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Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years

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Human Radiation Studies: Remembering the Early Years Oral Histories: Dr. George Voelz, M.D. Page 1 of 48 DOE Openness: Human Radiation Experiments: Roadmap to the Project Oral Histories Oral Histories DOE/EH-0454 Health Physicist HUMAN RADIATION William J. Bair, Ph.D. STUDIES: Biochemist Waldo E. Cohn, Ph.D. REMEMBERING THE EARLY Dr. Patricia YEARS Wallace Durbin, Ph.D. Oral History of Merril Eisenbud Dr. George Voelz, M.D. Dr. Nadine Foreman, M.D. Radiologist Hymer L. Friedell, M.D., Ph.D. Health Physicist Carl C. Gamertsfelder, Ph.D. Dr. John W. Conducted November 29, 1994 Gofman, M.D., Ph.D. United States Department of Energy Office of Human Radiation Experiments Radiation Biologist Marvin May 1995 Goldman, Ph.D. Julie Langham Grilly CONTENTS John W. Healy Foreword Hematologist Karl Short Biography F. Hubner, M.D. Medical School; Start at Los Alamos Application Medical Group (1950) Oral History of Tissue Studies of Plutonium Workers Radiologist Henry Plutonium Injection Studies (1945 and 1946) I. Kohn, M.D., Early Impressions and Challenges (1952) Ph.D. Long-Term Follow-Up Studies of Plutonium Workers (1991 and 1992) Medical Physicist http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/histories/0454/0454toc.html 3/8/2005 Oral Histories: Dr. George Voelz, M.D. Page 2 of 48 Katherine L. Therapeutic Injections of Plutonium Move to Idaho (1957) Lathrop and Fatal Worker Accident at Idaho's SL-1 Reactor (1961) Physician Paul V. Harper Controlled Environmental Radioiodine Tests (1963–1968) Informed Consent at Idaho Pathologist Tracer Studies on Human Volunteers at Los Alamos (1955 to Late Clarence '60s) Lushbaugh, M.D. Development of Decontamination Technique and Esophegeal Probe Radionuclide Intake Studies at Los Alamos Health Physicist Studies to Predict the Effects of Radionuclide Inhalation and Constantine J. Digestion From Nuclear-Powered Rockets (Los Alamos, 1950s) Maletskos, Ph.D. Use of a Particle Accelerator to Explore Cancer Therapy (Los Radiologist Earl Alamos) R. Miller, M.D. Pion Radiation Therapy at Los Alamos (1974) Allegations That the Transuranium Registry has Impeded Health Physicist Settlement of Workman's Compensation Claims Karl Z. Morgan, Evidence For and Against Links Between External Radiation Ph.D. Exposure and Cancer Incidence Rates Correcting Misperceptions About the Los Alamos Human Radiation Biochemist Experiments William D. Moss Continuing Follow-Up Studies of Plutonium Workers Physiologist Nello Pace, Ph.D. Cell Biologist FOREWORD Don Francis Petersen, Ph.D. n December 1993, U.S. Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary announced her Openness Initiative. As part of this initiative, Radiobiologist Chet Richmond, the Department of Energy undertook an effort to identify and Ph.D. catalog historical documents on radiation experiments that had used human subjects. The Office of Human Radiation Experiments Physician James coordinated the Department's search for records about these S. Robertson, experiments. An enormous volume of historical records has been M.D., Ph.D. located. Many of these records were disorganized; often poorly cataloged, if at all; and scattered across the country in holding areas, Biophysicist archives, and records centers. Robert E. Rowland, Ph.D. The Department has produced a roadmap to the large universe of Biophysicist pertinent information: Human Radiation Experiments: The Cornelius A. Department of Energy Roadmap to the Story and the Records Tobias, Ph.D. (DOE/EH-0445, February 1995). The collected documents are also accessible through the Internet World Wide Web under Biochemist John http://www.ohre.doe.gov. The passage of time, the state of existing Randolph Totter, Ph.D. records, and the fact that some decisionmaking processes were never documented in written form, caused the Department to Oncologist Helen consider other means to supplement the documentary record. Vodopick, M.D. In September 1994, the Office of Human Radiation Experiments, in Dr. George Voelz, collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, began an oral M.D. history project to fulfill this goal. The project involved interviewing http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/histories/0454/0454toc.html 3/8/2005 Oral Histories: Dr. George Voelz, M.D. Page 3 of 48 Donner Lab researchers and others with firsthand knowledge of either the human Administrator radiation experimentation that occurred during the Cold War or the Baird G. Whaley institutional context in which such experimentation took place. The purpose of this project was to enrich the documentary record, provide missing information, and allow the researchers an opportunity to provide their perspective. Thirty audiotaped interviews were conducted from September 1994 through January 1995. Interviewees were permitted to review the transcripts of their oral histories. Their comments were incorporated into the final version of the transcript if those comments supplemented, clarified, or corrected the contents of the interviews. The Department of