Submitted by Yardbroom
In the shameful Tuskegee project, carried out for over forty years – 1932 – 1972 – in Alabama USA, when black men were allowed to die from syphilis as white physicians monitored the progress of the disease so it could be studied. Only a leak to the press in 1972 lead to the halt of the experiment. “By the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease was known and still the experiment continued; even in 1947 when penicillin had become the standard treatment for syphilis the suffering of those black people continued.
The tally of those who suffered was nothing less than scandalous. “By the end of the study in 1972, only 74 of the test subjects were alive. Twenty eight of the original 399 men had died of syphilis. 100 were dead of related complications, 40 of their wives had been infected, and 19 of their children were born with congenital syphilis”.
The happenings at Tuskegee are of importance at this juncture because of the many breakthroughs being made in science. We must always remember “unpoliced science” can be dangerous. We should never believe that clever men, physicians or others will always do what is in our – the people’s – interest. Tuskegee has shown us that however brilliant, there are some unprincipled men driven by selfish motives; we should guard against them.
It was said of the Tuskegee experiment it was:
Arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in US History – Wikipedia
What is particularly galling is that doctors in the experiment even when the modern-era of anti-syphilitic therapy began in 1943 with the introduction of penicillin as an effective drug, the Public Health Service did not use the drug on the Tuskegee participants unless they asked for it”.
Remember we are speaking in the main of rural poor black people; who did not have the knowledge to dictate the treatment they should be given. The rationale published by the investigators for their decision regarding the lack of treatment provided to the infected “Negro” population was:
…”such individuals – the Blacks – seemed to offer an unusual opportunity to study the untreated syphilitic patients from the beginning of the disease to the death of the infected person. An opportunity was also offered to compare the syphilitic process uninfluenced by modern treatment, with the results attained when treatment had been given”.
In an act of atonement President Clinton’s apology for the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment to the eight remaining survivors on May 16, 1976 read;
“The United States Government did something that was wrong – deeply profoundly, morally wrong. It was an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens…clearly racist”.
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