The Human Plutonium
Injection Experiments
208
Los Alamos Science Number 23 1995
Table 2. The Eighteen Patients Injected With Plutonium
Case number and
Date
Date
Survival
Age at
Cause of
description
Injected*
of death
time
death*
death
HP-12
April 10, 1945
Apr. 13, 1953
2,925 days
63
heart failure
55-yr-old man
(8.0 yrs)
CHI-1
April 26, 1945
Oct. 3, 1945
160 days
68
cancer of chin, lungs
68-yr-old man
(5.2 months)
CAL-1
May 14, 1945
Jan. 9, 1966
7,545 days
79
heart disease
58-yr-old man
(20.7 yrs)
HP-1
Oct. 16, 1945
Jan. 12, 1960
5,201 days
81
bronchopneumonia
67-yr-old man
(14.2 yrs)
HP-2
Oct. 23, 1945
Apr. 4, 1948
894 days
50
brain disease
48-yr-old man
(2.4 yrs)
HP-3
Nov. 27, 1945
Jan. 24, 1983
13,571 days
85
acute cardiac arrest
48-yr-old woman
(37.2 yrs)
HP-4
Nov. 27, 1945
Apr. 29, 1947
518 days
20
Cushing’s syndrome
18-yr-old woman
(1.4 yrs)
HP-5
Nov. 30, 1945
Apr. 29, 1946
150 days
57
bronchopneumonia
56-yr-old man
(4.9 months)
CHI-2
Dec. 27, 1945
Jan. 13, 1946
17 days
56
breast cancer
56-yr-old woman
CHI-3
Dec. 27, 1945
June 1946
about 170 days
not
probably
young adult male
(5.6 months)
known
Hodgin’s Disease
HP-6
Feb. 1, 1946
May 6, 1984
13,974 days
82
natural death
44-yr-old man
(38.2 yrs)
HP-7
Feb. 8, 1946
Oct. 27, 1946
261 days
60
pulmonary failure
59-yr-old woman
(8.5 months)
HP-11
Feb. 20, 1946
Feb. 26, 1946
6 days
69
bronchopneumonia
69-yr-old man
HP-8
March 9, 1946
Nov. 22, 1975
10,850 days
71
unknown
41-yr-old woman
(29.7 yrs)
HP-9
April 3, 1946
July 2, 1947
455 days
65
bronchopneumonia
64-yr-old man
(1.2 yrs)
CAL-2
April 26, 1946
Jan. 6, 1947
255 days
5
bone cancer
4-yr, 10-month-old boy
(8.4 months)
HP-10
July 16, 1946
June 2, 1957
3,974 days
63
heart disease
52-yr-old man
(10.9 yrs)
CAL-3
July 18, 1947
June 30, 1991
16,050 days
80
respiratory failure,
36-yr-old man
(44.0 yrs)
pneumonia
*The ages at injection and at death are based on the known dates of birth as determined by Pat Durbin; they differ in a few cases from the ages given by
Langham, et. al., in LA-1151. Some of the dates of death are based on information found by Eileen Welsome.
**The injection dose gives an upper limit for the patient’s body burden. For example, it is now estimated that after 27 years, about 82.4 per cent of the injected
dose would still remain in the body.
The Human Plutonium
Injection Experiments
Number 23 1995 Los Alamos Science
209
Weight of
Activity
Total
Dose to
Ailments, tissue samples,
injected
of Pu-239
effective
background
and remarks
Pu-239 (
m
g)**
(nCi)
dose (rem)
†
ratio
‡
4.7
290
230
80
auto accident victim at Oak Ridge Hospital; bone
sample taken in surgery, teeth obtained later
6.5
400
19
120
cancer of chin,
metastasis to lungs; near death
when injected; autospy samples taken
0.75 (239)
46 (239)
6400
858
gastric neoplasm; misdiagnosed with stomach
0.20 (238)
3,500 (238)
cancer; tumor and other tissue taken in surgery
4.6
280
380
74
duodenal ulcer, severe
gastrointestinal hemorrhage
5.1
310
80
92
hemophilia and heart disease
4.9
300
880
66
rash, hepatitis, and hypoproteinemia
4.9
300
46
90
Cushing’s syndrome, a metabolic disorder
5.1
310
14
95
Lou Gehrig’s disease;
autopsy samples taken
94.9
5,900
29
1730
breast cancer that had metastasized;
autospy samples taken
94.9
5,900
300
1790
Hodgkin’s disease
5.3
330
990
72
Addison’s disease, a hormonal deficiency disease
6.3
390
30
117
rheumatic heart disease
6.5
400
0.6
100
chronic malnutrition, alcoholism, cirrhosis of liver;
moribund at injection; autospy samples taken
6.5
400
1000
94
scleroderma, a chronic skin disease,
and duodenal ulcer
6.3
390
52
116
generalized dermititis and weakness;
autospy samples taken
2.7
(plus radio-
169
13
52
osteogenic sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer;
cerium & yttrium)
bone samples taken
6.1
380
410
104
acute congestive heart failure
0.006 (238)
95
155
10
purportedly bone cancer in left knee; leg
amputation removed half the plutonium; bone
samples taken; injection was intramuscular
†The total effective dose was calculated using biokinetic models recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, ICRP Publication 30,
and all the values represent the dose received by each individual over the period from the time of injection to the time of death.
‡The dose to background ratio was calculated by taking the ratio of the patient’s total effective dose to the estimated dose for an average U.S. citizen over the
period from the time of injection to the time of death (where the average annual U.S. effective dose equivalent was taken to be 0.360 rem).