Project sunshine and the slippery slope: The ethics of tissue sampling for strontium‐90*

An earlier version of this article appeared as an appendix to the report of the Review Group on Retention of Organs at Postmortem chaired by Professor Sheila McLean (Ref.1).

Abstract

When citizens of Atlantic alliance countries are being asked by their elected leaders to suspend many of the fundamental rights of democracy in order to defend them, it is timely to consider the perils of the slippery slope that was opened up by the harvesting of human bones and tissue for studies of strontium‐90 fallout during the height of the cold war. In particular, the need to collect samples from recently deceased infants and children seems to have overridden the rights of parents to determine what became of their loved ones after death. Forty years later, parents and others question whether the fact that this research contributed significantly to the partial moratorium on atmospheric tests justified the overriding of their rights. It also reminds us that the testing of nuclear devices, even in the defence of democracy, presents global health hazards.

Key Words:

• Informed consent
• Nuclear weapons tests
• Project Sunshine
• Radiation research
• Strontium‐90

Notes

An earlier version of this article appeared as an appendix to the report of the Review Group on Retention of Organs at Postmortem chaired by Professor Sheila McLean (Ref.1).