The U.S. government continues to perform highly secretive experiments on human subjects, according to partial information about these continuing experiments released under a Freedom of Information Act request.

At least 12 programs run by the Department of Energy are using human beings as part of the experiments, which operate under unusual names such as "Moose Drool," "Little Workers," and "Hidden Valley," among others.

An unclassified list of these experiments was provided to the Federation of American Scientists under a FOIA request and included in the organization’s latest newsletter.

Little information about the nature of these experiments was provided by the government, which lists the total number of participants in the programs at around 300.

"Human subjects research refers broadly to the collection of scientific data from human subjects," FAS noted in its review of the experiments. "This could involve physical procedures that are performed on the subjects, or simply interviews and other forms of interaction with them."

Controversy has surrounded past efforts by the U.S. government to conduct human experiments, including radiation tests that sparked a government committee years ago.

"Research using human subjects provides important medical and scientific benefits to individuals and to society. The need for this research does not, however, outweigh the need to protect individual rights and interests," FAS noted, quoting the DOE's 2016 guidance on protection of human subjects in classified research.