US apologizes for '40s syphilis study in Guatemala [Archive]

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Anti Federalist

10-01-2010, 07:09 PM

Of course, if you were to have brought it up in 1950, you would be denounced as an anti-American "conspiracy theorist".

:mad:

US apologizes for '40s syphilis study in Guatemala

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – 2 hrs 56 mins ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101001/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_syphilis_experiment

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 discovery dredges up past wrongs in the name of science — like the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study in this country that has long dampened minority participation in medical research — and could complicate ongoing studies overseas that depend on cooperation from some of the world's poorest countries to tackle tough-to-treat diseases.

Uncovering it gives "us all a chance to look at this and — even as we are appalled at what was done — to redouble our efforts to make sure something like this could never happen again," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.

pcosmar

10-01-2010, 07:12 PM

Apology

Sorry we got caught.
:(

Hope you ignore it soon and don't look at the other stuff we do.

:mad:

ghengis86

10-01-2010, 07:13 PM

wasn't the experimenting on the Tuskegee blacks done around the same time? Apparently the guatemalan's rank below blacks in the eyes of the elite, since it took a little longer to apologize.

KCIndy

10-01-2010, 07:17 PM

wasn't the experimenting on the Tuskegee blacks done around the same time? Apparently the guatemalan's rank below blacks in the eyes of the elite, since it took a little longer to apologize.

Same people.

Apparently the Guatemalan "study" was only uncovered last year. I wonder what else is out there??? :(

From the article:

Wellesley College historian Susan Reverby made the discovery while combing the archived records of Dr. John Cutler, a government researcher involved in the Tuskegee study that from 1932 to 1972 tracked 600 black men in Alabama who had syphilis without ever offering them treatment.

She discovered that Cutler also led the Guatemala project that went a step further: A total of 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. They were offered penicillin, but it wasn't clear how many were infected and how many were successfully treated.

She reported that the U.S. had gained permission from Guatemalan officials to conduct the study, but did not inform the experimental subjects.

While secretly trying to infect people with serious diseases is abhorrent today, the Guatemalan experiment isn't the only example from what 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, Collins said.

RedStripe

10-01-2010, 07:20 PM

There are only two types of people: the cynical, and the uninformed.

PatriotOne

10-01-2010, 07:23 PM

Isolated incident. Our government loves us...oh wait....here's a few more but far from a comprehensive list. They think of us as no better than lab rats.

1931 Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.

1932 The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.

1935 The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occured within poverty-striken black populations.

1940 Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.

1942 Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty.

1943 In response to Japan's full-scale germ warfare program, the U.S. begins research on biological weapons at Fort Detrick, MD.

1944 U.S. Navy uses human subjects to test gas masks and clothing. Individuals were locked in a gas chamber and exposed to mustard gas and lewisite.

1945 Project Paperclip is initiated. The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence, and the CIA recruit Nazi scientists and offer them immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top secret government projects in the United States.

1945 "Program F" is implemented by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This is the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoride, which was the key chemical component in atomic bomb production. One of the most toxic chemicals known to man, fluoride, it is found, causes marked adverse effects to the central nervous system but much of the information is squelched in the name of national security because of fear that lawsuits would undermine full-scale production of atomic bombs.

1946 Patients in VA hospitals are used as guinea pigs for medical experiments. In order to allay suspicions, the order is given to change the word "experiments" to "investigations" or "observations" whenever reporting a medical study performed in one of the nation's veteran's hospitals.

1947 Colonel E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Comission issues a secret document (Document 07075001, January 8, 1947) stating that the agency will begin administering intravenous doses of radioactive substances to human subjects.

1947 The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon for use by American intelligence. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge.

1950 Department of Defense begins plans to detonate nuclear weapons in desert areas and monitor downwind residents for medical problems and mortality rates.

1950 I n an experiment to determine how susceptible an American city would be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of bacteria from ships over San Franciso. Monitoring devices are situated throughout the city in order to test the extent of infection. Many residents become ill with pneumonia-like symptoms.

1951 Department of Defense begins open air tests using disease-producing bacteria and viruses. Tests last through 1969 and there is concern that people in the surrounding areas have been exposed.

1953 U.S. military releases clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide gas over Winnipeg, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, the Monocacy River Valley in Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia. Their intent is to determine how efficiently they could disperse chemical agents.

1953 Joint Army-Navy-CIA experiments are conducted in which tens of thousands of people in New York and San Francisco are exposed to the airborne germs Serratia marcescens and Bacillus glogigii.

1953 CIA initiates Project MKULTRA. This is an eleven year research program designed to produce and test drugs and biological agents that would be used for mind control and behavior modification. Six of the subprojects involved testing the agents on unwitting human beings.

