Radiation: Balancing the record

This article reviews the radioactivity experiments performed on humans during the cold war, and examines the ethics of the experiments. The radiation experiments can be broadly classified into three groups: researchers knowingly inflicted potential harm, using methods questionable even by the then-current standards; the investigations involved good work by any standards with appropriate safeguards taken; and a third group which falls between the other two, the experiments provided useful information but had ethical flaws. The article also examines the experiments in the light of changing knowledge and moral standards