Radiation medical experiments in the United States (early 1930s – mid1970s)

The subject of this research is the period of human radiation experiments within the framework of the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. This phenomenon took place in 1945–1974.and contradicts all known standards of the United Nations that protect human rights in the United States and worldwide. Medical radiation research were conducted in stringent secrecy of the undertaken experiments and their outcome. This article employs the problem-analytical approach for analyzing the phenomenon of human radiation experiments. The research leans on the principle of historicism, according to which human radiation experiments are traced from 1930 to the emergence of the Manhattan Project, the Cold War years, until the records were declassified in 1990s. The novelty of this work is defined by the fact that the problem of antihuman radiation tests of the Manhattan Project is poorly studied in the Russian historiography. The US archival documents and literature that ensure the objectivity of this study comprise majority of the sources. The following conclusions were made:1) on the one hand, human radiation experiments were essentially directed against the population of pro-Soviet countries, but in fact carried out on the civilians of the United States of America with discriminatory orientation towards racial minorities, economically disadvantaged, seriously ill and incurable clinic patients, disabled people, mothers and children; 2) on the other hand, these experiments contributed to the development of radiation therapy for treating cancer patients, although having undermined the health of hundreds and generating incurable forms of diseases. From the scientific perspective, human radiation experiments have enriched medical science with new knowledge on various influence of radioactive elements on the human body.