WASHINGTON — American scientists deliberately infected prisoners and patients in a mental hospital in Guatemala with syphilis 60 years ago, a recently unearthed experiment that prompted U.S. officials to apologize Friday and declare outrage over "such reprehensible research."
The U.S. government-funded experiment, which ran from 1946 to 1948, was discovered by a Wellesley College medical historian. It apparently was conducted to test if penicillin, then relatively new, could prevent infection with sexually transmitted diseases. The study came up with no useful information and was hidden for decades.
The government researcher who led the work in Guatemala also was involved in this country's infamous Tuskegee experiment, where from 1932 to 1972 scientists tracked 600 black men in Alabama who had syphilis but didn't know it, without ever offering them treatment.
"We are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said of the Guatemalan project Friday.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama had been briefed about the situation and planned to call Guatemala's president, Alvaro Colom.
"Obviously this is shocking, it's tragic, it's reprehensible," Mr. Gibbs said. "It's tragic and the U.S. by all means apologizes to all those who were impacted."
Strict regulations today make clear that it is unethical to experiment on people without their consent and require special steps for any work with such vulnerable populations as prisoners. But such regulations didn't exist in the 1940s.
The U.S. government-funded experiment, which ran from 1946 to 1948, was discovered by a Wellesley College medical historian. It apparently was conducted to test if penicillin, then relatively new, could prevent infection with sexually transmitted diseases. The study came up with no useful information and was hidden for decades.
The government researcher who led the work in Guatemala also was involved in this country's infamous Tuskegee experiment, where from 1932 to 1972 scientists tracked 600 black men in Alabama who had syphilis but didn't know it, without ever offering them treatment.
"We are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said of the Guatemalan project Friday.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama had been briefed about the situation and planned to call Guatemala's president, Alvaro Colom.
"Obviously this is shocking, it's tragic, it's reprehensible," Mr. Gibbs said. "It's tragic and the U.S. by all means apologizes to all those who were impacted."
Strict regulations today make clear that it is unethical to experiment on people without their consent and require special steps for any work with such vulnerable populations as prisoners. But such regulations didn't exist in the 1940s.
The U.S. government ordered two independent investigations to uncover exactly what happened in Guatemala and to make sure current bioethics rules are adequate. They will be led by the prestigious Institute of Medicine and the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.
And while deliberately trying to infect people with serious diseases is abhorrent today, the Guatemalan experiment isn't the only example from what National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins on Friday called "a dark chapter in the history of medicine." Forty similar deliberate-infection studies were conducted in the United States during that period, Dr. Collins said.
In Guatemala, 696 men and women were exposed to syphilis or in some cases gonorrhea, through jail visits by prostitutes or, when that didn't infect enough people, by deliberately inoculating them, reported Wellesley College historian Susan Reverby. Those who were infected were all offered penicillin, but it wasn't clear how many were infected and how many were successfully treated
And while deliberately trying to infect people with serious diseases is abhorrent today, the Guatemalan experiment isn't the only example from what National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins on Friday called "a dark chapter in the history of medicine." Forty similar deliberate-infection studies were conducted in the United States during that period, Dr. Collins said.
In Guatemala, 696 men and women were exposed to syphilis or in some cases gonorrhea, through jail visits by prostitutes or, when that didn't infect enough people, by deliberately inoculating them, reported Wellesley College historian Susan Reverby. Those who were infected were all offered penicillin, but it wasn't clear how many were infected and how many were successfully treated
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So there was nothing illegal about it back then, and we have since corrected the possibility of such a thing ever happening again. What is there to apologize for?
ReplyDeleteHow many people does our government employ just to find more things to publicly apologize for?
It's all about diminishing the image of America around the world. The liberal dream!
ReplyDeleteWhat disgusting apologies for reprehensible behavior. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
ReplyDeleteDisagree. Do you have to have a regulation to know that medical experiments on people is immoral?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, our government would say Josef Mengele who did the same thing for the Nazis was one of the worst monsters in the world.
I think it makes our government look better to say what an awful mistake this was and it won't happen again.
Otherwise, we are no better than "them." My grandfather fought in WWII and he'd be rolling in his grave over this.
Love my country, but not my government all the time!
11:05 am,
ReplyDeleteAmerica history was diminished after Christopher Columbus invasion. The north verses the south civil war against each other. The horrors inflicted on a group of people before, during and after slavery. The plight women had to go through to earn their right to feel equal to their male counter partner. The plight Black American had to go through just to be called men and women. The shameful events after the Guatemala had actually occurred in the Tuskegee experiments right here in the United States. The right to be who you are is exploding today in the gay community. U. S. military fighting in wars in other countries for years and not knowing the true meaning behind the invasions. Using hard working American tax paying money to bail out the very same companies, banks, auto, wall street, rich people and politicians who outsource American job to countries who pay less for slave labor while American lose jobs, home, family and friends; is diminishing American history. We have serious problem right here in our homeland. And, we just keep making the same mistakes over and over not keeping in mind our own shameful diminishing American history. No wonder other countries disrespect America.
8:48 am and 11:05am,
ReplyDeleteYou both are crazy. There is absolutely no excuse for that kind of cruelty. But, that is what this country is about. Wars, lies cheating and stealing the the life and livilhood of childrens, adults and animals; in this country and abroad. Shame on you.
gotta love our government...ONLY IN THE U.S. !!!
ReplyDelete