Patients were subjected to huge does of radiation to stimulate military exposure conditions.
Black patients were exposed to high amounts of radiation causing fainting and sickness.
Patients were subjected to huge does of radiation to stimulate military exposure conditions.
TOTAL BODY IRRADIATION
Gloria Nelson, a granddaughter of Amelia Jackson, described how she was exposed to about 100 rads of whole-body radiation, which is equivalent to 7,500 chest X rays. Amelia suffered from vomiting and became permanently disabled.
The Cincinnati radiation experiments took place between 1961-1971 in the Cincinnati General Hospital. Total body irradiation was used by Dr. Saenger to stimulate the effects of nuclear war on combat soldiers. Individuals were placed in a sitting position with legs raised and their heads tilted slightly forward. The purpose of this position was to mimic that of a soldier in a protective stance. Huge doses of radiation were fired unidirectionally to stimulate military exposure conditions. The radiation side effects were observed and recorded without inference. The goal of the experiment was to increase the doses from 200 rad to 600 rad overtime in order to better understand the effects for military planning and triage.
Dr. Eugene L. Saenger experimented on at least 90 individuals (majority Black) to test the effect of total body and partial body irradiation tests. 62 percent of the individuals were black and had at least five years of formal education. The Defense Atomic Support Agency funded the trials.
The funding provided a way to test and understand how radiation affects soldiers in war. Individuals in the experiment did not give any consent or were given any incentives to be part of the research. Individuals exposed to the high amounts of radiation experienced many symptoms, which included nausea, vomiting, and mental impairment.
In 1993, families of the patients filled a lawsuit against the research team. Eventually, Cincinnati university settled the case by providing 4,000,000 dollars to the patient's families.
Sources
Egilman, David, Wes Wallace, Cassandra Stubbs, and Fernando Mora‐Corrasco. “A Little Too Much of the Buchenwald Touch? Military Radiation Research at the University of Cincinnati, 1960–1972.” Accountability in Research 6, no. 1-2 (1998): 63–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989629808573921.
Thomas, Marshall. Dr. Eugene Saenger Defended His Radiation Experiments That Killed Many Poor African-Americans. 1994. History Collection . https://historycollection.co/16-of-the-worst-experiments-the-government-performed-on-humans/16/.
Carolyn Szetela. (1999) Toward increased public representation on bioethics committees: Lessons from Judging the cold war human radiation experiments. Accountability in Research 6:3, pages 183-203. https://utsa.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01UTXSANT_INST/10nsatv/informaworl d_s10_1080_08989629808573921