State Officials Locate Radiation Test Subjects

Using the detective work of the Boston Police Department, state officials have located 73 of the 74 former residents of the Fernald State School who were used in radiation experiments during the 1940s and 1950s.

The 55 test subjects who are still alive were sent letters from Peter O'Meara, the former director of the school for mentally retarded children, informing them of the test and apologizing for "this unfortunate situation."

The residents of the Waltham school were unwitting participants in the experiments, some of which were conducted by a Harvard Medical School faculty member, Clemens E. Benda, as well as scientists from MIT.

The state Department of Mental Retardation (DMR) is offering counseling and medical exam assistance for the subjects, many of whom have questions about the tests.

"The DMR feels an obligation to notify every individual possible of their involvement," said Philip Campbell, the agency's commissioner.

According to state officials, there is no evidence that the low-radiation doses harmed the subjects, part of the so-called Fernald Science Club. The students were administered the doses in their breakfast cereal, among other methods.

Only one of the 18 deceased subjects died of cancer--giving the group a lower cancer death rate than the general public, the Boston Globe reported Friday.

The question being debated is whether the subjects should be financially compensated for participating in what a state task force called a violation of human rights.

A presidential commission is investigating the Fernald research, along with 4,000 other government sanctioned experiments. The panel is expected to issue a report in September.

Anthony Roisman, a lawyer with the Human Experiment Litigation Project, said the state should study the health problems of the survivors to see if there were any negative effects.

Moreover, he said, the subjects deserve compensation.

"This isn't NBA basketball: no harm, no foul," he told The Globe. "This is unethical conduct. Experimenting on a bunch of kids and then letting the researchers get away because they got lucky" and no one was hurt "is really wrong."

Detectives from the Boston Police Department's cold case squad helped find the former residents. Most of the former subjects were in Massachusetts, although some were as far away as Florida and Illinois.

Records kept by Harvard and MIT often offered little more than the subject's names.

DMR officials said many of the former Fernaldresident were shocked to learn of the period,between 1946 and 1956, the families of thechildren were never informed about the radiationexperiments.

The children were told that they would be givenparties and trips to the Red Sox if theyparticipated in the "science club."

This story was compiled with AssociatedPress wire dispatches.

DMR officials said many of the former Fernaldresident were shocked to learn of the period,between 1946 and 1956, the families of thechildren were never informed about the radiationexperiments.

The children were told that they would be givenparties and trips to the Red Sox if theyparticipated in the "science club."

This story was compiled with AssociatedPress wire dispatches.