Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point

Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point
Part 1. OVERVIEW: How a San Francisco Navy Lab Became a Hub for Human Radiation Experiments + List of Studies
šŸŽ§ Podcast Episode 1: A Community of Color Contends With the Navyā€™s Toxic Legacy
šŸŽ§ Podcast Episode 2: Why the Navy Conducted Radiation Experiments on Humans
Part 2. THE DECISION MAKERS: After Atomic Test Blunder, Government Authorized Study of Radiation in Humans
Part 3. THE STUDIES: Human Radiation Studies Included Combat Exercises, Skin Tests, Plan to Inject 49ers
12/6   Part 4. ETHICS: Cold War Scientists Pushed Ethical Boundaries With Radiation Experiments
12/9   Part 5. FADING HISTORIES: Destroyed Records, Dying Witnesses Consign San Francisco Radiation Lab to Obscurity
12/11   Part 6. PERPETUAL EXPERIMENT: Shuttered Radiation Lab Poses Ongoing Health Risks for Growing Neighborhood


About the series: The San Francisco Public Press sifted through thousands of pages of obscure records, interviewed experts and tracked down elderly veterans who were subjected to ethically questionable radiation exposure by the U.S. Navy in San Francisco during the Cold War. What we found reveals a troubling history with effects still felt today.

Reporting: Chris Roberts and Rebecca Bowe | Editing: Michael Stoll and Liz Enochs | Research Editing: Ambika Kandasamy | Web Design: John Angelico | Copy Editing: Kurt Aguilar, Michele Anderson and Richard Knee | Archival Research and Illustration: Stacey Carter | Audio Editing: Liana Wilcox, Mel Baker and Megan Maurer | Sound Gathering: Justin Benttinen | Photography: Sharon Wickham, Yesica Prado and Guillermo Hernandez | Graphic Design: Reid Brown | Fact Checking: Dani Solakian and Ali Hanks | Proofreading: Lila LaHood, Noah Arroyo, Zhe Wu and Sylvie Sturm | Special thanks to Alastair Gee and Danielle Renwick at The Guardian and Ben Trefny at KALW Public Radio, and to Laura Wenus and Amy Pyle


Image above: Hundreds of blue-collar shipyard workers were exposed to potentially dangerous amounts of radiation while attempting to ā€œdecontaminateā€ the USS Gasconade and other vessels hit by a 1946 atomic bomb test in the Pacific and brought to San Francisco for study. Source: National Archives and Records Administration. Color illustration by Reid Brown.

Funding for ā€œExposedā€ comes fromĀ theĀ California Endowment, theĀ Fund for Environmental Journalism, theĀ Local Independent Online News Publishers AssociationĀ and members of theĀ San Francisco Public Press. Learn more atĀ sfpublicpress.org/donate.



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