* 43,999 of the ORAU subjects (59% of subjects in the database) are medical records from one epidemiological study. This number does not represent actual people participating in experiments.
There are 32 reporting research facilities included in the current database. Eleven of these research facilities are DOE laboratories and 21 are non-DOE laboratories (such as hospitals and universities). Detailed information can be obtained about most of these research facilities through the above links to their home pages on the World Wide Web.
The combined research facilities reported a total of 253 projects during FY97, 84% were conducted at DOE facilities and 16% at non-DOE facilities. Three national laboratories, BNL, LLNL, and LBNL comprised over 50% of the projects while BNL had the largest number with 63 projects. Eighty-five of the 253 projects listed in this database were not supported by DOE grants. The reason these projects were listed in the DOE's Human Subjects Research Database was because the research was performed in DOE laboratories or by DOE employees.
The funding from DOE that was directly associated with tasks or portions of projects involving the use of human subjects was about 30 million dollars during FY97; funding from other federal and private sources at DOE facilities for human subjects projects was 12.7 million. (Some DOE-funded projects at non-DOE sites also receive financial support from non-DOE sources. The total funding for human subjects activities is 43.6 million, which includes .9 million of these funds.) Two DOE laboratories, BNL and ORAU, accounted for ~17% of the DOE funding. One project, managed by the National Academy of Sciences with the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) in Hiroshima, Japan, accounted for 47% of the DOE reported funding. Of the NAS funds, ~95% go directly to the RERF.
About 93% of the total human subjects in the database are records from registries, questionnaires, surveys and epidemiological studies. Because these studies were included in the database the total number of human subjects reported is not representative of actual people participating but includes a large number of records from human subjects.
A total of 74,738 human subjects were reported during FY97. About 90% are from DOE facilities and ~10% from non-DOE facilities. This year one ORAU epidemiological study included 43,999 subjects, 59% of the total number of subjects in the database. ORAU serves as the Epidemiologic Surveillance Data Center for the DOE and most of the human subjects from this facility are from records-based studies and registries. The NAS project is also primarily an epidemiological study with some clinical followup. Other epidemiological studies also contribute to the total number of human subjects, making it appear large.
DOE does NOT support any research in which the effect of radiation upon humans per se is the object of study. Of the 252 projects listed in this database approximately 82 involved human exposure to radiation. The nature of the exposure was therapeutic, clinical, or occupational. The number of volunteers participating in these studies was 5141. In all of the studies the radiation used was as a tracer to facilitate imaging (i.e. PET), or for diagnostic (i.e. X-Ray) and/or therapeutic reasons.