1955 The CIA, in an experiment to test its ability to infect human populations with biological agents, releases a bacteria withdrawn from the Army's biological warfare arsenal over Tampa Bay, Fl.

1955 Army Chemical Corps continues LSD research, studying its potential use as a chemical incapacitating agent. More than 1,000 Americans participate in the tests, which continue until 1958.

1956 U.S. military releases mosquitoes infected with Yellow Fever over Savannah, Ga and Avon Park, Fl. Following each test, Army agents posing as public health officials test victims for effects.

1958 LSD is tested on 95 volunteers at the Army's Chemical Warfare Laboratories for its effect on intelligence.

1960 The Army Assistant Chief-of-Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) authorizes field testing of LSD in Europe and the Far East. Testing of the european population is code named Project THIRD CHANCE; testing of the Asian population is code named Project DERBY HAT.

1965 Project CIA and Department of Defense begin Project MKSEARCH, a program to develop a capability to manipulate human behavior through the use of mind-altering drugs.

1965 Prisoners at the Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia are subjected to dioxin, the highly toxic chemical component of Agent Orange used in Viet Nam. The men are later studied for development of cancer, which indicates that Agent Orange had been a suspected carcinogen all along.

1966 CIA initiates Project MKOFTEN, a program to test the toxicological effects of certain drugs on humans and animals.

1966 U.S. Army dispenses Bacillus subtilis variant niger throughout the New York City subway system. More than a million civilians are exposed when army scientists drop lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto ventilation grates.

1967 CIA and Department of Defense implement Project MKNAOMI, successor to MKULTRA and designed to maintain, stockpile and test biological and chemical weapons.

1968 CIA experiments with the possibility of poisoning drinking water by injecting chemicals into the water supply of the FDA in Washington, D.C.

1969 Dr. Robert MacMahan of the Department of Defense requests from congress $10 million to develop, within 5 to 10 years, a synthetic biological agent to which no natural immunity exists.

1970 Funding for the synthetic biological agent is obtained under H.R. 15090. The project, under the supervision of the CIA, is carried out by the Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, the army's top secret biological weapons facility. Speculation is raised that molecular biology techniques are used to produce AIDS-like retroviruses.

1970 United States intensifies its development of "ethnic weapons" (Military Review, Nov., 1970), designed to selectively target and eliminate specific ethnic groups who are susceptible due to genetic differences and variations in DNA.

1975 The virus section of Fort Detrick's Center for Biological Warfare Research is renamed the Fredrick Cancer Research Facilities and placed under the supervision of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) . It is here that a special virus cancer program is initiated by the U.S. Navy, purportedly to develop cancer-causing viruses. It is also here that retrovirologists isolate a virus to which no immunity exists. It is later named HTLV (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus).

1977 Senate hearings on Health and Scientific Research confirm that 239 populated areas had been contaminated with biological agents between 1949 and 1969. Some of the areas included San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Key West, Panama City, Minneapolis, and St. Louis.

1978 Experimental Hepatitis B vaccine trials, conducted by the CDC, begin in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ads for research subjects specifically ask for promiscuous homosexual men.

1981 First cases of AIDS are confirmed in homosexual men in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, triggering speculation that AIDS may have been introduced via the Hepatitis B vaccine

1985 According to the journal Science (227:173-177), HTLV and VISNA, a fatal sheep virus, are very similar, indicating a close taxonomic and evolutionary relationship.

1986 According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (83:4007-4011), HIV and VISNA are highly similar and share all structural elements, except for a small segment which is nearly identical to HTLV. This leads to speculation that HTLV and VISNA may have been linked to produce a new retrovirus to which no natural immunity exists.

1986 A report to Congress reveals that the U.S. Government's current generation of biological agents includes: modified viruses, naturally occurring toxins, and agents that are altered through genetic engineering to change immunological character and prevent treatment by all existing vaccines.

1987 Department of Defense admits that, despite a treaty banning research and development of biological agents, it continues to operate research facilities at 127 facilities and universities around the nation.

1990 More than 1500 six-month old black and hispanic babies in Los Angeles are given an "experimental" measles vaccine that had never been licensed for use in the United States. CDC later admits that parents were never informed that the vaccine being injected to their children was experimental.

1994 With a technique called "gene tracking," Dr. Garth Nicolson at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX discovers that many returning Desert Storm veterans are infected with an altered strain of Mycoplasma incognitus, a microbe commonly used in the production of biological weapons. Incorporated into its molecular structure is 40 percent of the HIV protein coat, indicating that it had been man-made.

1994 Senator John D. Rockefeller issues a report revealing that for at least 50 years the Department of Defense has used hundreds of thousands of military personnel in human experiments and for intentional exposure to dangerous substances. Materials included mustard and nerve gas, ionizing radiation, psychochemicals, hallucinogens, and drugs used during the Gulf War .

