in november 1986, a report by the staff of massachusetts congressman ed markey was released, but received only cursory media coverage. entitled "american nuclear guinea pigs: three decades of radiation experiments on u.s. citizens", the report stated that there had been 31 human radiation experiments involving nearly 700 people. markey urged the department of energy to make every effort to find the experimental subjects and compensate them for damages, which did not occur. doe officials knew who had conducted the experiments, and the names of some of the subjects. after the report was released, president ronald reagan and vice-president george h. w. bush resisted opening investigations of the radiation experiments.