What is Project Sunshine and Project Gabriel?

photorandy2023

11 months ago

This is a new series of articles where I explain what various terms, catch phrases, and other confusing topics, as well as many secret government projects and agencies, are and do. If there are any subjects you’re interested in learning about, please include them in the comment section.

Project SUNSHINE was a series of research studies that began in 1953 to ascertain the impact of radioactive fallout on the world’s population. The project was initially kept secret, and only became known publicly in 1956. 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. With the conclusion from Project GABRIEL that radioactive isotope Strontium-90 (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. SUNSHINE elicited a great deal of controversy when it was revealed that many of the remains sampled were utilized without prior permission from relatives of the dead, which wasn’t known until many years later.

History

On January 18, 1955, then-AEC commissioner Dr. Willard Libby said that there was insufficient data regarding the effects of fallout due to a lack of human samples – especially samples taken from children – to analyze. 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. Many of the 1,500 sample cadavers were babies and young children, and were taken from countries from Australia to Europe, often without their parents’ consent or knowledge. According to the investigation 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 British doctors, and to prevent her from finding out what had happened, she was not allowed to dress the baby for the funeral.

Notable studies

In 1958, research for project SUNSHINE was brought to Belgium. Scientists started doing tests that were slightly different than those done previously in the United States and Europe by analyzing soils in agricultural regions instead of human bones. 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 and grazing animals such as cows and sheep, the animals from which humans consume milk and meat. Researchers also looked for direct influences of strontium-90 by observing how well the contaminated grass and crops grew.

In a 1957 article, Dr. Whitlock, director of Health Education in the National Dairy Council, Chicago, Illinois, discussed the impact of strontium-90 in the cow milk consumed by humans, concluding that the effects of Sr-90 would not be detectably harmful to the general populace of the US. “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.” Specifically referring to the natural radioactivity one is exposed to from potassium-40.

Project GABRIEL

Project GABRIEL was an investigation to gauge the impact of nuclear fallout resulting from nuclear warfare. The United States Atomic Energy Commission surmised that the radioactive isotope strontium-90 (Sr-90) presented the greatest hazard to life globally, which resulted in the commissioning of Project SUNSHINE: which sought to examine the levels of Sr-90 in human tissues and bones (with a special interest in infants) gathered from around the world.

Background

Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima *(left)* and Nagasaki *(right)*

During the Cold War era, there was an escalation of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, testing continued and the scale increased with the first hydrogen bomb in 1952. Soon after the United States tested the hydrogen bomb, the Soviet Union followed, in 1953. The mushroom clouds that occurred from the explosions released radioactive isotopes in mass quantities.

The first comprehensive study of the problem of radioactive isotope release began in spring 1949 with a one-man project called GABRIEL, conducted by Nicholas M. Smith Jr. at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Smith produced his first report in 1949.

Project GABRIEL was revived in mid-1951 because bombs that were dropped had brought up concerns people had about the dangers of strontium-90. United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was interested by GABRIEL’s report though they said it was lacking in hard data and needed independent confirmation of the tests.

After reviewing Project GABRIEL in 1953, it was given first priority status. The secret project would define “practical limits” for using atomic weapons. A task team was assembled and the codename used was “Project HORN.” In 1954, AEC argued that fallout was harmless because there was not enough evidence to prove that fallout would harm humans, animals, or crops. The AEC campaign persuaded the public that the worldwide fallout was harmless. This claim was later disputed when scientists announced publicly that there was no safe level of radiation. This was confirmed in a confidential report by a geneticist for the AEC. By 1954 and the Castle Bravo incident, it was obvious that radioactive fallout was dangerous to humans. The United States Atomic Energy Commission Division of Biology and Medicine dealt with efforts directed towards experimental and field studies and the correlation of data dealing with Project GABRIEL. The RAND Corporation, Laboratories at Columbia University, AEC‘s New York office, the University of Chicago, an exclusive group of scientists, UCLA, and the United States Air Force were all involved in collection and testing of samples from around the world for radioactive fallout.

Testing strontium-90

After the hazards of strontium-90 became evident, the next step was to focus on impact and damage per detonation. Smith’s tests focused primarily on how many atomic weapons could potentially be detonated before radioactive contamination of air, water and soil became a long-term effect on crops, animals and humans worldwide. In 1949, Smith estimated that it would take 3,000 Hiroshima-sized detonations in a single growing season to see if it have an effect on people who ate crops in affected areas. In 1951, Smith repeated this study with new information from the previous two detonations. With the new information, he then calculated that 10,000 Hiroshima-sized detonations would be needed before the long-term hazards became serious. The testing was done with bones, urine and tissue samples collected worldwide. These samples were all tested for nuclear fallout, yet were falsely studied under the guise of nutritional importance and naturally occurring radon. It was determined that Sr-90 is a “bone-seeker,” depositing in bones and marrow after ingestion. Civilian prisoners were considered for certain radiation testing, mainly Utah State prison inmates. One document revealed tests done on the bones of a stillborn baby showed that strontium-90 levels were 36% higher than the average 55% of other stillborn.

