Department of Energy

In 59 radiation studies, most of them dating to the 1950s or 1960s, the federal government examined the effects of radiation, such as nuclear fallout, on more than 15,000 human subjects. Often, these studies involved corpses or body parts for which consent was not given by family members. A few of the studies are still ongoing. The largest study obtained nearly 9,000 human bone samples to determine the accumulation of radioactive elements in humans as a result of nuclear fallout. For at least a few of the studies, there is little verifiable evidence that the subjects participated with knowledge of the experiments or their risk. In one experiment, persons with short life expectancies were injected with plutonium to study its effects on the body. In another study, stillborn babies were cremated to determine the content, in their ashes, of strontium that resulted from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing.

GAO found that: (1) 59 tissue analysis studies have been performed by DOE and its predecessor agencies; (2) the majority of the studies were conducted and terminated in the 1950s and 1960s and involved more than 15,000 subjects; (3) DOE had no information on the informed consent practices it followed for the studies, since DOE and the predecessor agencies used different policies at different times; and (4) there was little verifiable evidence that the subjects participated with knowledge of the experiment or its risk.