The United States of America admitted Friday October 1, 2010 that between 1946 and 1948 it conducted medical tests on unwitting Guatemalans. The testing was carried out by a U.S. public health team lead by a Dr. John C. Cutter and they involved infecting people with venereal diseases.
In the study Dr. Cutter and his team injected, thereby infecting, some 700 or more people with gonorrhea or syphilis. Mental patients were among those infected and prostitutes were infected then sent to have unprotected sex with soldiers and/or prison inmates. This was done, so the records state, to aid in the search for cures and to conduct tests on the efficacy of penicillin, a new drug at the time. There was never consent from those infected.
Testing Evidence Found by Massachusetts Professor in Pittsburgh
The testing came to light when a university professor was conducting study related to other research and came across records of it. Susan M. Reverby, a professor of history and women's studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, was examining items in the University of Pittsburgh archives earlier this year when she found evidence of the experiments. Dr. Cutter, who died in 2003, had taught at the University of Pittsburgh during the 1980's.
Hilary Clinton, Kathleen Sebelius Sorry
U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton called Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom on Thursday to inform him of the experiments and offer a U.S. apology. Colom was learning of the experiments for the first time and on Friday called them “hair-raising” and “crimes against humanity.” His government will conduct an investigation and co-operate with the U.S. investigation, he said.
Though Professor Reverby has written a research paper on the experiments Friday's announcement by the government was the first time these experiments on humans were made public.
"Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago we are outraged such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health," said a joint statement issued Friday by Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "We deeply regret that it happened and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices."
Medical Ethics Professor "Stunned"
In following up on this story New York Times reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. spoke with Dr. Mark Siegler, who is the director of the Maclean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago medical school. Dr. Siegler said he was "stunned" to learn of the experiments.
“This is shocking. This is much worse than Tuskegee - at least those men were infected by natural means," Dr Siegler said. "It’s ironic - no, it’s worse than that, it’s appalling - that, at the same time as the United States was prosecuting Nazi doctors for crimes against humanity, the U.S. government was supporting research that placed human subjects at enormous risk."
Colom May Take Issue to International Court
The 'Tuskegee' which Dr. Siegler referred to was an experiment began in 1932 and continued for many years whereby researchers observed African-American men in Alabama who were in late-stages of syphilis but did nothing to help them get well. Dr. Cutter, as it turns out, worked there after the experiments in Guatemala ended.
President Colom said he may take the issue further and that he considers it a violation of human rights. "These should be considered crimes against humanity and Guatemala reserves the right to petition the relevant international court at an opportune time."
There is no word yet on whether there will be compensation paid out by the U.S.
Sources:
- Johnson, Tim; 'U.S. apologizes for 'abhorrent' Guatemala syphilis study'; published Oct. 1, accessed same day; MccLatchy Newspapers
- McNeil, Donald G.; 'U.S. Apologizes for Syphilis Program in Guatemala'; published Oct. 1 2010, accessed same day; the New York Times
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