The military exposed thousands of servicemen to radioactivity when it called them to participate in nuclear weapons tests, including Operation Teapot in 1955. One was Eldridge Jones, who later deployed to exercises in the Bay Area to try to clean up radioactive substances, directed by the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory.
In episode 2 of “Exposed,” from our friends at San Francisco Public Press, we explore a little-known chapter in San Francisco’s nuclear era: human experiments carried out to assess the health effects of radiation. Scientists from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, located at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, designed and executed at least 24 experiments that involved gathering data from humans — in some cases, injecting test subjects with radioisotopes or having them ingest fluids laced with trace amounts of radioactive materials. Even football players from the San Francisco 49ers were enrolled as test subjects in these so-called tracer studies.
We hear from military veterans who were sent on a mysterious mission to spread radioactive substances onto rooftops at an Army base near Pittsburg, California, for an experiment the radiation lab played a role in designing. Some recount experiences of witnessing nuclear bomb blasts in the Nevada desert. We also examine a national pattern of human radiation experiments revealed by Eileen Welsome, the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation, who shined a light on similar practices conducted by government facilities, hospitals, and other institutions.
Featuring:
- Eldridge Jones, served in the military and was part of Operation Stoneman
- Merle Votaw, Navy veteran who participated in Operation Stoneman II
- Eileen Welsome, author of “Plutonium Files”
- Holly Barker, anthropologist and professor at the University of Washington who studied the Marshall Islands.