Health Physicist Constantine J. Maletskos, Ph.D.

¹Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

²In the early '30s at MIT, Evans investigated the bioeffects of radium on dial painters in New Jersey and Connecticut. By 1941, Evans with others had set the first standards for a tolerance level for radium in the human body. The first "tolerance level" for radium was set at 0.1 microgram body burden: Evans judged that there would be no bone cancers below 0.1 microgram 226Ra in the skeleton. Later he served on the AEC's Committee on Isotope Distribution. At a 1967 symposium, he proposed that the AEC establish a National Center for Human Radiobiology so the AEC could follow up and combine all the radium cases being studied at MIT, Argonne National Laboratory, and elsewhere. On September 1, 1969, the center opened at Argonne, headed by Robert E. Rowland; Evans maintained a satellite office at MIT. In the early 1990s, Evans's pioneering basic research earned him the Department of Energy's Fermi Award.

³M. Stanley Livingston, Ph.D. (born 1905), a physicist and research associate at the University of California, Berkeley (1931–34). Livingston later served as a professor of physics at MIT (1938–70). He figured prominently in the design of high-energy particle accelerators.

⁴U.S. physicist, 1901–58; a pioneer in nuclear physics who built and operated (with M. Stanley Livingston and Milton White) the first cyclotron in 1930 on the Berkeley campus of the University of California; established the University of California Radiation Laboratory in 1936 and served as its director until his death. His ingenuity and drive made the Berkeley-based Radiation Laboratory a center of nuclear physics in the United States.

⁵iron-55 and iron-59

⁶iodine-131

⁷See OT-46, "Early Studies of Iron Metabolism in Red Blood Cells Using Iron-55 and Iron-59," in Human Radiation Experiments Associated with the U.S. Department of Energy and Its Predecessors (213 pages), DOE/EH-0491, July 1995 (hereafter called the Experiment List). Ref: W.C. Peacock, R.D. Evans, et al.; "The Use of Two Radioactive Isotopes of Iron in Tracer Studies of Erythrocytes"; Journal of Clinical Investigation 25(4):605–15; 1946.

⁸the calculation of absorbed dose, using data from bioassay and other radiation measurements

⁹an instrument that counts the number of radioactive decays per minute, used in this application to quantify the x-ray exposure rate

¹⁰a radioactive, luminous white, metallic element that occurs in very small quantities in combination with minerals. Radium emits alpha particles and gamma rays to form radon gas. Radium has been used in luminous surface materials, such as the numbers on watch faces, and used in treating cancer.

¹¹the appendages of a neuron that transmit impulses away from the cell body

¹²equipment used to count the rate of radiation emissions from radionuclides inside a subject's body, using radiation detection instruments (or, later, a whole-body counter)

¹³the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor agency to the U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); established January 1, 1947

¹⁴Established by an executive order June 28, 1941—six days after German troops invaded the Soviet Union. The OSRD's Director reported directly to the President and could invoke the prestige of the White House when dealing with other Federal agencies.

¹⁵Bush, president of the Carnegie Foundation, acted as a point man in persuading the Roosevelt administration to set up a national science organization, the National Defense Research Committee, which he went on to head.

¹⁶Radar—Radio detecting and ranging—was a key development that allowed the Allies to detect and track hostile airplanes by measuring the direction of reflected radio waves and timing their return. Its development and use remained highly classified until after the war.

¹⁷the U.S. Government's secret project, launched December 28, 1942 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Manhattan Engineer District, to develop the atomic bomb

¹⁸Sanford Brown, Ph.D., professor of physics at MIT in the field of plasma physics, retired from MIT, now deceased

¹⁹a portable instrument for detecting ionizing radiation and measuring dose rate

²⁰the rate at which chemical processes take place in the body

²¹an academic department at MIT or Harvard

²²Phytates are biomolecular salts or esters of phytic acid, C₆H₆(OPO₃H₂)₆, obtained from plant seeds or tubers. They bind to certain alkaline earth materials, such as calcium. This binding inhibits gastrointestinal absorption of the materials so that they are excreted without being taken up into blood and utilized nutritionally.

