5,000 Undergoing Radiation Tests, With Consent, for U.S.

More than 5,000 people are currently being exposed to low levels of radiation--with their permission--in government-funded medical research, the Energy Department reported Monday.

The department has been under pressure to release information about current radiation experiments after reports of Cold War-era testing in which people were unwittingly exposed to radiation.

The 41 research projects with 5,056 participants do not seek to study the effect of radiation on humans, but use radiation as a diagnostic tool, the report said.

All require the consent of the subjects and are approved and supervised by an independent Institutional Review Board.

Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, said he was reassured by the report and by the creation of a new database to allow easy public access to information on Energy Department testing. In January, Glenn’s committee asked the department to report on its testing. The committee released the report and its own summary Monday.

But Glenn said the department should do more to check on the testing being done in its name.

“I have learned from the department that for all these tests, not one investigation has been conducted in the last three years to ensure compliance,” Glenn said.

Energy Department spokesman Jeff Sherwood said the Institutional Review boards, which include consumer advocates and experts not affiliated with the research institution they oversee, closely monitor the medical testing they approve.

The 41 projects involving radiation break down into three groups:

* 31 with 3,208 subjects involve exposure to radiation in trace amounts similar to those used in the nuclear medicine tests given in hospitals.

* Seven projects with 1,228 subjects are follow-up health studies that include the use of routine diagnostic X-rays, such as chest X-rays.

* Three projects with 560 subjects involve the use of radiation in the development of new treatments for cancer.

At Brookhaven National Laboratory, for example, Energy Department scientists are developing “radiopharmaceuticals” for detecting tumors.

At the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, a department-funded project is using a radioactive isotope to develop antibodies known as “magic bullets” for detecting and treating cancer.