The Plutonium Files: America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War

I remember when this book came out. It was in the 1990s and President Clinton had just appointed Secretary Hazel O'Leary as Secretary of Energy. (DOE) . Eileen Welsome, being the considerate journalist contacted O'Leary's office and advised them of what was to be published in her book. It shocked O'Leary to find out that children had been fed oatmeal laced with radioactive elements. It dismayed her to find out that impoverished women seeking prenatal care were given vitamins that would further the experiments of doctors seeking to know what this stuff would do to people. No one was asked for their permission. Children with sinus problems had nasal injections that were supposed to "cure" their ills... it caused future injury...Why should I tell you the story? Read for yourself the shocking data that Eileen worked years to bring to light. Her documentation is awesome. Her research is air tight. If you're looking for the style of a real journalist, look no further. If you want history, unvarnished, you have found it. I purchased a copy from Amazon here to give to another colleague who had a friend who had been injected with the nasal radiation as a child. It will be both horrifying to find out what had happened to her, but also a relief to find out that she's not all alone.In fact, if you read between the lines... or just read the research documentation at the back, you'll find out that we're all part of the Files... we're all a case study in exposure. Speaking of case studies... here's another primer in your learning about 20th Century and it's "cold" war...  Under the Cloud: The Decades of Nuclear Testing  Read Richard Miller's account and you'll be well rounded with these two books under your belt. Not enough? Need more atomic history about US? Try this one... Some places won't seem to be so friendly to live in after it:  The Day We Bombed Utah  . . . Here's one more:  We Almost Lost Detroit .... Well, I think that's enough for today. Class dismissed.

This book looks back at the history of human radiation experiments that began in the United States during the Manhattan Project. Under the guise of new treatment for cancer and other maladies, scientists and some medical doctors performed heinous experiments on poor, often uninsured and sometimes misdiagnosed patients to " gain information" about the effects of radiation.Members of the armed forces were also subjected to various forms of radiation via fall out from the testing of bombs, pilots and their crews were also exposed to high doses of radiation while collecting samples of the mushroom clouds.Then there were experiments performed on prisoners, children living in institutions, and pregnant moms and unborn children. All of these experiments were conducted without offering enough information for the human "guinea pigs" to make an informed consent. Some were never even told about their exposure.The book also covers Hazel O'Leary's attempt to pull back the curtains on this matter. The author does her best to make the science and jargon of radio-isotopes understandable for those of us who have not studied radiation biology. I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious about the Manhattan Project and it's legacy.

I've worked in the field of nuclear medicine for 35 years. This book is a strong and what I believe accurate account of the time period of WWII discoveries and usage of nuclear warfare at its early stages. Difficult to believe the country used its citizens as experimental subjects but its not the first nor last time.

So many people, who never had a clue, were affected by the Cold War and the testing of Nukes. The Plutonium Files gives an accounting of medical tests that were done on unsuspecting people. It also elaborates on how all the bomb testing afflicted the health (and future health) of millions of people all over the United States (and beyond). After reading this book, I am sure that many people have suffered illnesses (cancers and others) that were caused by the nuclear bomb testing and they have no idea that this was the case.The book presents very interesting information and stories about people who were directly used in experiments (including orphans, prisoners, pregnant women and poor people with medical needs) . It is interesting reading, although some of it reads like a text book.

This is a very compelling and complete book regarding some of the secret experiments that went on during the early days of the atomic age. Unconscionable testing on patients, healthy subjects, the poor, military pilots, sailors, soldiers, healthy subjects, pregnant women, animals, children, orphans, mentally incapacitated, local residents, prisoners, cancer patients and patients suffering from various diseases, without their consent and some without their knowledge. Scientists and physicians ignored the moral imperatives of the Nuremberg code and the ethical implications of their actions. In fact, in some ways, all of us living on the planet during the nuclear environmental tests and still today...we may all be paying the price of radiation that has swept the globe and still exists today. Scientists playing god, risking all our futures for their own selfish interests in the ploy of knowledge and national security.

I'm a nut for all things nuclear but i worked in the industry for 20 years and I first caught this story on BBC radio 4 a long time ago and it took some time finding this book but it was well worth the hunt, this book show you how governments sometimes treat their own people but at least the victims had a voice in the end, its a frightening and riveting read if your a nuclear anorak like me.

Excellent account of a sobering period in America's history. Ms Welsome tells her story in an engaging manner, as befits a journalist and her later Pulitzer Prize was well-deserved.

Well, I haven't finished reading of this book (rather thick), but always I can't wait I will be able read more and more lines of the book! Really excellent work containing a lot of interesting information. Even though I'm not native English reader (I'm a Czech, by the way)I found it very easy to read and understand. Great job! Many thanks Ms. Eileen Welsome and others who enabled me to buy this fantastic book.

Cette ouvrage est devenu très rare et très cher bien que la journaliste d'investigation américaine qui l'a écrit ai décroché le prix Pulitzer : le livre n'a jamais été réédité et n'est jamais sortie en livre de poche. Je ne serais pas étonné que le gouvernement des Etats-Unis ait exercé des pressions pour le faire disparaitre car sincèrement les expérimentations sur l'homme par injection de plutonium sont glaçantes : 18 cobayes humains ont servi à mesurer la radiotoxicité du plutonium, y compris un nourrisson de quatre mois qui décède en deux mois. Les expériences ont eut lieu de 1945 à 1947 et ont été accomplies par des médecins de la division de radioprotection du Laboratoire de Métallurgie de Chicago (METLAB). Rétrospectivement on frémi à l'idée de ces tueurs en blouses blanches qui n'ont rien à envier aux médecins nazis des camps de la mort. Le premier patient est un ouvrier afro-américain travaillant pour un sous-traitant d'une entreprise ayant travaillé à la construction du gigantesque complexe de Hanford et qui tombe sur les brutes suite à un accident de la route...Dans leurs notes les médecins déshumanisent ce patient en le traitant "de nègre souffrant de fractures multiples". L'ouvrage a été rendu possible par des déclassifications ordonnées par William Clinton en 1994 et la documentation a été exploitée par une commission ad hoc qui a conduit un travail remarquable. Toutefois, force est de reconnaître, que dans tous les travaux publiés sur le projet Manhattan postérieurement à cette révélation ignoble, aucun ouvrage ne reprend cette histoire monstrueuse : dans un pays composé à 80% de rednecks il n'est pas surprenant que le projet MED véritable icone américaine soit tenu à l'écart de sa face ténébreuse : si vous avez l'occasion lisez ce livre qui vous prendra aux tripes et qui est remarquablement écrit et documenté. En bref un voyage au cœur des ténèbres….

Very informative and a good quality book.