Document Details

(78 K)

VISIT WITH J W HOWLAND, CHAPEL HILL HOLIDAY INN, APRIL 24, 1974

HREX; CONSENT ISSUES; ETHICS; HUMANS; INTERVIEWS; PATIENTS; PLUTONIUM; PLUTONIUM INJECTION EXPERIMENT; WRITTEN COMMAND

Location - DOE/NNSA NUCLEAR TESTING ARCHIVE Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - NTA@NV.DOE.GOV

LEGAL DOCUMENT

1974 Apr 24

Never classified

0002

NV0700004

1994 Aug 27

2017 Dec 21

THIS TWO PAGE DOCUMENT IS A TYPEWRITTEN DRAFT OF W H WEYSEN'S NOTES OF AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. JOE W. HOWLAND, CHAPEL HILL HOLIDAY INN, APRIL 14, 1974. DR. HOWLAND WAS INITIALLY STATIONED AT THE MANHATTAN ENGINEERING DISTRICT IN NEW YORK. THERE HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE ASPECTS OF, CHIEFLY, THE PRODUCTION FACILITIES. HE WAS THEN TRANSFERRED TO OAK RIDGE. AFTER THAT HE WAS INVOLVED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE DIVISION OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE OF THE NEWLY FORMED AEC. SOMETIME LATER HE WAS IN CHARGE OF THE "METABOLIC UNIT" AT ROCHESTER. DETAILS OF THE TIMING OF THESE ASSIGNMENTS ARE VAGUE IN THE NOTES. THE BULK OF THIS DOCUMENT INVOLVES DISCUSSION OF A PLUTONIUM EXPERIMENT AT OAK RIDGE. WHILE DR. HOWLAND WAS THERE, HE WAS AWARE OF THE NEED FOR INFORMATION ON THE BEHAVIOR OF PLUTONIUM IN HUMANS. AN EXPERIMENT INVOLVING THE INJECTION OF PLUTONIUM HAD BEEN DESIGNED, PROBABLY BY THE OAK RIDGE GROUP, AND DR. HOWLAND MAY HAVE HAD SOME INPUT. IN APRIL 1945, A PATIENT WITH MULTIPLE FRACTURES RESULTING FROM AN AUTO ACCIDENT WAS ADMITTED TO THE OAK RIDGE HOSPITAL. DR. HYMER FRIEDELL CONSIDERED THE PATIENT TO BE A SUITABLE CANDIDATE FOR THE PLUTONIUM EXPERIMENT WHILE DR. HOWLAND DISAGREED. DR. HOWLAND DID END UP GIVING THE INJECTION, BUT ONLY AFTER HE RECEIVED A "WRITTEN MILITARY FORM" FROM DR. FRIEDELL ORDERING HIM TO INJECT THE PATIENT. WHILE THE PATIENT WAS HOSPITALIZED, DR. HOWLAND WAS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE FOLLOW-UP. THE PATIENT RECOVERED, MOVED TO ATLANTA, AND WAS LOST TO FURTHER FOLLOW-UP. EMPHATICALLY DR. HOWLAND STATED THAT THE PATIENT GAVE NO CONSENT AT ANY TIME. NOR WERE THERE ANY RELATIVES NEARBY WHO COULD HAVE GIVEN CONSENT ON THE PATIENT'S BEHALF. WHILE DR. HOWLAND WAS IN CHARGE OF THE METABOLIC WARD AT ROCHESTER, HE KNEW OF NO FOLLOW-UP OF PATIENTS INJECTED WITH PLUTONIUM. IN DISCUSSING DR. BASSETT'S EARLY WORK, DR. HOWLAND, BASED ON HIS KNOWLEDGE OF HIM AS A PERSON, CONCLUDED THAT IT WAS "ENTIRELY CONCEIVABLE THAT DR. BASSETT WOULD OBTAIN CONSENT FROM THE PATIENT."