Final report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments.

  • United States. Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments.
Date:
1996
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Final report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that Behrens, along with Warren and other bio- medical experts, was already engaged in vigor- ous but secret discussions of the ethics underly- ing human radiation experiments. At the heart of these discussions lay difficult choices at the intersection of geopolitics, science, and medicine that would have a fundamental impact on the federal government’s relationship with the American people. This chapter provides a brief survey of the development of radiation research and the changing roles of the biomedical researcher, from the discovery of x rays by a single individual to the complex world of government-sponsored human radiation experimentation. Finally, at the end of this chapter, an aid to the reader titled “The Basics of Radiation Science” provides in- formation needed to understand technical con- cepts in this report. BEFORE THE ATOMIC AGE: “SHADOW PICTURES,” RADIOISOTOPES, AND THE BEGINNINGS OF HUMAN RADIATION EXPERIMENTATION Radiation has existed in nature from the origins of the universe, but was unknown to man until a century ago. Its discovery came by accident. On a Friday evening, November 8, 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen was study- ing the nature of electrical currents by using a cathode ray tube, a common piece of scientific equipment. When he turned the tube on, he noticed to his surprise that a glowing spot ap- peared on a black paper screen coated with fluo- rescent material that was across the room. In- trigued, he soon determined that invisible but highly penetrating rays were being produced at one end of the cathode ray tube. The rays could expose photographic plates, leaving shadows of dense objects, such as bone. After about six weeks of experimenting with his discovery, which he called x rays, Roentgen sent a summary and several “shadow pictures” toa local scientific society. The society published the report in its regular journal and wisely printed extra copies. News spread rapidly; Roentgen sent copies to physicists throughout Europe. One Berlin physicist “could not help thinking that I was reading a fairy tale. . . only the actual photograph proved to everyone that this was a fact.”4 , Physicians immediately recognized these rays as a new tool for diagnosis, a window into the interior of the body. The useless left arm of Ger- man Emperor Wilhelm II was x-rayed to reveal the cause of his disability, while Queen Amelia of Portugal used x rays of several of her court ladies to vividly display the dangers of “tight- lacing.”°? Physicians began to use x rays routinely for examining fractures and locating foreign ob- jects, such as needles swallowed by children or bullets shot into adults.° During World War I, more than 1.1 million wounded soldiers were treated with the help of diagnostic x rays.” In 1896, Roentgen’s insight led to the dis- covery of natural radioactivity. Henri Becquerel, who had been studying phosphorescence, dis- covered that shadow pictures were also created when wrapped photographic plates were exposed to crystals partly composed of uranium. Could this radioactive property be concentrated fur- ther by extracting and purifying some as-yet- unknown component of the uranium crystals? Marie and Pierre Curie began laborious chemi- cal analyses that led to the isolation of the ele- ment polonium, named after Marie’s native Poland.® Continuing their work, they isolated the element radium. To describe these elements’ emission of energy, they coined the word radio- activity.? As with x rays, popular hopes and fears for natural radioactivity far exceeded the actual ap- plications. One 1905 headline captures it all: “Radium, as a Substitute for Gas, Electricity, and as a Positive Cure for Every Disease.”!° Fol- lowing initial enthusiasm that radiation could, by destroying tumors, provide a miracle cure for cancer, the reappearance of irradiated tumors led to discouragement. Despite distressing setbacks, research into the medical uses of radiation per- sisted. In the 1920s French researchers, perform- ing experiments on animals, discovered that radiation treatments administered in a series of fractionated doses, instead of a single massive dose, could eliminate tumors without causing permanent damage. With the new method of treatment, doctors began to report impressive