Space Station Living, Radiation, and Monkeys, Discovery

Former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao "You may have heard about planned monkey radiation experiments, and the recent protests against them. I understand the necessity of animal experiments in developing drugs and treatments, but I must admit that this one has me scratching my head a bit. I have no doubt that some advances in scientific knowledge would be realized through these planned experiments, but I'm an operational guy (despite my Ph.D.). How would these experiments help us to survive in deep space? I don't see it. The bottom line is that exposure to high levels of radiation is bad. We need to figure out how to detect, and protect against exposure as well as to treat if exposure occurs."

Keith's note: The following was forwarded to me by PeTA today: "We recently received several documents from the Department of Energy which indicate that in Aug 2010 the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) made a decision about whether to move forward or not with the controversial NASA-funded monkey radiation experiments. Attached is a heavily redacted statement that BNL drafted and sent to the DoE announcing their decision (although it has yet to be released to the public). You may have seen that NASA has recently stated publicly that the experiment 'might not happen'. These new documents are the first we've heard of any final decision being made at all."