²³the ratio of the volume of red blood cells to a given volume of blood so centrifuged, expressed as a percentage

²⁴the fluid part of blood, as distinguished from the cellular components

²⁵an instrument that measures luminous intensity or brightness, luminous flux, light distribution, color, etc., usually by comparing the light emitted by two sources, one source having certain specified standard characteristics

²⁶Radioactive "tags" are applied to biomolecules to study a biological, chemical, or physical system.

²⁷See OT-57, "Red Blood-Cell Volumes and Hematocrit in Normal Pregnancy Using Iron-55," in the Experiment List, which cites the following two references: W.L. Caton, C.C. Roby, D.E. Reid, and J.G. Gibson II, "Plasma Volume and Extravascular Fluid Volume During Pregnancy and the Puerperium," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 57:471–481, 1949; and W.L. Caton et al., "The Circulating Red Cell Volume and Body Hematocrit in Normal Pregnancy and the Puerperium," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 61(6):1207–1217, 1951.

²⁸A millirem is one-thousandth of a rem. A rem is a unit of radiation dose equivalent, or "rads times the quality factor, Q." The limits for occupational exposure of workers to radiation range from 2 to 5 rem per year for most countries.

²⁹electrons or positrons emitted from an atomic nucleus in radioactive decay. Unlike iron-55, iron-59 emits beta and gamma radiation.

³⁰The Roentgen was extended to the new concept of REP (Roentgen Equivalent Physical), a measure of absorbed dose to tissue after exposure to an external source of x- or gamma rays; it is now called the "rad" or "gray."

³¹the amount of radiation exposure in air required to produce one electrostatic unit of charge of either sign per cubic centimeter of air

³²American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 61(6):1207–1217; 1951. See OT-57 in the Experiment List.

³³Journal of Clinical Investigation 34(9):1391–1402; 1955. See OT-60 ("Studies of the Metabolism of Maternal Iron in Newborn Infants Using Iron-55") in the Experiment List.

³⁴an apparatus that measures radionuclides in man, using shielded detectors and multichannel energy analyzers

³⁵The first whole-body radiation counter, HUMCO I, became operational at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1956. The sensitivity and noninvasive nature of this instrument permitted studies at levels 10 to 100 times below established limits of exposure. It opened an entire area of clinical diagnosis and the development of new diagnostic methods.

³⁶Robley Evans and his group were still investigating the bioeffects of radium on dial painters who had been working at watch factories in New Jersey and Connecticut.

³⁷In the United States, an individual's exposure to background radiation averages about 350 millirem per year; the amount will vary with elevation and other factors. Daily fluctuations in the background occur proportionately with the amount of cosmic radiation striking the earth.

³⁸bricks made of a dunite, a coarse-grained igneous rock composed almost entirely of olivine and low in natural radioactivity

³⁹radon-222, a naturally occurring, heavy, radioactive, gaseous element formed by the disintegration of radium-226

⁴⁰a highly penetrating photon of high frequency, usually 1019 Hz or more, emitted by an atomic nucleus; in this case, from decay products of radium

⁴¹i.e., were experiencing the development of bone tumors

⁴²See H.S. Martland, "Occupational Poisoning in the Manufacture of Luminous Watch Dials," Journal of the American Medical Association 92:466–473, 1929; and R.M. Macklis, "Radiothor and the Era of Mild Radium Therapy," Journal of the American Medical Association 264:614–618, 1990.

⁴³a thousandth of a curie; one thousand microcuries. A curie represents 37 billion radioactive decays per second.

⁴⁴Phytates are natural ingredients in grain cereals that were thought to interfere with natural iron absorption.

