Green Names Panel To Investigate Tests

Provost Jerry R. Green this week put together an hoc committee of high-ranking university officials and experts to investigate Harvard's link to experiments conducted on human subjects between the 1940s and 1970s.

The panel, which was announced by Green yesterday, "has been formed in the wake of recent news reports and governmental inquires concerning the use of human participants in research begun nearly 50 years ago," according to a statement released by the Harvard News Office.

Green, in a telephone interview from his home last night, said the panel was not "any one person's idea, but it was not "any one person's idea, but it was certainly the thing to do."

"We are just concerned about the facts that have come out," Green said. "We want to make sure we have a full appraisal before we let rest."

Professor of Medicine Emeritus Walter H. Abelmann will chair the ad hoc committee. Experts in fields such as clinical investigation, biomedical ethics, human rights, radiation and mental health have been gathered from across the University to serve on the panel, according to the News Office statement.

Harvard announced there weeks ago that it had developed an informal "working group" to probe its connection to experiments involving radiation on humans. Bus Green's announcement marks the University's first formal effort to investigate the tests.

The new committee will further the University's ongoing effort to assist the state Department of Mental Retardation in its investigation of experiments conducted on retarded students at the Fernald State School in Waltham, Mass. The panel will report to Green.

"We are going to cooperate in every possible way," Green said.

The late Dr. Clemens E. Benda, a former Harvard Medical School faculty member, was also the medical director at Fernald. He conducted an experiments in 1954 in which students at the school were fed radioactive milk with their breakfast cereal.

Scientists monitored the amount of calcium absorbed by the students. The calcium was tagged with a radioactive tracer.

Experts say the experiments did not subject the students to unsafe levels of radiation. But Harvard ethicists have expressed alarm and outrage that an isolated, vulnerable segment of the population was subjected to experiments with radiation without its knowledge.

In a letter seeking permission to use students in the experiments, Fernald superintendent Malcolm J. Fernald who participated in the tests also have repeatedly testified that they were never toldof the radiation.

Abelmann, the committee's chair, said lastnight that because the committee has not yet met,he could not comment.

"It's premature to say anything at this point,"he said.

Abelmann has a background in clinicalinvestigations and said he has served on otherinvestigative committees.

Instructor in Medicine Linda Emanuel, who willserve on the panel, said she is bringing herexpertise as a biomedical ethicist to thecommittee.

Emanuel said the committee will have its firstmeeting on February 18.

"We'll be getting our marching orders at thefirst meeting," she said.

Emanuel said she was approached to serve onthe panel in a letter from Green. Serving on thepanel "is a very important part of being a memberof the Medical School," she said.

"Once the data is there, my job will be tobring an ethical, analytic perspective to it,"Emanuel said.

The committee's other members are MedicalSchool Dean for Academic Programs James Adelstein,Kass Professor of the History of Medicine AllanBrandt, professor of Law Martha A. Field,Associate Professor of Radiology Frank P.Castronovo, Associate Professor of Psychiatry CarlSalzman and Professor of Physics Robert V. Pound.

Green said the committee was chosen in a "veryelaborate process."

"We consulted very widely," he said.

He said working groups will continue to reviewdocuments regarding the experiments withradiation.

"We have two working groups that will actuallydeal with the archival material...The committeewill evaluate it," Green said.

The panel will likely look closely at the workof Benda, who has been the focus of Benda, who hasbeen the focus of University attention because ofhis link to Harvard.

Twenty-seven boxes of Benda's papers arecurrently stored at the Medical School library.

In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Harvard hadextraordinarily close ties to Fernald, whereMedical School and School of Public Healthstudents and professors held lectures, workshopsand demonstrations, according to 1959 reportdisclosed in The Crimson Wednesday.

The report, which discusses the details ofcooperative training programs between universitiesand residential facilities for the mentally ill,showed that Harvard used Fernald for much morethan just one experiment by an affiliatedphysician.

Scores of students attended annual trips to theschool, according to the report, which namesseveral former Medical School professors asParticipants and sponsors of a lecture series atFernald.

Wendy M. Seltzer contributed to thereporting of this story.

Abelmann, the committee's chair, said lastnight that because the committee has not yet met,he could not comment.

"It's premature to say anything at this point,"he said.

Abelmann has a background in clinicalinvestigations and said he has served on otherinvestigative committees.

Instructor in Medicine Linda Emanuel, who willserve on the panel, said she is bringing herexpertise as a biomedical ethicist to thecommittee.

Emanuel said the committee will have its firstmeeting on February 18.

"We'll be getting our marching orders at thefirst meeting," she said.

Emanuel said she was approached to serve onthe panel in a letter from Green. Serving on thepanel "is a very important part of being a memberof the Medical School," she said.

"Once the data is there, my job will be tobring an ethical, analytic perspective to it,"Emanuel said.

The committee's other members are MedicalSchool Dean for Academic Programs James Adelstein,Kass Professor of the History of Medicine AllanBrandt, professor of Law Martha A. Field,Associate Professor of Radiology Frank P.Castronovo, Associate Professor of Psychiatry CarlSalzman and Professor of Physics Robert V. Pound.

Green said the committee was chosen in a "veryelaborate process."

"We consulted very widely," he said.

He said working groups will continue to reviewdocuments regarding the experiments withradiation.

"We have two working groups that will actuallydeal with the archival material...The committeewill evaluate it," Green said.

The panel will likely look closely at the workof Benda, who has been the focus of Benda, who hasbeen the focus of University attention because ofhis link to Harvard.

Twenty-seven boxes of Benda's papers arecurrently stored at the Medical School library.

In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Harvard hadextraordinarily close ties to Fernald, whereMedical School and School of Public Healthstudents and professors held lectures, workshopsand demonstrations, according to 1959 reportdisclosed in The Crimson Wednesday.

The report, which discusses the details ofcooperative training programs between universitiesand residential facilities for the mentally ill,showed that Harvard used Fernald for much morethan just one experiment by an affiliatedphysician.

Scores of students attended annual trips to theschool, according to the report, which namesseveral former Medical School professors asParticipants and sponsors of a lecture series atFernald.

Wendy M. Seltzer contributed to thereporting of this story.