. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which was at the time charged with the responsibility of caring for the individuals in its custody, failed to provide basic protection to the individuals who were subjected to the research.

.Laws designed to protect persons with mental retardation from being subjected to experimentation are inadequate and need to be strengthened.

Task force members urged the Department of Mental Retardation to support the passage of current legislation filed by Gov. William F. Weld '66. The proposed law requires the informed consent of human subjects as a condition for performing research in any state facility.

U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass). issued a statement yesterday praising the task force and the report.

"From my viewpoint, the most important recommendations of the report are compensation for damages and mechanisms to prevent a recurrence," said Markey, adding that he has already introduced legislation to set federal standards for compensation.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass) echoed Markey's statement in a letter accompanying the report.

"Together we will uncover the full extent of the problem and ensure this will not occur again," Kennedy said.