⁴⁵In the early to mid-1950s, various radiation-related studies were carried out at the Fernald State School in Waverly, Massachusetts, using mentally deficient students as subjects. In a study addressing calcium metabolism, nine adolescent males, institutionalized for mental inadequacy but otherwise physically normal, ranging in age from 10 to 15 years, and one 21-year-old male participated as subjects. A second study addressed thyroid function in Down's syndrome subjects and their parents. Twenty-one male and female Down's syndrome students ranging in age from 5 to 26 years participated, as did 5 female and 2 male normal parents of these students. These studies were supported in part by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. For details and references, see OT-19 ("Radioisotope Studies at the Fernald State School, Massachusetts") in Human Radiation Experiments.

⁴⁶the alimentary canal, a tubular passage functioning in the digestion and absorption of food and the elimination of food residue, beginning at the mouth and terminating at the anus

⁴⁷Felix Bronner, Ph.D. (born 1921, Vienna, Austria), naturalized U.S. citizen, physiologist, and nutritionist who worked at MIT on his dissertation and later worked at the Rockefeller Institute, the Cornell University Medical Center, and the University of Connecticut.

⁴⁸a part that forms a known fraction of a whole and constitutes a sample for chemical analysis

⁴⁹using a coincidence counter, a radiation detector that matches two simultaneous emissions from a single radioactive decay

⁵⁰Spherical or 4 pi geometry, in this context, refers to allowing all radioactive disintegrations to be recorded, giving the highest possible counting efficiency.

⁵¹The purpose of the four-pi geometry was to improve the detection limit of the detector.

⁵²an endocrine gland located at the base of the neck and secreting two hormones that regulate the rates of metabolism, growth, and development

⁵³an elementary particle found in the nucleus of most atoms and having no electrical charge

⁵⁴Radioiodine (131I) is still a highly effective therapy for hyperthyroidism, Graves' disease, and thyroid cancer.

⁵⁵During World War II, the Manhattan Project had built a vast complex of highly classified facilities in and near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to process uranium for use in atomic bombs. The Atomic Energy Commission assumed control of these facilities upon its creation and, today, they belong to the Department of Energy.

⁵⁶For a history of ORNL, see ORAU From the Beginning by William G. Pollard with Gould A. Andrews, Marshall Brucer, et al., Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge Tennessee, 1980.

⁵⁷white blood cells

⁵⁸F. Bronner, R.S. Harris, C.J. Maletskos, and C.E. Benda, in Journal of Clinical Investigation 35: 78–88; 1956. See OT-19 ("Radioisotope Studies at the Fernald State School, Massachusetts") in the Experiment List.

⁵⁹the act of separating a substance in solid form from a solution

⁶⁰Clemens F. Benda, M.D., a physician specializing in psychiatry, had an appointment as a professor at the Harvard Medical School. He was Director of Research at the Fernald School. He is now deceased.

⁶¹a rare, slowly progressive, hereditary disease transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait, characterized by myotonia (lack of muscle tone) followed by atrophy of the muscles (especially those of the face and neck), cataracts, hypogonadism, frontal balding, and heart abnormalities. Also called myotonic dysrophia or myotonic distrophy.

⁶²deficiency in thyroid secretions, resulting in goiter, myxedema (thickening of the skin, blunting of the senses and intellect, and labored speech), and, in children, cretinism (stunted growth, deformity, and mental retardation)

⁶³overactivity of the thyroid gland, resulting in increased metabolism rate

⁶⁴"according to Hoyle"—an expression or colloquialism that means "done properly." Edmond Hoyle (1672–1769 ) was a British writer on games and who prepared an encyclopedia of the rules of card games.

⁶⁵a substance in the body, as a stored secretion, that is a colloidal suspension (a suspension of minute solid particles)

⁶⁶a hormone of the thyroid gland that regulates the metabolic rate of the body; also: preparations of it used for treating hypothyroidism

⁶⁷in this context, the replacement of bone mineral with new deposits

⁶⁸The radium dial painters usually "tipped" their brushes to a fine point with their lips, and inadvertently ingested some of the radium dial paint.

