The Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory's Thyroid Function Study A Radiological Risk and Ethical Analysis (1996) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-7
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This report reviews the purpose and methodology of the AAL thyroid Unction study, assesses the medical risks from using diagnostic level doses of the radioactive tracer, examines standards for the use of these tracers then and now, examines the ethics of human subjects research from both a 1950s and a l990s perspective, and presents the Committee's conclusions and recommendations.
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Military volunteers were obtained via requests from their commanding officers. In the end, the AAL thyroid function study concluded that there was no significant difference in thyroid uptake or urinary elimination of radioactive tracers between the Alaska Natives and the white military personnel tested.
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Assuming a 40-year period of risk, the total lifetime background thyroid cancer risk is about 200 per 100,000, or ~ in 500. The weighted average excess risk due to the li3t study among Me various populations, calculated to be about ~ in 3,000, is six times lower than the background thyroid cancer risk.
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Despite the unevenness of the application of ethical standards for the conduct of human subjects research in the 19SOs, this Committee concludes that the standards outlined in the Nuremberg Code did apply to human subjects research at the time, including research conducted under military auspices and the AAL thyroid function study. In comparison with some other Cold War research, such as some of the experiments examined by the Advisory Committee for Human Subjects Research (ACHRE)
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After examining the records, analyzing the health risks, and talking with research subjects as well as researchers, the Committee concludes that the probability of physical harm to the AAL study subjects is negligible, and thus that the subjects were not harmed. From an ethical perspective, the Committee concludes that aspects of the AAL study, especially the informed consent process, were flawed even by 1950s standards and thus the Alaska Natives who participated and, to a lesser extent, the military subjects were wronged.
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A) In the process of contacting subjects and subjects' families, the Air Force should disseminate the Committee's report and other available information on human medical experimentation conducted by the AAL in the period 1948 - ·967 to appropriate health care providers, tribal governments, and other key figures in the relevant Alaska Native villages.
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The Committee's position acknowledges the flaws of the AAL thyroid function study within the context of history, while not placing blame on those who conducted the activity using what they perceived to be harmless methods in pursuit of justifiable goals.
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