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INTERVIEW OF DR A M BRUES BY MARKS AND MIAZGA AT 1:00 PM 04/15/74

HREX; ETHICS; EXHUMATIONS; HUMANS; INTERVIEWS; MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE; PLUTONIUM; PLUTONIUM INJECTION EXPERIMENT; RADIOBIOLOGY

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

EMPLOYEE RECORD

1974 Mar 05

Never classified

0003

NV0700007

1994 Aug 27

2012 May 14

THESE THREE PAGES OF TYPEWRITTEN MATERIAL, SUPPLEMENTED WITH EDITING MARKS, ARE THE NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR AND MR. MIAZGA'S INTERVIEWS WITH DR. AUSTIN M. BRUES, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR HUMAN RADIOBIOLOGY (CHR) (OF ARGONNE NATIONAL LAB). HE HAD BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE METALLURGICAL LABORATORY IN CHICAGO DURING THE 1945-47 PERIOD. DR. BRUES OUTLINED THE ORGANIZATION AND STAFFING OF METALLURGICAL LABORATORY'S HEALTH DIVISION AND MEDICAL DIVISION DURING THE EARLY YEARS. HE MENTIONED NAMES OF INDIVIDUALS, ROLES AND CURRENT WHEREABOUTS. DR. BRUES SUGGESTED THREE INDIVIDUALS WHO WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT ALL THE ACTIVITIES GOING ON AT THE VARIOUS FACILITIES DOING PLUTONIUM STUDIES. THEY WERE 1) DR. STAFFORD A WARREN, CHIEF OF THE MEDICAL DIVISION OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT, 2) DR. HYMER FRIEDELL, WARREN'S DEPUTY, AND 3) DR. JOSEPH W. HOWLAND, AN OFFICER SUBORDINATE TO FRIEDELL. DR. BRUES SAID HE DID NOT KNOW OF THE PLUTONIUM INJECTIONS OR THE EARLY FOLLOW-UP STUDIES AT THE TIME THEY WERE CONDUCTED. SUBSEQUENTLY HE HEARD RUMORS OF THE CHICAGO AND THE CALIFORNIA STUDIES. HE DID NOT LEARN OF THE SURVIVORS UNTIL HE JOINED THE STAFF OF CHR. AFTER JOINING CHR IN JULY OF 1971, BRUES WAS INSTRUCTED TO CONTACT A PHYSICIAN IN TEXAS TO HAVE PATIENT CAL-3 BROUGHT TO ROCHESTER. THERE WAS NO EXPLICIT STATEMENT ABOUT RADIOACTIVITY IN THE INITIAL OR FOLLOW-UP LETTER TO THE PHYSICIAN. INSTEAD THE REASON FOR THE INTEREST OF CHR IN THE PATIENT WAS HIS RECOVERY FROM OSTEOGENIC SARCOMA. BRUES STATED THAT HE DID SOME "SOUL SEARCHING" IN THE COURSE OF CORRESPONDING WITH CAL-3'S PHYSICIAN. THE INTERVIEWERS NOTICED SOME AMBIGUITY AS HE DISCUSSED THE MATTER WITH THEM. BRUES STATED THAT HE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ROCHESTER PATIENTS NOR WAS HE INVOLVED WITH THE EXHUMATIONS.