Fernald Radiation Studies

In the early 1950's Professor of nutrition Robert S Harris conducted studies on 125 mentally retarded patients at the Fernand State School in Waltham, Mass. He was studying the absorption of calcium and iron in patients diets by feeding them milk and cereal that contained radio active tracers.
These experiments were first made public in 1993 and were rigorously investigated by the Task Force on Human Research. Experts concluded that the participants were not subjected to dangerous levels of radiation. The nutrition research used less than one billionth of an ounce of radioactive material, these levels are between 30%-99% lower than todays standards.
President Charles Vest and David Lister declared that the study was performed without informed consent, which meant many students and there parents were not aware of these experiments. They acknowledged the ethical implications of the study and offered an apology. Lister said, "I was sorry to hear that at least some of the young people who participated in this research and their parents apparently were unaware that the study involved radioactive tracers." They also offered that the study reached it's goal in enhancing the understanding of nutritional processes in young adults.
At a news conference on May 9, 1994 the Task Force on Human Research announced that subjects in the radiation study were not exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.

Reflection:
This study does not follow some very important parts of the Nuremberg Code one of which is the first principle regarding consent. The participants involved were not consenting nor could they technically consent given their psychological state. The first step researchers should have taken was to get consent from parents or guardians. This experiment did have potential to benefit society although the information could have been obtained by other means. The third principle states that human experimentation should be based on animal research, and knowledge of the natural course of events disease or problems. At this time in history I am fairly sure that scientists were aware of the effects of exposure to radiation, therefore they shouldn't have been taking the chance. The same goes for the fourth and fifth principle, they were exposing non consenting children to something that could be questionably harmful. It's very doubtful that the same results couldn't be gotten somewhere else. "The degree of risk should never exceed the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved." I thought this was an interesting statement because the degree of risk is an evolving concept what is dangerous to one, may not be at all to another. The seventh concept wasn't even remotely met. Luckily, qualified personal were conducting the experiment, however the judgment exercised is questionable. The subjects had no chance of withdrawing on their own will because they weren't even aware they were in a study. The final principle is questionable, no one can know for sure what the investigators were thinking. One would hope that the researchers would be willing and even happy to stop a study that was hurting someone but thats not always the case.
Overall, I think its clear that the Fernald Radiation Studies were unethical in general, and absolute if comparing to the Nuremberg Code.



Reference
By Abhilash R. Vaishnav
Staff Reporter

Volume 114 >> Issue 28 : Wednesday, June 22, 1994
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