b'P ROVING THE P RINCIPLEthe release. Some iodine accumulatedon the pasture grass. Cows ate the Layout of first CERT experimental area.grass. Someone milked the cows.Technicians took samples of air, grass,and milk at suitably timed intervals,taking into account the eight-day half-life of the iodine. The IDO medicaldirector, Dr. George Voelz, was a pro-ject advisor and recalled some of theearly discussions.We got to thinking about it. Why dontwe take it one step further? Well get afew of us to volunteer to drink the milk,and well take the final step into thehuman. Clyde came to me to discussit. The amounts were quite small, and Ididnt see any problem. Ultimately hegot six people to volunteer, all peopleworking with him.My concern was with the handling ofthe milkbacteriological contamina -tion. [The fact was,] we werent set upas a milk supplier. He arranged to get alittle home pasteurizer. In reality, weprobably spent more time, at least as IDO-12035much time, talking about the bacteriol -the AEC felt that the contracts provided The CERT program continued untilogy as we did the radiation. insufficient liability protection to the 1977 in a series of twenty-nine experi-33government in case of a future claim. 34 ments, although only a few early onesThe proposal went to the IDO counsel. involved the human consumption ofJohn Horan recalled discussing the The experiments completed the last link milk. Most of the tests aimed to discov-implications of the Nuremberg Code. in the iodine chain, imitating an acci- er how seasonal conditions or differentNazi doctors had been convicted for dental release. At first, the IDO volun- grasses affected the behavior of thecrimes against humanity for human teers simply sat in the field during the iodine. Taken as a whole, they demon-experimentation. In 1946 a code of con- release and breathed. In later tests, after strated that iodine uptake was a func-duct had been developed to guide the cows had eaten contaminated grass, tion of vegetation type, climate, and thehuman medical studies involving an the people drank small quantities of time of year. The measurements made itelement of risk. The key tenet was that milk. Subsequent counts, made possible possible to predict from known releasesvoluntary consent is essential. An because highly sensitive equipment was how much iodine would make itapproval and a sample consent form available to detect the small traces, through the consumption chain tocame from AEC Headquarters. It identified how much iodine went to the human bodies.excluded Phillips or other contractor thyroid and how much was excreted. 35employees from participating because168'