the scandal first came to public attention in a newsletter called "science trends" in 1976 and in "mother jones" magazine in 1981. "mother jones" reporter howard rosenburg used the freedom of information act to gather hundreds of documents to investigate total radiation studies which were done at the oak ridge institute for nuclear studies (now the oak ridge institute for science and education). the "mother jones" article triggered a hearing before the subcommittee on investigations and oversight of the house science and technology committee. congressman al gore of tennessee chaired the hearing. gore's subcommittee report stated that the radiation experiments were "satisfactory, but not perfect."