Only recently, with the declassification of secret documents, have begun to reveal details on inhuman radiation studies that were conducted during the Cold War years between 1944 and 1974. The story began to come to light when in 1993, we have identified the names of 18 American citizens who secretly received intravenous injections of 5 micrograms plutonium, a key ingredient in making atomic weapons and one of the most toxic substances known to man. The victims we administered while hospitalized at Oak Ridge Hospital in Tennessee, the University of Rochester in New York, the University of Chicago and University of California at San Francisco. In the final report of President Clinton's Advisory Committee on human radiation experiments, they can read passages like the following:

"Between April and December 1945, three terminally ill cancer patients
whose codenames are CHI-1, 2 and 3 received injections
of plutonium. At least two and possibly three were injected into the
Billings Hospital of the University of Chicago. The doses administered to the subject
CHI-2 and CHI-3 were the highest doses
any of the 18 subjects, about 95 micrograms. Either way, the amount of injected material
was still below that which would be expected
the onset of acute effects. Either way, all three patients were
seriously ill and at least two of them died within ten months after injection
. The selection of subjects that seriously ill
was an intentional strategy to contain the potential risks, this
indicated in reports of CHI-1 and CHI-2, dated 1946: "It
needed some human studies to determine how to apply information obtained
animals to human problems. For this reason, selected
two people with low life expectancy. It was considered that the injection of plutonium
not substantially alter the course of their disease
not present a risk. " remains a mystery why the subject
CHI-3 was not included in this report."

was also public knowledge, the intravenous administration of Uranium in six patients seriously ill, six of whom were hospitalized at the University of Rochester and eleven in the General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Some but not all, of these patients were terminally ill. This harrowing story of journalist Eileen Welsome (who later won the Pulitzer Prize) unleashed a storm of protests to press the Secretary of the Department of Energy, Hazel O'Leary, declassified secret files and documents relating to experiments conducted during the War Cold.
The extremely dangerous plutonium experiment was conducted under the auspices of the Manhattan Project, which brought together the talents of distinguished scientists to develop and test the atomic bomb. The secret purpose of these experiments was to establish occupational safety standards for all workers who produce plutonium and other radioactive elements for the project.

Some of the experiments classified the U.S. government did during the Cold War include:

* The exhibition of more than 100 Alaskan villagers to radioactive iodine during the 60's.

* The administration of radioactive iron and calcium in food rations of 49 adolescents with mental retardation admitted in Government institutions. Iron was administered in its cereals from 1946 to 1954. They informed the parents that their children receive a special diet "strengthened."

* The exhibition of approximately 800 pregnant women in late 40 to radioactive iron, in order to determine the speed with which the substance crossing the placenta, and the effects of radiation on the fetus . They told the women that they were being administered were vitamin supplements.

* The intravenous injection of radioactive iodine in 7 newborns (six of whom were African Americans)

* The exposure of the testicles of more than 100 prisoners to radiation doses Cancer-causing. This experiment lasted until the early 70's.

* The exhibition of over 200 cancer patients with high levels of radiation resulting from cesium and cobalt. Atomic Energy Commission finally stopped this experiment in 1974,.

* The administration of radioactive material to San Francisco psychiatric patients and prisoners of San Quentin Prison.

* The mass administration of radiation in cancer patients hospitalized at Cincinnati General Hospital, Baylor College in Houston, Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York and the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, during the decades of 50 and 60. The experiment provided information concerning how a nuclear attack would affect troops in combat.

* The exhibition of 29 patients, some with rheumatoid arthritis, to total body irradiation (with doses of 100 to 300 rads) for military use different information. This was conducted by the University of California Hospital in San Francisco.

In 1995, the U.S. Energy Department admitted that the Atomic Energy Commission conducted more than 430 radiation experiments from 1944 to 1974. More than 16,000 people were exposed to radiation, some of which were not warned of the risks to their health or not consenting to participate in the study.

These experiments were designed to help scientists understand the risks to human health from nuclear war and fallout. Because the programs aimed at making nuclear weapons are classed as a whole, these experiments were also classified as secret files and refused access to any information relating to them, under the pretext of protecting "national security."

Surprisingly, these studies were made illegal in the most prestigious medical institutions and schools the country, including the University of Chicago, Washington University, Tecnológico de Massachusetts, Vanderbilt University in Nashville among others.

addition to these experiments, uranium miners in Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, contracted by the Atomic Energy Commission, were exposed to radioactive fallout from the decade of the 40 to the 60's. Although scientists and epidemiologists from the Commission knew that the dust in these poorly ventilated mines was contaminated with radon could easily cause fatal lung cancer, this information was never communicated to the miners, many of whom were Native Americans. As a result, many miners died prematurely of lung cancer.

In 1954, American scientists conducted research on exposure to radioactive fallout in the Marshall Islands citizens, after the Castle Bravo nuclear test. The blasts occurred in the airspace of Rongelap Atoll and residents were exposed to serious levels of radiation (above 180 rads) 236 people were exposed, some of whom developed severe disease following radiation. At least one died. The long-term effects included birth defects and thyroid problems.

The decision to detonate nuclear weapons in these particular atmospheric conditions (wind was known that the fallout would lead to the Marshall Islands), was taken by Dr Andy C. Graves, scientific director of Operation Castle.

In another incident, at the beginning of the Cold War, researchers from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia sought to determine the amount of fallout needed to make the planet uninhabitable. They considered that atmospheric nuclear testing had provided the opportunity to investigate. These tests were dispersed radioactive contamination across the entire planet, and review human remains may reveal how easily he had absorbed this pollution, and therefore that much damage was caused. Of particular interest was the presence of strontium-90 in bone. The primary objective of the research were children, as they thought they had a greater opportunity to absorb new pollutants.

As a result of this conclusion, researchers initiated a program to collect human remains around the world, with particular emphasis on children's remains. The bones were cremated and the ashes analyzed for radioisotopes. This project was kept secret, mainly because it would result a disaster in public opinion as a result, parents were not informed of what was being done with the remains of their relatives. These activities are known collectively as Project Sunshine. "

In January 1994, President Clinton commissioned an Advisory Committee, the task of investigating the allegations about the radiation experiments. In its final report (the full text can be found at the following Internet address: http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/achre/report.html ), submitted on October 3, 1995, the Committee concluded that in the early 60's it was common for physicians would lead experiments and investigations without seeking the consent of patients. Most information is known about the secret experiments of the Cold War, comes from the Research Advisory Committee by President Clinton. This report was also published in 1996 by Oxford Press, with the title "Human Radiation Experiments."

Although the Committee considered in depth experiments, there was no attempt to redress the harm inflicted on the subjects who participated in the experiments. In many cases, the names and records of the patients were not already available, so there was no way to establish how many experiments were conducted, where they took place and the government sponsored agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services, the largest government sponsor of research, has ruled since the records relating to the experiments performed decades ago.