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Remedies for Human Subjects of Cold War Research: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Anna Mastroianni  and
Jeffrey Kahn
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Extract

At a White House ceremony in October 1995, the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments presented its Final Report to President Bill Clinton. The 925-page report and the over 2,000 pages of supplemental volumes summarized eighteen months of investigative research, debate, and deliberation on historical and contemporary issues in human subjects research. The Advisory Committee's efforts were aided by unprecedented support from the highest levels of the executive branch, including the heads of eight cabinet-level agencies and their departments' resources. The presidentially appointed committee and its staff delved into long-forgotten Cold Warera government archives, listened to hours of public testimony, interviewed key players in the development of medical therapies and nuclear weapons, and studied ethical issues arising in today's research.

In this article we focus on a critical, but narrowly defined, part of the Advisory Committee's Final Report: remedying harms or wrongs to subjects of human radiation experiments conducted or sponsored by the U.S. government between 1944 and 1974.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , Summer 1996 , pp. 118 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1996

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References

The Advisory Committee members were: Faden, Ruth Ph.D., M.P.H., Chair Feinberg, Kenneth, J.D. Glatstein, Eli, M.D. Katz, Jay, M.D. King, Patricia, J.D. Lederer, Susan, Ph.D. Macklin, Ruth, Ph.D. Norris, Lois Oleinick, Nancy, Ph.D. Royal, Henry, M.D. Russell, Philip, M.D. Stevenson, Mary Ann, M.D., Ph.D. Thomas, Duncan Ph.D.; and Tuckson, Reed M.D. The staff effort was directed by the team of: Daniel Gunman, J.D., Executive Director Kahn, Jeffrey Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Director; and Anna Mastroianni, J.D. Associate DirectorGoogle Scholar
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