Witness to Justice; U.S. owes 'human guinea pigs' compensation

While this story is horrible in and of itself, documents declassified during the Clinton administration appear to point to the decision by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to make the Marshall Islanders into human guinea pigs. It appears that there was an AEC project, named Project 4.1, whose purp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Philadelphia tribune (1884) Vol. 121; no. 34
Main Author Jackson, Bernice Powell
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia, Pa Philadelphia Tribune 15.03.2005
Subjects
Civil rights
Environment
Environmental impact
Ethics
Federal government
Government
Health
Human rights
Preventive medicine
Radioactive wastes
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:While this story is horrible in and of itself, documents declassified during the Clinton administration appear to point to the decision by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to make the Marshall Islanders into human guinea pigs. It appears that there was an AEC project, named Project 4.1, whose purpose was to study the effects of radioactive fallout on human beings. Despite its public statements otherwise, it seems that the AEC decided three days after the Bravo test to make the Marshall Islanders into research subjects. Shortly after the beginning of this year, however, the Bush administration rejected the petition for changed circumstances, telling the U.S. Congress that it should not award further compensation to the Marshall Islands. The irony, of course, is that the U.S. is telling other governments that they must take full responsibility for their actions, when we refuse to take responsibility for ours. To make whole the people of the Marshall Islands - to treat their illnesses and clean up their islands - would take only a few days of the funds we are spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.
ISSN:0746-956X