Secret Plutonium Injections: The Untold Story of US Human Experiments

The Case of Eb Cade

• 📌 In March 1945, Eb Cade, a 55-year-old cement mixer, was in a car accident in Tennessee and suffered broken bones.
• ☢️ Instead of receiving treatment, he became the first of at least 18 American test subjects to be secretly injected with plutonium without his knowledge or consent at Oak Ridge Army Hospital.
• 🔬 The plutonium, sourced from Los Alamos, was used to monitor its effects on the human body, tracking its presence in blood, urine, stool, and bones.
• 💔 Cade's broken bones were not set for nearly three weeks, allowing time for samples of his bone to be taken after the plutonium had circulated.
• 🦷 Additionally, 15 of Cade's teeth were pulled as part of the experiment, and he received approximately 4.7 micrograms of plutonium, nearly five times the amount considered safe.

The Plutonium Files and Patient Selection

• 📜 Journalist Eileen Welsome, author of "The Plutonium Files," investigated these formerly classified experiments.
• 👥 Welsome states that medical professionals and scientists involved in the experiments admitted to choosing vulnerable individuals who "didn't know enough to ask questions."
• 🧑‍🔬 The selection criteria included people without sufficient education or those in blue-collar professions, indicating an element of class bias.

Long-Term Consequences and Secrecy

• 🏃‍♂️ Eb Cade eventually escaped the hospital before being formally discharged and relocated to North Carolina, where he died eight years later from heart failure.
• ❓ It remains unknown if the plutonium injection played a role in his death, especially considering his otherwise good health and the longevity of his siblings.
• ⏳ Welsome suggests that such secret government experiments may still be ongoing, noting that it took 50 years for the details of these plutonium injections to be revealed, implying other hidden activities could remain undiscovered for decades.
• 🎙️ The story is discussed in detail on "The Truth of the Matter" podcast with host Natasha Zouves and journalist Eileen Welsome.