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Peace Propaganda and Biomedical Experimentation: Influential Uses of Radioisotopes in Endocrinology and Molecular Genetics in Spain (1947–1971)

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Abstract

A political discourse of peace marked the distribution and use of radioisotopes in biomedical research and in medical diagnosis and therapy in the post-World War II period. This occurred during the era of expansion and strengthening of the United States’ influence on the promotion of sciences and technologies in Europe as a collaborative effort, initially encouraged by the policies and budgetary distribution of the Marshall Plan. This article follows the importation of radioisotopes by two Spanish research groups, one in experimental endocrinology and one in molecular biology. For both groups foreign funds were instrumental in the early establishment of their laboratories. The combination of funding and access to previously scarce radioisotopes helped position these groups at the forefront of research in Spain.

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Acknowledgments

Early research for this paper was partially funded by a grant from the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (Spain) and more recently by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (BFF2003-09579-C03-03). I wish to thank Jesús Ávila, Francisco Escobar, Néstor HerrÁn, Gabriela Morreale, Emilio Muñoz, Javier Ordóñez, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, José Manuel SÁnchez Ron, Ana Romero and Xavier Roqué for their contributions to the seminar held in Madrid in December 2002 on “Radioactivity and biology”, funded by the Spanish Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear. I am grateful to Angela Creager, who called my attention to material recorded at the archives of the US Atomic Energy Commission. Richard Rayburn kindly attended my requests at the NARA facilities, in Morrow, GA.

I also acknowledge the information provided by Margarita Salas and Gabriela Morreale, and comments and suggestions from Angela Creager, Soraya de Chadarevian, Emilio Muñoz, Javier Ordóñez and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger to an earlier version of this paper. A␣shorter version was presented at the ISHPSSB Meeting held in Vienna, July 2003.

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    María Jesús Santesmases

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Santesmases, M.J. Peace Propaganda and Biomedical Experimentation: Influential Uses of Radioisotopes in Endocrinology and Molecular Genetics in Spain (1947–1971). J Hist Biol 39, 765–794 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-006-9112-6

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