⁶⁹Animals had been suspected, and were later confirmed, to metabolize and excrete radionuclides at rates that differed, often substantially, from the rates in humans; animal metabolic rates are usually higher than man's.

⁷⁰an element of the actinide series—the series of mostly synthetic radioactive elements whose atomic numbers range from 89 (actinium) through 103 (lawrencium)

⁷¹named for Dr. Arthur Holly Compton, University of Chicago, a key member of the scientific team that established the Manhattan Project

⁷²a cylinder of sugar (sucrose) of another material that serves as a surrogate for a human being during calibration of radiological counters

⁷³tendencies to produce heat or fever

⁷⁴substances, such as bacterial toxins, that cause the body temperature to rise

⁷⁵Maletskos is referring to the 1986 Congressional report issued by Representative Edward Markey (D–Mass), entitled American Nuclear Guinea Pigs: Three Decades of Radiation Experiments on U.S. Citizens. It discussed the 1945–47 injections of 18 human subjects with plutonium and about 30 other experiments, under the sponsorship of the Manhattan Project and subsequently the Atomic Energy Commission.

⁷⁶Harriet Hardy, M.D., a physician in occupational medicine, was the head of Occupational Medical Service of the Medical Department at MIT. Hardy was known for her research in berylliosis (toxicity of beryllium). She is now deceased.

⁷⁷In 1966, the National Institutes of Health made recommendations to the Surgeon General's Office for the creation of what are now known as Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). IRBs review and approve medical research involving humans.

⁷⁸International Commission on Radiological Protection

⁷⁹Roy Albert, M.D. (born 1924), was a professor of Environmental Medicine at New York University's Medical Center, where he studied radiation and chemical carcinogenesis and cancer from environmental toxins.

⁸⁰Bernard L. Cohen, Ph.D. (born 1924), a nuclear physicist, served as a group leader at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1950–58). In 1961 he became a professor of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh. Cohen is known for his research on nuclear reactions, health effects of radiation, and risk analysis.

⁸¹The U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration succeeded the AEC in the early '70s, and in turn was replaced by the DOE in 1977.

⁸²Dr. Paul Aebersold established the administrative system for distribution of radioactive isotopes. After working on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge from 1942 to 1946, he served as director of the Atomic Energy Commission's Isotopes Division at Oak Ridge from 1947 to 1957. He retired as the Director of the AEC's Office of Isotopes Development in 1965. Two-and-a-half years later, he committed suicide. For additional information on Dr. Aebersold, see "Safety of the Nuclear Industry" in the interview with Merril Eisenbud (DOE/EH-0456, May 1995); "Remembrances of Personalities" in the interview with Earl Miller (DOE/EH-0474, June 1995); and "Oak Ridge Committees (Isotope Distribution, Human Use, et al.)" and "Vanderbilt University Study of Pregnant Women and Iron-59" in the interview with Karl Morgan (DOE/EH-0475, June 1995).

⁸³S. Allan Lough, Ph.D., was a chemist by training who worked in the Division of Biology and Medicine, Atomic Energy Commission, in Washington, D.C. Lough was responsible for reviewing and approving applications for the use of radioactive materials. Upon his retirement, he joined the staff of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement, in Bethesda, Maryland. Lough is now deceased.

⁸⁴After exposure to a carcinogen, it takes 5 to 15 years or longer before evidence of cancer is apparent.

⁸⁵See the proceedings of the International Symposium on Biological Effects of 224Ra and Thorotrast, Alta, Utah, July 21–23, 1994, published as Health Physics, Vol. 35(1), July 1978; edited by C.W. Mays.

⁸⁶Martin Lubin, M.D., Ph.D. (born 1923), served on the staff of the MIT Medical Department and was a professor of Biophysics at Harvard Medical School (1953–68). He was later a professor of Microbiology at Dartmouth Medical School (1968 until retirement). Lubin conducted studies on the regulation of synthesis of biomolecules. He was familiar with the use of radioactive materials and their biological effects.

