In the 1940’s the U.S. government infected around 1500 men and women with sexually transmitted disease’s. Most of them were men and women that were mentally challenged. The doctors discovered a new form of antibiotics and wanted test the strength of the antibiotics on STDs, in particular syphilis. The goal of these tests was to find a cure and/or prevent the disease. The doctors also infected the patients with Gonorrhea and Chancroid. After some investigation of these tests, the reports state that the Guatemalan government were aware of these experiments, allowed the tests, and might have approved them in exchange for large amounts of penicillin. In the end a majority of the patients were treated and one person died.
Alluding the obvious, “you doing too much,” I am all in for the discovery of medicine to cure diseases. At some point if not in the beginning, there should be some consideration of morals in these and any other experiments on human beings. I don’t believe in potentially sacrificing lives with the hope of saving future lives. These weren’t just tests on people who had STDs, they deliberately infected people who didn’t have STDs against their will and without their consent. This was just unethical.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius both apologized for the research and had this to say, “Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health.”
The discovery of these experiments were made by Professor Susan M. Reverby while she was researching the incidents that occurred with the Tuskegee Experiment. This just makes you wonder if there’re or were any other experiments existing past or present that we don’t know about. These experiments were documented in the University of Pittsburgh archives years ago, but somehow no one knew about it.
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