i’m taking a history of the us from the 1960s class with professor corey this summer. i came across this in my textbook from the class:
“Beginning in 1945 and continuing through the 1970s, top medical scientists at government laboratories subjected unsuspecting patients to injections of plutonium and other radioactive substances. Generally these patients were poor, prison inmates, minorities, or already suffering from grave illnesses. Most had no idea of the risks involved. Several hundred pregnant women were offered free pre-natal “care” that included injections of small amounts of plutonium to determine its effects on fetal development. The purpose of many of these experiments was to determine “safe” radiation dosages for workers in the nuclear industry.”
– Present Tense, 2nd Edition, pp. 170-171