Stout said Harvard bears responsibility for work done by its scientists.
"Certainly the University needs to be responsible for anything done under its name or auspices," said Stout, adding that test subjects should receive some financial compensation, either from Harvard or the federal government.
Enrietto agreed. "These individuals should have been held accountable long before now," he said. "But I think all we can do now is find out who was harmed."
"We want to be sure it doesn't happen ever again," Enrietto said.
Professor of Medicine Emeritus Dr. Walter H. Abelmann is heading a Harvard panel of professors and medical experts examining University research on human subjects. He said yesterday that the panel will scrutinize the recently revealed Wrentham School research.
"I expect in time to hear more about this," Abelmann said. "It will eventually be on our list."
The Abelmann panel will convene for the first time on February 18.
Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics Richard Wilson, a radiation expert, said he thought the radiation ingested by the children was minimal.
Wilson, who has reviewed the study, said he was unable to determine the exact doses given to the children, but said they appeared to be "small."
The children involved sustained only a "very small" chance of experiencing long-term health problems as a result of the experiment, Wilson said.
"But again, the issue is not whether these doses to children were appropriate," Wilson said. "Even if the dose is low, the question is still one of basic human rights."
Markey said he supported the mental retardation department and other state officials "in their determination to do the right thing...to address the gruesome mistakes of the past."
"In light of the discovery of these experiments, along with those at the Fernald School, I will insist that the Federal Inter-Agency Task Force give heightened attention to experiments with developmentally challenged children as part of its efforts to provide full disclosure of human radiation experiments," Markey said.