Servicemen Given Nasal Radiation Alerted

WASHINGTON — Thousands of American servicemen who were given nasal radiation treatment decades ago by military doctors may be at risk for further health problems, the Defense Department said Wednesday.

The Pentagon said it is working with the Veterans Affairs Department to identify and notify servicemen who participated in the radiation treatments, which were given for inner-ear problems. It made no mention of the untold numbers of children of military personnel given similar treatments in the 1940s and ‘50s.

In a lengthy report on a wide range of military radiation research involving human subjects during the Cold War, the Pentagon said only the nasal radiation treatments posed health questions that required medical follow-up.

The Pentagon is not admitting that the radiation caused any health problems among servicemen. In fact, it continues to point to studies that say evidence of long-term health problems associated with this treatment are inconclusive. It now acknowledges, however, a “significant risk” of such linkages.

Other projects among more than 2,300 radiation studies and experiments documented in the Pentagon report included the use of Mennonite conscientious objectors in experimental taste tests of irradiated foods in 1956. Also, Alaska Eskimos were given radioactive iodine-131 in an Air Force study of thyroid activity in men exposed to cold in the 1950s. The government is now negotiating compensation for some of the Alaska natives.

Stewart Farber, a public health scientist who has pressed the government for years on the nasal radiation treatments, said the Pentagon report, by dealing only with servicemen, ignores a bigger population of civilians who got the treatment.

“They want to make it look like they’re doing something when in reality they’re not helping people,” said Farber, who is associated with the advocacy group Center for Atomic Radiation Studies Inc. of Brookline, Mass.

The Pentagon report said the number of servicemen involved is in the thousands. Available records do not identify most by name, so it is unclear how many eventually will be alerted and given medical examinations.

Most apparently were Navy submariners and Army pilots. They were particularly vulnerable to inner-ear problems from exposure to rapid pressure changes.

In the 1940s and ‘50s it was common practice in civilian and military medicine to use radium to treat sinus inflammations and to shrink swollen adenoids.

Typically, a rod containing 50 milligrams of radium was pushed through each nostril and placed against the opening of the Eustachian tubes for 6 to 12 minutes. Repeated over a period of months, this would shrink the adenoids. The Eustachian tubes help the ear to drain and balance pressure on the inner and outer ear.

The military stopped using the treatment when pressurized aircraft cabins came into use and new medical treatments were developed, such as antibiotics and tympanic tubes.

The Pentagon said the Department of Veterans Affairs will contact veterans whose military files show they received the radiation treatment. They will be advised to tell their doctor of the past treatment “so it may be considered when they receive medical examinations,” the Pentagon said.