Energy is grateful to the scientists and researchers who agreed to participate in this project, many of whom were pioneers in the development of nuclear medicine. DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed by the interviewee are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Department neither endorses nor disagrees with such views. Moreover, the Department of Energy makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by the interviewee. ORAL HISTORY OF DR. GEORGE VOELZ, M.D. Conducted on November 28, 1994 in Los Alamos, New Mexico by Darrell Fisher, a health physicist from Pacific Northwest Laboratories, and Marisa Caputo, Oral History Team Leader and Special Assistant from the Office of Human Radiation Experiments, U.S. Department of Energy. George Voelz was selected for the oral history project because of his research at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and his work at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The oral history covers Dr. Voelz's research on the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) plutonium workers, the acute and long- term effects of radiation, his inhalation studies, and his association with other scientists. Short Biography http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/histories/0454/0454toc.html 3/8/2005 Oral Histories: Dr. George Voelz, M.D. Page 4 of 48 Dr. Voelz was born in Wittenberg, Wisconsin on October 13, 1926. He was married in 1950 and has four children. He received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He was at Los Alamos from 1951 to 1957. From 1957 to 1963 he served as Idaho Operations Officer for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He is currently Health Division Leader for the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, a position he has held since 1970. Dr. Voelz's field of expertise is occupational medicine. Dr. Voelz has many publishing credits for his health studies of the MED plutonium workers, inhalation studies of radiation workers, and environmental surveys of various Department of Energy sites. Medical School; Start at Los Alamos Application Medical Group (1950) CAPUTO: Today is November 28, 1994. My name is Marisa Caputo. I'm with the Department of Energy, Office of Human Radiation Experiments. I'm here with Darrell Fisher, who is with Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories in Richland, Washington, to interview Dr. George Voelz of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The purpose of this interview is to record Dr. Voelz's involvement in human radiation experimentation during the Cold War. Thank you for being here today. VOELZ: You're welcome. FISHER: George, would you briefly recall your education, and the events in your life that brought you to Los Alamos? VOELZ: I went to medical school at [the] University of Wisconsin [and] graduated in 1950. After an internship, a year at the University of Oregon Hospitals and Clinics in Portland, I took an Atomic Energy Commission fellowship in industrial medicine. I spent a year at the University of Cincinnati Kettering Laboratory, [and then] entered into an in-plant training year, [at] Los Alamos with Dr. [Thomas] Shipman, who was the division leader for the medical department—the Health Division at Los Alamos. My coming to Los Alamos was part of an in-plant training program for practical application of http://www.eh.doe.gov/ohre/roadmap/histories/0454/0454toc.html 3/8/2005 Oral Histories: Dr. George Voelz, M.D. Page 5 of 48 industrial medicine. FISHER: But you stayed longer than just that internship? VOELZ: Correct. I went through the first year doing various assignments as part of the in-plant training and then stayed on for another three and a half years in a staff position in the Application Medicine Group at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. FISHER: Who did you work for, and who were some of your associates in the Laboratory? VOELZ: The group leader initially was Dr. Robert Grier, who left about a year after I arrived. Then, Dr. Harry Whipple was the leader for the Medical Group. [Initially], there [was just] the group leader, myself, and Harry Whipple. I can't remember who came in when Harry became the group leader. FISHER: What was your association with Dr. [Louis] Hempelmann at this time? VOELZ: Dr. Hempelmann was at [the University of] Rochester, but he came back here from time to time. His principal contact was Wright Langham. I was introduced to Dr. Hempelmann, I believe, in the first in-plant training year, probably in 1952, when he was having a meeting with Wright Langham about follow-up of plutonium workers, who had been exposed here at Los Alamos during the 1944-to-'45 period. They were discussing the selection of people to have medical follow-ups. I was just fortunate enough to sit in on the meeting and listen to them discuss this project. FISHER: Was Wright Langham involved in these discussion as well? VOELZ: Oh, yes. Since he had done the urinalysis procedures in testing the exposure to these people [plutonium workers], he had all of their urine data and [a list of] the groups for which they worked.
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