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.

Many of those infected were encouraged to pass the infection onto others as part of the study.

About one third of those who were infected never got adequate treatment.

On Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius are expected to offer extensive apologies for actions taken by the U.S. Public Health Service…

The episode raises inevitable comparisons to the infamous Tuskegee experiment, the Alabama study where hundreds of African-American men were told they were being treated for syphilis, but in fact were denied treatment. That U.S. government study lasted from 1932 until press reports revealed it in 1972.

The Guatemala experiments…were discovered by Susan Reverby, a professor of women’s studies at Wellesley College, and was posted on her website [.pdf].

According to Reverby’s report, the Guatemalan project was co-sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service, the NIH, the Pan-American Health Sanitary Bureau (now the Pan American Health Organization) and the Guatemalan government.

What will be exposed, say, in 2070 about what politicians are doing to exploit ordinary folks today?




  1. Animby - just phoning it in says:

    Don’t know how much apologizing we need to do if their own government was involved.

  2. chuck says:

    #3 – In 1932, the government of Guatemala was basically just run by the United Fruit Company.

  3. Dallas says:

    60 years is about right for apologies since all those typically responsible are dead.

    The church knows this too but they wait a little longer just in case.

  4. Cursor_ says:

    #1
    That U.S. government study lasted from 1932 until press reports revealed it in 1972.

    From there all the way through to Nixon. Would have kept going had it not been for the press.

    So it is not just progressives, it is all of them. Because they are ultimately the plutocrats and unless you are rich, they don’t care a shit.

    So lose the progressive shit. None of them care.

    Cursor_

  5. Angel H. Wong says:

    So.. Does this means that the teabaggers will call Obama a limp wristed sissy for apologizing to non American, brown skinned injuns?

  6. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    dusanmal…that progressive=nazi shit is all wrong. Jonas Goldberg’s comparison, where that comes from, is <a href="Shirvell"wholly discredited by real historians. It’s just too bad that lunatic glenn beck bought into it. You too.

  7. sargasso_c says:

    And many Americanos wonder why they are unpopular, south of the border.

  8. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    I guess that’s just not working today.
    http://huffingtonpost.com/david-neiwert/historians-vs-jonah-goldb_b_435881.html

  9. NO More ETard says:

    After this report and ones like it, it still amazes me that ANYONE would want MORE government, not less.

  10. skunkman62 says:

    #11 amen brother

  11. NobodySpecial says:

    @NO More ETard
    With less government it would just have been Pfeizer, Bayer, Monsanto etc doing the experiments and they would never have come out.

  12. Dallas says:

    #11 Too late.

    Expect a Merck or Pfizer to write a check for a billion dollars to buy a Republican Congress allowing dick hardening drug experiments on unwitting people.

  13. GigG says:

    2010
    – 50
    ——
    1950

  14. MikeN says:

    Why do they all look like Natalie POrtman?

  15. MikeN says:

    Read through the links. Not much of a rebuttal there. Now liberal does not equal fascist because liberals aren’t violent, which is the core of fascism, according to one historian. That use of properly defined, is along the lines of the Islamic terrorists weren’t Islamic, properly defined.

  16. soundwash says:

    The lovely research clause rears its ugly head again.

    -kinda makes ya wonder how many research programs we are being exposed to right now.

  17. TooManyPuppies says:

    Geez, one would think we don’t even deserve to exist anymore…

  18. NobodySpecial says:

    @soundwash
    There is one long running one to see how people’s health is affected by a diet of fast food, growth hormones, HFCS and no exercise.
    There is even a control group – called Canada.

  19. clancys_daddy says:

    19 even? sometimes late at night I wonder, why?

  20. NO More ETard says:

    #13
    With less government it would just have been Pfeizer, Bayer, Monsanto etc doing the experiments and they would never have come out.

    Here is the key…. It is called a business for a reason. You vote with your dollars. If you don’t like the way a company operates, don’t purchase from them. If enough people do this the company goes out of business. Problem solved. Also, How many lawsuits would there be against these companies if they were caught doing this?

  21. clancys_daddy says:

    OK, sometimes people do good things just because they can.

    http://tiny.cc/ru2ta

  22. admfubar says:

    politicians??? what about the gates foundation????? they are scary!

  23. Hippocratic oath my ass says:

    criminal and very sad

    Those of you blaming Truman I think he was a little to busy with the Marshall Plan, getting NATO set up, McCarthy in his face about every one he disagreed with, working on voting rights and fair employment practice for non white people ect… I highly doubt he knew much about this. Can any of you show his signature on order to make this study happen?

    that would be like blaming Bush for the I35 bridge collapse in the twin cities

    or as some of you Tea Partyers would think…
    hey so what, its not like they were white god fearing christian who’s ancestors immigrated to the states at least 4 generations ago gesh what all the fuss they were individuals with an intellectual disability i mean retards.

  24. Awake says:

    The same era that offered Dr Mengele, Hitler, the peak of the KKK, Japanese ‘culture’… it was an era of barbarians.

    That justifies nothing, it was a criminal act sanctioned by the US government, and those approving and carrying out those experiments should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, even if they are 99 years old.

  25. GregAllen says:

    Guatemalans hate us for our freedoms. 😉

  26. GregAllen says:

    Well, our freedoms and United Fruit Company.

  27. Gary, the dangerous infidel says:

    If any more revelations like this come out, sooner or later someone is going to start calling America “the Great Satan” or some other catchy name. We should really be careful to avoid that.

  28. NobodySpecial says:

    @NO More ETard
    what lawsuits?
    With less government there would be no regulations for them to break.
    With market forces there is:
    No EPA, because you can just not buy from companies that polute.
    No OSHA, because you can simply not buy from companies that kill workers.
    No NTSB, aircraft makers with too many crashes…

  29. No More ETard says:

    #30
    I don’t believe I ever said NO government, just less government. At least you have some options to resolve issues with businesses. Good luck against the federal government.


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