VANDERBILT NUTRITION STUDY
820 pregnant white women were, from 1945 to 1947, part of a large-scale experiment at Vanderbilt University, funded by the United States Public Health Service and in part by the Rockefeller Foundation. These women were not informed they were part of an experiment at all. They were given “vitamin drinks” which they were told would improve the health of their babies. Unbeknownst to them, these drinks were laced with trace amounts of radioactive iron, Fe-59.
The researchers were hoping to the rate at which iron was absorbed by the placenta and iron absorption during pregnancy in general – at the time, radioactive iron had been used as a tracing tool in the past several times and was not believed to cause any health complications. Today, experts are all too familiar with the harmful effects of radioactive substances on the body.
The results of this study were at least seven infant fatalities as a result of cancers and leukemia, as well as negative effects ranging from rashes to cancer in the pregnant women themselves. It is evident that the cause was the radioactive iron, due to the fact that a control group of similar size produced no ill effects. A follow-up study was conducted in the 1960s and learned of the long-term outcomes, including the death of one 11-year old daughter of Emma Craft, a woman who was unwittingly made to be part of this study. Craft’s daughter died of cancer in 1959.
Despite the follow-up study, the women were still not informed of why they were being questioned or given any details on the study at all.
The Vanderbilt study only came to light much later, in the early 1990s. When it did, the university was sued by three women, including Craft. Over the course of the court case, Vanderbilt continued to deny that the experiment caused any deaths or injuries. The lawsuit, which concluded in 1998 after 4 years, resulted in Vanderbilt University being forced to pay $9.1 million in damages. The Rockefeller Foundation was also ordered to pay $900,000 in damages.
Sources:
“1945–1947: Vanderbilt ‘Nutrition Study’ Exposed 820 Pregnant Women to Radioactive Iron.” Alliance for Human Research Protection, 26 Mar. 2015, ahrp.org/1945-1947-vanderbilt-university-nutrition-study-exposed-820-pregnant-women-to-tracer-doses-of-radioactive-iron/.
“Tag: Vanderbilt ‘Nutrition Study.’” The Business Globalist, 1 Jan. 2018, www.tbglobalist.com/tag/vanderbilt-nutrition-study/.
“Federal Court Approves Settlement in Nutrition Study Suit.” Vanderbilt University Daily Register, news.vanderbilt.edu/archived-news/register/articles/index-id=3503.html.
"Vanderbilt Sued on Radiation." New York Times (1923-Current file), Feb 02, 1994, pp. 1. ProQuest, https://libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/docview/109289709?accountid=7122.