"They're just now beginning to delve into thesedocuments and the story is just beginning to comeout," Whittemore said.

Dr. Lynn M. Peterson, director of the Divisionof Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School, saidthe experiments were "clearly wrong."

"Not only was it connected to the cold war, butit was also connected to a wave of enthusiasm formedical experimentation without thought to itsdanger," Peterson said.

"The good seemed to dwarf any consideration ofharm or risk. By the standards of the era it doesnot seem to be egregious, but by today's standardit's totally wrong," he said.

Warren, a pioneer specialist in the biologicaleffects of radiation, was a senior official at theAtomic Energy Commission. Before his death in1980, Warren also held positions with theDepartment of Defense, the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration and the Veterans'Administration.

His New York Times obituary said Warren"directed his efforts at learning how to identifyand control the hazards of radiation for those whohad to confront them."

Warren's involvement with the atomic-planeproject likely concerned that kind of radiationcontainment project.

But most of Warren's research involved givinglarge doses of radiation to terminally ill cancerpatients. In an article he authored in the May1949 American Journal of Public Health, Warrenwrote that "the development of the atomic bomb hasbeen felt as keenly as a contribution to thewelfare of mankind as in the programs for thedevelopment of weapons to destroy mankind."

Vice President and General Counsel Margaret H.Marshall did not return repeated phone callsyesterday