Studies related to Project GABRIEL

Project GABRIEL opened a wide range of questions about formation, transformation, fallout and biological hazards due to bomb debris. GABRIEL supported work in research projects that might apply to the side effects of nuclear war. It was the sole support of the major research effort of Project SUNSHINE, which tested biological damage from radioactive fallout of Sr-90. By 1954 Project GABRIEL included about 70 investigations supported by the Division of Biology and Medicine. At a summer conference that was hosted by the RAND Corporation the estimate of detonations was revised and increased to 25,000 megatons worth of damage. Project Sunshine was led by radiation physicist Willard Libby on July 21, 1953. Libby realized GABRIEL lacked data in other aspects of fallout, examined carbon-14 and developed radiocarbon dating. The Project GABRIEL report by the AEC was issued in 1954, while the RAND Corporation issued their report on Project SUNSHINE in 1953. Both Project GABRIEL and SUNSHINE played a direct role in the reorganization of the AEC’s Division of Biology and Medicine in 1957.

Status of Project Gabriel

The Darkest ‘Conspiracy Theory’ In U.S. History That Turned Out To Be True

In a world full of conspiracy theories, it’s hard to know what to believe and what not to.

There are theories that are strictly speculative like the secret society controlled by the Illuminati, the demonic blue mustang at the Denver Airport, and the aliens in a Texas desert. Then, there are conspiracy theories that sadly turned out to have some truth to them, like Operation Big Buzz, Project Artichoke, Project Acoustic Kitty, and the CIA’s “heart attack gun.”

But another horrifying conspiracy theory that ended up being true is known as Project SUNSHINE.

What was Project SUNSHINE?

Project SUNSHINE began in 1953 as a joint effort by the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and USAF Project Rand. It was a series of studies done to understand the effects of radioactive chemicals on people around the world.

Specifically, Project SUNSHINE sought to research the long-term impact of nuclear radiation on the biosphere from repeated detonations, each larger in size than the last. They already understood from the preceding Project GABRIEL that a radioactive isotope, Sr-90 (Strontium-90), posed the most serious threat to the health of human beings.

Project SUNSHINE would go a step further, measuring Sr-90’s concentration in the tissue and bones of the dead to see how much it had eroded. Researchers were highly interested in the effects on the young age group, whose bones were still developing and were most susceptible to radiation damage and Sr-90 accumulation.

The study was kept a secret to start, but the public became aware of it in 1956. The revelation much later led to an avalanche of controversy over the assertion that the government obtained human samples from the dead without their family’s permission.

Did Project SUNSHINE steal the corpses of children and babies?

Two years into AEC’s research study, the commissioner, Dr. Willard Libby, announced that the organization had been unable to obtain sufficient data due to a lack of human subjects to test, especially samples from children.

He was unbelievably quoted as 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.”

Libby’s message led to the gathering of over 1,500 sample cadavers, primarily of babies and young children, of which only 500 were utilized.

They came from various countries between Europe and Australia and were alleged to have been taken without the parents’ consent.

After those accusations surfaced via a British newspaper, an investigation began. There were claims that the bodies came from hospitals and were parted out and shipped to the United States.

One woman from Britain even alleged that her stillborn baby’s legs were removed by doctors to hide the devious deeds. According to her, they refused to let her dress her baby for the funeral.

In 1958, the study for Project SUNSHINE moved to Belgium, where scientists analyzed soil in agricultural regions and no longer collected human bones. They also analyzed the transfer of Sr-90 to grazing animals since humans consume them, resulting in a conclusion that there was no detectable harm.

It took 40 years for the unethical practices of Project SUNSHINE to come to light, but for the families of the dead who lived through their relatives’ desecrations, finding out was likely still devastating. To add insult to injury, the government never took accountability for its actions.

Conspiracy theories are born when an unproven hypothesis is repeated over and over and offered as truth. Unfortunately, in the case of Project SUNSHINE, the unfathomable turned out to be factual.

Resources

en.wikipedia.org, “Project Sunshine.” By Wikipedia Editors; en.wikipedia.org, ” Project Gabriel.” By Wikipedia Editors; US Atomic Energy Commission, Status of Project Gabriel.” By Division of Biology and Medicine; nsarchive2.gwu.edu, “Project Gabriel.”; yourtango.com, “The Darkest ‘Conspiracy Theory’ In U.S. History That Turned Out To Be True.” By NyRee Ausler;