Jeff I wonder why you are bringing this up I didnt quite follow the thread or the interest in Mars. However, a little personal testimonial as usual.
When I was a minor, I was kicked out of school, and my parents sent me to work. the child labor chamber dispatched me to work as help hand in the faculty of Agriculture, of the Hebrew U, in my hometown. I was assigned to help a researcher called Yudit (Judith) Rishpon, then a young scientist borrowed from the Weitzman Institute nearby. I didnt know anything about nothing, and she let me work on the viking experiments on soil. My job was to weigh soil samples from the Israeli desert, and then put them in tubes. In the tubes I had to hang a little tissue paper cut in triangle on the hook coming down from the cork, and drop some waters on the triangle. the "water" turned out to be readioactive, highly dangerous substance. I was made to do that without any warning, protection or anything designed to protect from radioactivity, needless to say, I was a minor, and paid something like a dollar a day.
In the end of the experiment, ehich lasted about 3-5 months , she came proudly to me to say I will receive 'reference", and indeed her paper, published at the time you quote here (with Prof Banin her chair) had a footnote in the end, thanking the "technician", with my name. She said I should be proud participating in the Mars viking mission, to explore whether the soil has life signs, or if its a chemical reaction that immitates the release of water from the ground. the ground she explored. She became very famous and now is a high profile Prof. in tel aviv u (who also worked at livermore lab in the USA).
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j23601j2t6231312/ this papers refers to the 1978 paper which I cite.
I realized years later that I was severely exploited and mistreated, with all violations of safety and labor laws. (one of a long list...), and this is the ONLY documented abuse. I found the paper, which is quite famous eversince, and keep a copy, with my early "career" as a guinea pig.
Your mention of this old experiment brought it up...and indeed "the world" expects me to be "proud" that I was exploited for this "important" experiment. I once watched a documentary about Mengele's victims. One of them, a lady who lives I believe in the USA or Australia, had a cheerful approach, spoke about forgivenewss that helped her recover. She said -I decided to give my experience as a present to the human race in the hope that the medical experiments help medical science develop and bring health to many.
Well....at least the germans recorded their abuses for future reference...while the americans do not, and do not consider compensation.
