8. FEDERAL AGENCIES CONDUCTED RADIATION TESTS ON FOR 30 YEARS
Human experimentation crimes comparable to those we censured the
Nazis and Japanese for committing during World War II, were
committed in the United States by official federal agencies
during peace time. And yet, when the government confessed its
crimes last year, the press was not very interested. From the
mid-1940's until the 1970's, Federal agencies conducted the most
heinous radiation exposure experiments on hundreds of human
beings around the country. Some were reportedly volunteers but
for others there is no record of informed consent. The
extraordinary report was released by the House Energy and
Commerce Subcommittee on Friday, October 24, 1986. It documented
how the Atomic Energy Commission and its successor, the Energy
Research and Development Authority, both forerunners of the
Department of Energy, financed studies involving researchers
from government laboratories and such private institutions as
the Sloan-Bettering Institute for Cancer