Subject: HQ NR SPECIAL ISSUE: Washington Post Report on NIH Radiation Incident

From: [email-masked] (ifcss)
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 16:15:51 -0400

IFCSS News Release Special Issue

  Pregnant NIH Scientist Calls Radiation Poisoning Deliberate

Written By: Brian Mooar/Washington Post Staff Writer (abstract)
Date:       October 10th, 1995
From:       IFCSS Headquarters, [email-masked]

A pregnant scientist who says she ate contaminated food at the 
National Institutes of Health in June filed a federal complaint 
yesterday, alleging that NIH "greatly underestimated" her rad-
iation  exposure and provided inadequate medical treatment for
"one of the largest reported doses of domestic internal radia-
tion" poisoning in 20 years.

In a complaint filed with the Nuclear  Regulatory  Commission, 
Maryann Wenli Ma alleged that the poisoning was deliberate and 
occurred after her supervisor at NIH repeatedly urged  her  to 
terminate her pregnancy so she and her husband could  complete 
a cancer research project that could have "significant  scien-
tific and commercial value."

The complaint urges federal regulators to revoke NIH's license 
to handle radioactive materials, alleging   that the Bethesda-
based research facility repeatedly violated federal rules  de-
signed to prevent radiation exposure at levels Ma received.

Ma, 31, and her husband, Bill Wenling Zheng, came  from  China 
in 1994 to work in the National Cancer Institute's  Laboratory 
of Molecular Pharmacology. They were among 26 workers  at  NIH 
found to be contaminated with phosphorus-32, a radioactive iso-
tope, over a two-week period in June.

Ma's baby is due in December. Physicians  contacted  yesterday 
said it is unclear whether there  will  be  any   long-lasting 
effects on her or her child.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, NRC and NIH.  Offi-
cials from all three agencies have said they believe the  evi-
dence points sabotage, but neither they nor   Ma's   complaint
have identified any suspects.

Ma's complaint states that she ate leftover Chinese food  from 
a lab refrigerator on June 28 and experienced sharp  abdominal 
pain that night. The next day, she set off a  Geiger   counter 
during a routine sweep in her lab, and the   floor in front of 
the refrigerator also tested positive.   Three hours later she 
was taken to Holy Cross Hospital and received intravenous hyd-
ration treatment.

The complaint alleges that Ma, who was 17 weeks pregnant, rece-
ived more than twice the radiation dose that NIH has  claimed.
Tests completed in August at Oak Ridge Institute  for  Science
in Tenn., at the request of the NRC   showed  that Ma received
between 740 and 820 microcuries. The  complaint  alleges  that 
NIH's radiation safety officer ordered 24 hours of urine test-
ing at Holy Cross, but that Ma's supervisor,  John  Weinstein, 
later told the treating physician to take less urine.  The in-
complete testing let NIH officials to "significantly  underes-
timate" Ma's exposure, according to her consultant, Mr. Dooley.

Weinstein, reached by telephone last night, declined to  comm-
ent. His attoney, Morris Topf, of Bethesda, said in  a  state-
ment that Weinstein "catagorically denies" that he urged Ma to
terminate her pregancy and that the complaint is "a slander on 
an outstanding scientist,   a man  with incredible, incredible 
accomplishments.

Ma's consultant predicted that Ma's   lifetime  risk of cancer 
might be boosted by as much as 83 percent, but he said the im-
pact on her fetus was "less certain".

The document alleges that after Ma told Weinstein she was preg-
nant on June 11, he urged her to have an  abortion  and   later 
said "their project was too important to let anything  hold  it 
up, implying that her pregnancy would be an impediment  to  the 
work."