| http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/2001/06/05/FFXCTMRTJNC.html
Bodies of babies 'used in N-testing' By DARREN GRAY Tuesday 5 June 2001 The Federal Government will investigate claims that the bodies of Australian stillborn children were shipped to the United States for nuclear experiments in the 1950s and 1960s. A spokesman for Health Minister Michael Wooldridge said last night that although the issue was outside the Federal Government's jurisdiction, the claims were disturbing. Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported yesterday that the bodies of infants and stillborn babies were taken as part of the US Department of Energy experiment. The experiment began in 1955 when Dr Willard Libby of the University of Chicago appealed for large numbers of bodies, preferably stillborn or newly born babies, for experiments on the effect of fallout from atom bomb tests. "If anybody knows how to do a good job of body-snatching, they will really be serving their country," the paper quoted Dr Libby, a Nobel laureate for his invention of the carbon-dating technique, as saying. After the tests, the bodies were cremated and radioactivity in the remains was measured. The newspaper said parents had never been asked for permission or told what happened to their children. Hospitals in Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, the US and South America sent about 6000 bodies to the university over 15 years. Dr Wooldridge's spokesman said states and territories held jurisdiction over the deceased. But the issue raised concerns that the minister would follow up. "He is concerned and will be seeking advice from his department on the accuracy of the report," his spokesman said. "Obviously if such practices were to occur today, they would be considered highly unethical, if not illegal." In February the Federal Government launched a review of human organ removal practices in Australia after a British scandal over unauthorised removal of body parts from children. It emerged that thousands of children's organs had been removed without consent at the Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool. When the Royal Children's Hospitals consent process was examined, certain "deficiencies" were identified. Organs had been removed from children at the Royal Children's without consent, with cases dating back to the 1950s. Hearts had been kept to stock the hospital's teaching collection of about 1200 organs, which it used to train cardiac surgeons. -AAP |
