The Tuskegee Experiment Is Guatemala’s Porton Down
THE Tuskegee Experiment saw the US study 600 black men with and without syphilis from 1932 to 1972 . The men never knew what they suffered from, their condition being presented to them as “bad blood”. They were given no treatment. They were merely observed.
Now we learn that the US used the same tactic on prisoners and the mentally ill of Guatemala who were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhea and then studied.
In both experiments the research was led by John Cutler, an American public health doctor.
On July 25, 1972, the Associated Press reporter Jean Heller wrote of the Tuskegee experiment:
“For 40 years, the U.S. Public Health Service has conducted a study in which human guinea pigs, not given proper treatment, have died of syphilis and its side effects. The study was conducted to determine from autopsies what the disease does to the human body.”
But what he did not know was that between 1946 and 1948 695 soldiers, prisoners, prostitutes and mental patients in Guatemala were given the STDs to measure the effectivness of penicillin.
It was not until 1997, that the US apologised for the Tuskegee Experiment. President Clinton announced:
“To the survivors, to the wives and family members, the children and the grandchildren, I say what you know: No power on Earth can give you back the lives lost, the pain suffered, the years of internal torment and anguish.
“What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eye and finally say, on behalf of the American people: what the United States government did was shameful.
“And I am sorry.”
Now, President Obama is apologising to the people of Gautemala.
In both instances, the news comes after the main players have died or long left office.
In the summer of 1973, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the study participants and their families. In 1974, a $10 million out-of-court settlement was reached. As part of the settlement, the U.S. government promised to give lifetime medical benefits and burial services to all living participants. The Tuskegee Health Benefit Program (THBP) was established to provide these services. In 1975, wives, widows and offspring were added to the program. In 1995, the program was expanded to include health as well as medical benefits.
In January 2004, he last U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee participant died.
Britain has behaved no better.
In 2008, the Ministry of Defence awarded compensation to 360 veterans of nerve gas experiments at Porton Down.
The ex-servicemen say they were duped into taking part in what they thought were cold remedy tests at the Wiltshire research centre in the 1950s and 1960s.
Once again the truth came out when the people who had arranged the tests were dead…
Posted: 2nd, October 2010 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