1995 U.S. Government admits that it had offered Japanese war criminals and scientists who had performed human medical experiments salaries and immunity from prosecution in exchange for data on biological warfare research.

1995 Dr. Garth Nicolson, uncovers evidence that the biological agents used during the Gulf War had been manufactured in Houston, TX and Boca Raton, Fl and tested on prisoners in the Texas Department of Corrections.

1996 Department of Defense admits that Desert Storm soldiers were exposed to chemical agents.

1997 Eighty-eight members of Congress sign a letter demanding an investigation into bioweapons use & Gulf War Syndrome.

KCIndy

10-01-2010, 07:23 PM

There are only two types of people: the cynical, and the uninformed.

LOL!! Oh, how truly right you are!

I'm often accused of being cynical.... when I try to tell people (who are blissfully unaware) about this sort of thing.

Original_Intent

10-01-2010, 07:26 PM

Tuskegee was different - they just faked treating it to study the progression - in this case they actually intentionally infected the victims.

Like I said in my thread on this from this morning - 50 years from now they will likely be apologizing for wiping out 9%5 of the worlds population. Oh wait, you don;t apologize to slaves.

silus

10-01-2010, 09:19 PM

RedStripe

10-01-2010, 09:41 PM

P.S. Are we going to apologize to Iran for helping to overthrow a democratically elected leader?

Who is "we?"

silus

10-01-2010, 09:46 PM

Who is "we?"
That is another question entirely. When does "we" become "they."

Anti Federalist

10-01-2010, 09:49 PM

Why the fuck is this front page news now? When the time and space between the incident and today is so great there is hardly anyone that would bat an eyebrow. This shit is ridiculous.

P.S. Are we going to apologize to Iran for helping to overthrow a democratically elected leader?

So what the fuck would you prefer?

That it never gets brought up? Just let government run amok and do whatever the fuck it wants?

Jesus Christ, nothing makes you people happy.

Can't bring it up when it happens, you're a conspiracy nut.

Can't bring it up later, that's old news, blarg blarg blarg.

:mad:

phill4paul

10-01-2010, 09:55 PM

Jesus Christ, nothing makes you people happy.

Can't bring up when it happens, you're a conspiracy nut.

Can't bring it up later, that's old news, blarg blarg blarg.

:mad:

;) That's the ticket.

RedStripe

10-01-2010, 10:08 PM

That is another question entirely. When does "we" become "they."

As soon as you recognize that "we" doesn't include you - because you hold unpopular opinions.

silus

10-02-2010, 12:29 AM

So what the fuck would you prefer?

That it never gets brought up? Just let government run amok and do whatever the fuck it wants?

Jesus Christ, nothing makes you people happy.

Can't bring it up when it happens, you're a conspiracy nut.

Can't bring it up later, that's old news, blarg blarg blarg.

:mad:
I find it funny you think the government apologizing after the issue is irrelevant and the individuals responsible are long gone has anything to do with citizens preventing the government from running amok. You sound content with licking whatever crumbs are left on the plate. I'm not saying I'm doing any better, but you got some nerve to criticize frustration over this.

And just to get one thing perfectly fucking straight, neither option you brought up offer any reason to be "happy." You gotta be fucking kidding me.

Anti Federalist

10-02-2010, 12:39 AM

I find it funny you think the government apologizing after the issue is irrelevant and the individuals responsible are long gone has anything to do with citizens preventing the government from running amok. You sound content with licking whatever crumbs are left on the plate. I'm not saying I'm doing any better, but you got some nerve to criticize frustration over this.

And just to get one thing perfectly fucking straight, neither option you brought up offer any reason to be "happy." You gotta be fucking kidding me.

Now you've lost me totally.

What's your fucking problem with this story, precisely, or do you just like bitching to hear yourself bitch?

How do I think this is "irrelevant"?

My point in posting this is to illustrate, yet again, what kind of atrocities government commits every day.

They are engaged in operations just as bad right now.

Unless "we the people" start exercising some kind of control and reign this beast in, they will continue in these actions, and we'll only find out about decades later after all the players are long dead.

JohnEngland

10-02-2010, 01:44 AM

They are engaged in operations just as bad right now.

Indeed. Abortion being one of their more obvious ones, in which they've convinced enough people that it is ok.

Makes you wonder about Alex Jones though... I don't watch/listen to him (except for the occasional clip from these forums), but when you find out about things like this STD story, it makes you wonder about some of the things he says...

Bman

10-02-2010, 01:53 AM

Indeed. Abortion being one of their more obvious ones, in which they've convinced enough people that it is ok.

Makes you wonder about Alex Jones though... I don't watch/listen to him (except for the occasional clip from these forums), but when you find out about things like this STD story, it makes you wonder about some of the things he says...

