Prisoners' Testicles Irradiated for Study

Between 1963 and 1973, leading U.S. endocrinologist Dr. Carl Heller, funded by the Atomic Energy Commission, conducted highly secret radiation experiments on 67 prisoners in Oregon and 60 in Washington to determine the doses required to induce sterility. He offered participants $5 per month and $100 upon completing a vasectomy to prevent potential "radiation induced mutants" from entering the population. Although the study aimed to understand reproductive risks relevant to astronauts and nuclear workers, the experiments remained classified at the time, yielded little follow up data on outcomes or harmful effects, and prisoners were not tracked after release.

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