Project SUNSHINE

Project SUNSHINE was a series of research studies to ascertain the impact of radioactive fallout on the world's population. Commissioned jointly by the United States Atomic Energy Commission and USAF Project Rand, SUNSHINE sought to examine the long-term effects of nuclear radiation on the biosphere due to repeated nuclear detonations of increasing yield.^[1] With the conclusion from Project GABRIEL that radioactive isotope Sr-90 represented the most serious threat to human health from nuclear fallout, Project SUNSHINE sought to measure the global dispersion of Sr-90 by measuring its concentration in the tissues and bones of the dead. Of particular interest was tissue from the young, whose developing bones have the highest propensity to accumulate Sr-90 and thus the highest susceptibility to radiation damage.^[1] SUNSHINE elicited a great deal of controversy when it was revealed that many of the remains sampled were utilized without prior permission from the deceased or from relatives of the dead, which wasn't known until many years later.^[2]

On January 18, 1955 Dr. Willard Libby said that there was insufficient data regarding the effects of fallout due to a lack of human, mainly children, samples to analyze. Dr. Libby was quoted saying, "I don't know how to get them, but I do say that it is a matter of prime importance to get them, and particularly in the young age group. So, human samples are often of prime importance, and if anybody knows how to do a good job of body snatching, they will really be serving their country." This led to over 1,500 samples being gathered, of which only 500 were analyzed.^[3] Many of the 1,500 sample cadavers were babies and young children, and were taken from countries from Australia to Europe. Often taken without their parents consent and knowledge. Based on the investigation, which was launched after a British newspaper, reported that British scientists had obtained children’s bodies from various hospitals and shipped their body parts to the United States. A British mother had said that her stillborn baby's legs were removed by the British doctors. She was forbidden to dress her daughter for her funeral in order to prevent the mother from finding out what had happened.^[4]

In 1958, research for project SUNSHINE was brought to Belgium. Scientists started doing tests different from what they had done in the USA or Europe. They were not looking at bones of humans, but at the soils in agricultural regions. They headed in two main directions: environmental surveys and experimental research in natural and in controlled conditions. Their goal was to see the effect of Strontium-90 in the soils as well as to see how it transferred to the grass then to the grazing animals such as cows and sheep, the animals we get milk from and consume for food. Researchers also looked for direct influences of Strontium-90 by observing how well the grass and crops grew that were contaminated. ^[5]

In the article by Dr. Whitlock, he discovered the impact of Strontium-90 in the dairy cow milk which we consume. According to Dr. Whitlock, the amount of radioactive Strontium-90 in the milk we consume is not enough to be harmful to a human being. The fallout of radioactivity being tested in the 1950s was a result of the nuclear power and discovery era. Project SUNSHINE is a byproduct of this era, where scientists, in cooperation with the government and military, conducted experiments on the public to learn the impact of radiation from nuclear weapons and power. "From the foregoing information, it would seem we have a long way to go before the presence of Strontium-90 in milk and other foods can catch up with the amounts of radioactivity to which we have long been exposed through natural resources.^[6]"

See also

• Project GABRIEL

References