U.S. government medical researchers intentionally infected hundreds of people in Guatemala, including institutionalized mental patients, with gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge or permission more than 60 years ago.
The knowledge of the Guatemalan subjects was not known, as the records of this were actually hidden. Not everyone involved got adequate treatment. A Professor of Women's Studies, Dr. Maria Reverby, when she was researching information on the Tuskegee Experiment (which is linked in herbie's post) recently discovered this information and brought it to light.
In context, the response from the government was quite quick once it came into their view -- it's unlikely many previous governments knew about this two year sub-set of the greater set of experiments, and those officials who knew were somewhat protected by the fact that regulations for treatment of human test subjects were sparse.
The article contains most of this information, I believe.
Not one of our finer moments to be sure.
why did it take 70 years?????
The knowledge of the Guatemalan subjects was not known, as the records of this were actually hidden. Not everyone involved got adequate treatment. A Professor of Women's Studies, Dr. Maria Reverby, when she was researching information on the Tuskegee Experiment (which is linked in herbie's post) recently discovered this information and brought it to light.
In context, the response from the government was quite quick once it came into their view -- it's unlikely many previous governments knew about this two year sub-set of the greater set of experiments, and those officials who knew were somewhat protected by the fact that regulations for treatment of human test subjects were sparse.
The article contains most of this information, I believe.
EDIT: Not, not mot.