As they say even an old broken clock is right twice a day. I'm sure he is right some of the time, just like I'm sure the JBS is right some of the time, the problem I have is that I'm not going to sit there and wade through all of the B.S. to hopefully find a jem.

Vessol

10-02-2010, 02:51 AM

Hey guys, the government has only gotten more caring and open! It would never do such things now! Come on guys! Don't you want to trust the government?

raiha

10-02-2010, 03:47 AM

Who was Prez when that was allowed to happen?

Vessol

10-03-2010, 12:15 AM

Who was Prez when that was allowed to happen?

Truman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syphilis_experiments_in_Guatemala

raiha

10-03-2010, 03:18 AM

Thanks Vessol..I'm back to dial-up and it takes too long to look things up these days...

osan

10-03-2010, 05:45 AM

MelissaWV

10-03-2010, 07:54 AM

Truman was President during this particular incident. However, go back and research just the things that the Government has admitted to doing. Don't even include "conspiracies," just for giggles. Only examine that which the country's leaders have announced after the fact as being real "oops" moments for them, and you'll notice quite a long list developing. You'll also notice the pattern of releasing the information once the culprits and victims are mostly dead. There's usually a small ceremony somewhere to "honor the victims" or "apologize" and then it goes away forever and ever. Only a select few screwups ever make it into the history books, and even those are so whitewashed you wouldn't recognize them.

And yeah, this stuff's going on right now, too. And absolutely, there are usually a few people who know and protest and everyone gets annoyed at them. And yep, there were some "experiments" that were much milder, often social in nature, and were considered a "success" so there's no need to apologize as the Government feels no one was hurt.

Anti Federalist

10-03-2010, 04:15 PM

NHS uses babies’ blood for secret database

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article7134061.ece

HOSPITALS have quietly created banks of DNA from blood taken from millions of newborn babies without the proper consent of their parents, emails show.

Freedom of information (FOI) requests to hospitals around Britain have established that the blood samples, taken in heel-prick tests to screen for serious conditions, have been privately stored by parts of the NHS since 1984.

According to guidance obtained by The Sunday Times, the DNA can be looked at by police, coroners and some medical researchers. They are able to identify named individuals.

MelissaWV

10-03-2010, 04:35 PM

pcosmar

10-03-2010, 06:07 PM

A good article here,
Clandestine human experimentation disclosed. More to come?
http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2010/10/02/disclosure-of-clandestine-human-experime?blog=73

I had posted it earlier in a related (?) thread. It is worth the read, and consideration.

Anti Federalist

10-03-2010, 08:33 PM

This is technically not legal in the US, but I doubt that stops the Government from figuring out a way around it.

Minnesota:

http://www.cchconline.org/issues/refuse_testing.php3

* Newborn genetic testing is not required by law - if parents express their objection in writing.

* Hospitals, doctors, midwives and others must advise parents of the following:

o That the blood or tissue samples used to perform testing as well as the results of such testing may be retained by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).
o The benefit of retaining the blood or tissue sample.
o That the following options are available to parents with respect to the testing:

1. Parents may decline to have the tests, or
2. Parents may elect to have the tests but to require that all blood samples and records of test results be destroyed within 24 months of the testing.

* Parents and guardians who refuse testing, or elect for testing and later destruction of blood samples, must do so on a form that is signed by the parent or legal guardian and made part of the child's medical record. A written objection exempts babies from blood testing requirements.

* If a parent does not sign the form, the newborn baby's blood will be drawn, sent to the State, and tested. The results of the testing will be provided to the child's physician and kept in a state database. The blood specimen (dried blood spots) will be kept, possibly for future uses.

Since the 2003 Minnesota legislation requires parents to be informed only of the benefits of genetic
testing, consider a few of the concerns:

* Blood spots, from heel sticks taken after birth, contain the baby's DNA - genetic code.
* Blood spots at the State are considered state property. The MDH formerly kept blood spots for only 5 years, but the policy recently changed. Blood spots are now kept indefinitely. Approximately 70,000 new babies are born each year. MDH currently has the blood spots (DNA) of 350,000 citizens.
* Laws can change. As technology advances and genetic testing and biometric identifiers becomes more common, the legislature may decide to expand use of its DNA collection.
* A state database will hold the names, information and results of genetic testing.
* There is no law to prevent future state testing for predisposition to cancer or Alzheimer's or mental illness. Without specific legislative approval, the law allows the Minnesota Health Department to expand the number of disorders for which babies will be tested.
* The law does not forbid researcher access to DNA-laden blood spots. Researchers have already made requests for access to blood spots held by the health department.
* Should parents decide to genetically test their children? How will their children feel when they become adults and find that their genetic profile may be known by the State?

Anti Federalist

10-03-2010, 08:36 PM