In the 1950's, the Federal Government established a worldwide network to collect tissue secretly to monitor the effects of radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons tests, according to documents uncovered by a Presidential panel.

The President's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments today released documents from the old Atomic Energy Commission that outlined efforts to collect tissue, primarily bone, from cadavers without obtaining the permission of the next of kin. The documents show the commission members were aware of the dubious legal and ethical grounds for the research.

A transcript of a secret meeting on Jan. 18, 1955, called by the commission to discuss the tissue gathering for "Project Sunshine" shows that Dr. Willard Libby, a University of Chicago researcher who was a commission member, said there were "great gaps" in important data about fallout because of difficulty in obtaining human samples, particularly from children.

"I don't know how to get them," Dr. Libby is quoted as saying in the transcript, "but I do say that it is a matter of prime importance to get them and particularly in the young age group. So, human samples are of prime importance, and if anybody knows how to do a good job of body snatching, they will really be serving their country."