⁸⁷C.R. Richmond, J.E. London, and J.E. Furchner; "Retention of Intravenously Administered Cesium-132 by Man"; in Biomedical and Medical Research Group of the Health Division Annual Report, July 1962 to June 1963; Los Alamos, New Mexico, LAMS-3034, 1963; pp. 21–33. See LANL-22 ("Cesium-132 Metabolism in Humans") in the Experiment List.

⁸⁸radioactive debris from a nuclear detonation or other source. Fallout is usually deposited from airborne particles.

⁸⁹Ernest Carl Anderson was a physical chemist who worked at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory during the Manhattan Project, 1942–44, and then at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Dr. Anderson received the AEC's E.O. Lawrence Award in 1966. He conducted research in natural radiocarbon, liquid scintillation counters, low-level radioactivity measurements, and cellular biochemistry. He also designed the HUMCO II, an improved version of the first whole-body counter, HUMCO I.

⁹⁰inside the body

⁹¹Dean was in charge of operating and refining the HUMCO II whole body counter during its early development.

⁹²Signed in 1963, ratified in 1964, and still in effect, the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) commits the United States and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) to refrain from testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, under water, or in space, thus moving nuclear testing underground. The United Kingdom also acceded to the LTBT. The LTBT put an end to additions to nuclear fallout from U.S., Soviet and Russian, and British nuclear tests except in those rare cases when an underground nuclear test accidentally vents to the atmosphere. Prior to negotiation of the LTBT, an atmospheric testing moratorium was observed by the U.S. and the Soviet Union until it was broken by the Soviets. This moratorium may be the first of the two periods to which Dr. Richmond refers when the buildup of fallout-borne cesium was halted.

⁹³This means that samples of exhaled air were collected in flasks and then radiologically counted. When this is done, the sample is allowed to sit for a while, while 220Rn decays away, leaving only 222Rn. The 222Rn is then measured.

⁹⁴Center for Human Radiobiology, Argonne National Laboratory

⁹⁵Radium needles were not hypodermic needles, which could accidentally prick the physician, but slivers of radium implanted in a subject's body surgically to destroy a tumor. Such needles could not be accidentally introduced into the surgeon's body.

⁹⁶At a 1967 symposium, he proposed that the AEC establish a National Center for Human Radiobiology so the AEC could follow up and combine all the radium cases being studied at MIT, Argonne National Laboratory, and elsewhere. On September 1, 1969, the center opened at Argonne, headed by Robert E. Rowland; Evans maintained a satellite office at MIT.

⁹⁷After his wife died, Evans married Mary Margaret McClanahan, who had served as his secretary for 45 years.

⁹⁸a malignant tumor that arises from bone-forming cells and chiefly affects the ends of long bones

⁹⁹a malignant tumor composed of epithelial tissue—the tissue layer covering body surfaces or lining the internal surfaces of body cavities, tubes, and hollow organs

¹⁰⁰International Commission on Radiological Protection, Publication 20, Alkaline Earth Metabolism in Adult Man, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1973. Produced at Argonne National Laboratory by a committee headed by John Marshall, ICRP-20 addressed the retention and dosimetry of the alkaline earth elements in humans.

¹⁰¹the ratio of the natural logarithm of 2 divided by the effective retention half-time or ln2/Teff. It is the fraction of the radium exiting or "clearing" per unit time.

¹⁰²a condition in which there are bandlike areas of condensed bone at the epiphyseal lines of long bones and condensation of the edges of smaller bones; also called marble bones, ivory bones, Albers–Schönberg disease

¹⁰³Maletskos is referring broadly to studies in which health physicists try to determine how much ionizing radiation was received by persons who were living near atomic bomb tests conducted in the Pacific or, in the case of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by persons who were irradiated by the A-bombs that were dropped on those cities by American bombers.

