Search for women fed radioactive chapatis during ‘disturbing’ 1960s experiment
People are calling for a group of Punjabi women who were experimented on with radioactive chapatis in the 1960s to finally be checked on.
The story of a 1969 study which saw 21 women from Coventry given daily chapatis laced with the radioactive substance Iron-69 has resurfaced.
Most of the group had gone to their GPs for help with minor complaints, migraines for example, and this caused worries about widespread anaemia in the Asian community.
Medical professionals suspected that this was caused by traditional South Asian diets and decided to deliver the laced flatbreads to participants’ homes.
After some time, the women were invited to have their radiation levels assessed in Oxfordshire, with the study proving that ‘Asian women should take extra iron because the iron in the flour was insoluble’.
But there have long been concerns over these women not being given enough information to adequately consent to the project.
These issues came to light in a 1995 Channel 4 documentary which sparked an independent inquiry into the experiment funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).
The report was published in 1998 and it ‘recognised that research practice, ethics and regulation had moved on significantly since the experiments were originally undertaken’.
‘The inquiry directly resulted in new guidance and additional improvements have been made since then,’ the MRC said in a statement on Wednesday.
A University of Warwickshire researcher has revived public interest, after her X thread on what happened garnered more than 6.6 million views.
She said no one had followed up with the women who were experimented on to see if they had become sick.
Coventry North West MP Taiwo Owatemi said the discussion ‘deeply concerned’ her and promised to call for a debate about it when Parliament returns in September.
She wrote: ‘My foremost concern is for the women and families of those who were experimented on in this study.
‘From what I understand from speaking with the researcher and reading the reports, it seems that consent was not sought nor proper information given to the women at the time they took part in the experiment.
‘This is horrifying and I am deeply disturbed that a community here in Coventry was targeted for research without them being able to give informed consent.’
Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana said: ‘I understand that in the intervening years, the women have still not been identified, meaning that errors of the past have still not been addressed.
‘I am shocked that in spite of having been exposed decades ago, the South Asian community in Coventry has still not had a full explanation of what happened.
‘I therefore support calls for a statutory inquiry into this study and the way these women were treated, ensuring that the community gets answers to what happened.’
The MRC's full response:
MRC position statement on radioisotope use in 1950s and 1960s studies
Public and patient involvement, ethical practice and trust is critical to the work of the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the whole medical research community. That includes both public and patient involvement in our research but also transparency, accountability and public challenge to what we do and how we do it.
The issue of radioisotopes (radioactive tracers) within studies funded by MRC in the 1950s and 1960s was raised by a Channel 4 television documentary in 1995 and has recently been the subject of renewed discussion on X (formerly Twitter). This included a clinical study on absorption of iron from chapatti made of wheat flour.
The issues were considered following the broadcast of the documentary in 1995 and an independent inquiry was established at that time to examine the questions raised.
The inquiry, chaired by Rabbi Julia Neuberger, then Chief Executive of the King’s Fund, London, published its report in May 1998 (and it has remained publicly available ever since at the British Library). The report did recognise that research practice, ethics and regulation had moved on significantly since the experiments were originally undertaken and made a series of recommendations. The inquiry directly resulted in new guidance and additional improvements have been made since then.
It is also important to note that work by the MRC, and across the sector, has and continues to strengthen approaches to public and patient involvement, ethics and regulation.
MRC remains committed to the highest standards of integrity in the way individuals are involved in research and in the way research areas are identified, including a commitment to engagement, openness and transparency.
Source: UKRI
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