Documents describe experiments in which pregnant women were given radioactive "vitamin drinks" to measure how quickly radioisotopes crossed the placenta into fetuses.
NOT BSTOTAL BS
HARDLY BS — Verdict: Mostly True
Verified by Lenz ·
The Short Version
Records and court documents support that pregnant women were given radioactive iron drinks presented as vitamin cocktails, and that fetal uptake across the placenta was measured. The overstatement is the phrase “to measure how quickly”: the strongest sources describe a broader nutrition and iron-absorption study, with placental transfer to fetuses assessed as part of it rather than clearly as the sole or explicit primary aim.
Caveats
The strongest records support radioactive iron tracer drinks and fetal transfer measurement, but not a clearly documented aim of measuring transfer speed.
Later retellings often compress several facts into a sharper narrative than the primary documents justify, especially about purpose and wording.
This refers to tracer-dose radioactive iron in the Vanderbilt nutrition study; it should not be conflated with other radiation experiments involving different substances, doses, or objectives.