BOSTON -- Questionable science -- that's the complaint against a study involving monkeys planned for McLean Hospital in Belmont.

Tiny squirrel monkeys, familiar in zoos, are soon to get radiation to help NASA assess risks for astronauts.

"We've had humans that have been sent to the moon. We have humans on the space station. We know what radiation particles are in outer space," Dr. Marge Peppercorn said.

Peppercorn is a retired pediatrician and part of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine. The 36 monkeys would be monitored at McLean Hospital. NASA granted $1.75 million for the study. The doctors group said similar research exists. The monkeys face other drugs and hours in restraints. They call it inhumane.

"This experiment is housing the monkeys for three to four years after they are radiated in isolated solitary confinement, if you will, with no justification in the experimental protocol for why that's necessary," Peppercorn said.

Last month, eight members of Congress told NASA there's no ethical justification for the study -- since deep space travel to Mars is not likely soon.

McLean Hospital, which is working for NASA, refused on camera comment, but released a statement saying in part, the monkeys will get "one time exposure of low levels of space radiation." They call it "similar to what an astronaut will encounter on a Mars mission."

"It's really not the same experience that the astronauts will go through, so whatever results the study produces, I don't believe as a physician would be relevant at all," Peppercorn said.

The grant is funded, but the research has not started.