¹⁰⁴Tissue, hair, or excreta samples may be put in a reactor, irradiated, and analyzed to determine elemental composition and amounts.

¹⁰⁵See R.M. Zollinger, J.M. Van DeWater, C.J. Maletskos, and S.D. Moore, "Exchangeable Potassium in Man Using a New Radioisotope, K-43," in Surgical Forum 21: 213–215, 1970.

¹⁰⁶a professor of Radiology at the University of Rochester (Rochester, New York), site of research involving plutonium and human subjects. Dr. Warren worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge as head of the medical section and headed an Intramedical Advisory Committee. After World War II, Dr. Warren became dean of the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School.

¹⁰⁷James E. Johnson, Ph.D. (born 1936), is a retired professor of Animal Science and Radiological Health Sciences at Colorado State University, and once served as campus Radiation Safety Officer. He conducted research on alkali metal metabolism, whole-body counting, and environmental radioactivity.

¹⁰⁸Francis Moore, M.D., of Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women's Hospital) in Boston, was interested in body composition studies and the relationship of body composition to surgery. He made a number of detailed anatomical separations and analyses of the constituents of different body tissues in man.

¹⁰⁹See J. Reeve, J.R. Green, C.J. Maletskos, and R.M. Neer,"Skeletal Retention of Calcium-45 and Strontium-85 Compared: Further Studies on Intravenously Injected Strontium-85 as a Tracer for Skeletal Calcium," in Calcified Tissue Int. 35:9–15, 1983.

¹¹⁰J. Reeve, a physician, was interested in bone metabolism and the physiology and function of the parathyroid gland. He worked for one or two years with Bob Neer at Massachusetts General Hospital.

¹¹¹Robert M. Neer, M.D., an endocrinologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who conducted research on osteoporosis, bone metabolism, and the physiology and function of the parathyroid gland

¹¹²a medical professional who studies endocrine glands and their secretions, especially in relation to their processes or functions

¹¹³See C.C. Shipp, C.J. Maletskos, and B. Dawson-Hughes, "Measurement of Calcium-47 Retention With a Whole-Body Counter," in Calcified Tissue Int. 41:307–312, 1987.

¹¹⁴From 1951 to 1977, Durbin worked as a chemist and radiobiologist at the Crocker Laboratory of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory). See "Reanalyzing the Human Plutonium Injection Studies" in DOE/EH-0458, Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years; Oral History of Dr. Patricia Wallace Durbin, Ph.D. (June 1995).

¹¹⁵LA-1151, a Los Alamos report on results of research involving injection of plutonium into human subjects: W.H. Langham, S.H. Bassett, P.S. Harris and R.E. Carter. "Distribution and Excretion of Plutonium Administered Intravenously to Man." Los Alamos: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LA-1151, 1950; reprinted in Health Physics. Vol. 38, No. 6, 1980, pp. 1031–60.

¹¹⁶Charles K. Levy, Ph.D., a general biologist at Boston University, previously with Massachusetts General Hospital, is still a professor or emeritus professor of biology at Boston University. He is interested in radiation biology and has conducted research in classical biology and multitracer tagging of wolves in the field to track the young and their behavior with respect to parents.

¹¹⁷a nuclear power generating station 10 miles from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, owned and operated by General Public Utilities, Incorporated. On March 28, 1979, a combination of system failure and human error led to a partial meltdown in one of the station's two 1,000-megawatt pressurized water reactors. As one consequence, radioactivity was vented into the air. The event at Three Mile Island remains the most significant nuclear power plant accident to have occurred in the United States.

¹¹⁸Harding and Kerrigan were ice skaters vying for a position on the 1994 U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team. After it was discovered that Harding's boyfriend had hired a "hit man" to break Kerrigan's leg, Federal investigators sought to determine whether Harding had been a coconspirator. For many months, nearly every evening news report contained coverage of the Harding–Kerrigan rivalry or the investigation. In the United States, the episode is widely regarded as the leading news story of 1994.