The one country in the world who has carried out more experiments by using humans as guinea-pigs is the United States Of America (USA). Many are still not aware of the sinister and vindictive experiments America has done in the name of development in the world of medical science.
The recent news about the US infecting Guatemalan’s with STD’s serves as an eye opener. It exposes the US government who use human as objects for experiments and exploit them.
However human-testing isn’t something new for the federal government. Here are 13 most evil cases of human experimentation conducted by the United States of America:
Project MKULTRA, Subproject 68
A patient undergoing electroconvulsive therapy
Project MKULTRA, granted by the CIA, carried out a series of experiments to examine the methods of influencing and controlling the human mind. The primary motive behind the human testing was to be able to extract information from the resisting minds.
To accomplish the same, Dr Donald Ewen Cameron, treated the patients admitted to his Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal as subjects of the experiment and ran a series of test on them. In the name of therapy, Cameron administered ‘electroconvulsive’ procedure at a power that is 30-40 times the normal power.
He usually selected patients with issues of bi-polar depression or anxiety disorders and induced them in coma for months. In that period of time, the doctor simply played tapes of statements and repetitive noises over and over again.
This caused serious psychological disorders like amnesia among the patients.
Throughout the operation, they were critical about their choice of patients. Not willing to risk such operations on Americans, they targeted the Canadian patients and performed the experiment on them.
However this operation required heavy funding. Given the nature of the experiments, arranging funds was a difficult task. Thus, to ensure the project remained funded, Cameron adopted unfair means. He exploited the children admitted at the hospital and filmed their intimate videos with the high-ranking government officials.
This sex video was later used as a blackmailing tool to ensure that the funds keep moving.
Also read: Human Experiment – Evolution Or Curse? The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Nitrogen Mustard Gas
Nitrogen Mustard Gas being sprayed
Mustard Gas, a chemical agent that causes severe burning of the skin, eyes and respiratory tract, was used as a chemical warfare agent in the World War II. Seeing its deadly consequences on the people, US decided to carry out a detailed study on another agent “Nitrogen Mustards”.
Similar to mustard gas in nature, Nitrogen mustards are powerful blister agents. However they’ve never been used in combat.
With very limited information available about the warfare agent, the US, under the supervision of Alfred Gilman and Louis Goodman, carried out a research on the effects on Nitrogen Mustards.
It was believed that the agent can be used to treat Lymphoma (A kind of tumor cells); however it couldn’t be established without human clinical trials.
Thus, US replicated the gas chamber image of Nazi Germany by exposing its soldier to the deadly gas. Though the gas caused irrevocable damage to the soldiers, it proved that on being exposed to the gas, the human experiences decreased number of lymphocytes.
Today, the agent has won itself the title of the first chemotherapy drug ‘mustine’.
Japan’s infamous unit 731
Dr Ishii during a surgery
Japan’s head of medicine, Dr Shiro Ishii, who is famous for heading Japan’s Infamous Unit 731, carried out several experiments on humans during the second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
His area of specialty was vivisection. A word derived from the Latin dictionary, it literally means ‘cutting an alive being’. In clinical terms, it’s an act of conducting an open surgery without anesthesia on a living organism. Instead of selecting the subjects for experiment, Dr Ishii conducted his experiment on human prisoners and examined its effect on them.
He would often subject its victim to psychological and physical pain. Some of his practices included abortion of pregnant women, inducement of strokes, frost bites and hypothermia in normal people.
In 1945, Japan faced a imminent defeat following which the infamous unit 731 was blown into titters. Dr Ishii was soon arrested. However, the US intervened and saved DR. Ishii for the criminal trial.
General Douglas McArthur of the US struck a horrifying deal with Dr Ishii. For immunity, Dr Ishii traded all germ warfare data based on human experimentation.
In this case, US acted as an accomplice to the evil deeds committed by the doctor. They did not commit the crime directly but shielding the criminal, makes them equally guilty. Instead of delivering justice for the innocent lives lost during these experiments, the US seemed more interested in the results of the experiments.
One of the victims of Japan’s infamous Unit 731
Deadly Chemical Sprays on American Cities
Biochemicals being sprayed
With the advent of biochemical scenarios, US wanted to be among the first few to test the technology. The Army, CIA and the government carried out a series of warfare simulations upon American cities to see how the city reacts to it.
They release whooping cough virus on Tampa Bay which led to a whooping epidemic claiming 12 lives. This experiment was followed by bacterial pathogens sprayed by the Navy on San Francisco. As a result, many suffered from pneumonia.
However, this did not stop the US, who further released millions of mosquitoes upon Savannah and Avon Park. While they wanted to spread yellow fever and dengue fever, Americans fell victim to fever, typhoid, respiratory problems and stillborn children.
They stepped out as public health workers giving aid to the victims, but what most are unaware of is the fact that the entire time, they were studying the long term effects of illnesses caused by these bio chemicals on human being.
US Infects Guatemalans With STDs
Doctor injecting
US never steps down from experimenting. In most cases, the experiments turn disastrous for the citizens. One such example is the case of infecting Guatemalan’s with STD.
With the discovery of penicillin in 1940, an inquisitive US wanted to test whether it can truly cure syphilis or its farce. To clear their doubt, they infected syphilis into some prostitutes and allowed them to interact with unknown prison inmates, soldiers and mental asylums.
Failed to achieve what they had desired, they adopted an alternate course of action. They chose to directly inject the infection. Thus, they poured syphilis bacteria onto men’s penises, face and forearms.
Although they treated all those who were injected, however some did not receive timely medical assistance.
Hillary Clinton in 2010 accepted the occurrence of such events and apologized for the same. As a way of undoing the mistake, the US government has issued a new research into the matter to ensure that treatment is given to those who were infected and are still alive.
Human Experiments to Test the Effects of The Atomic Bomb
Aftermath of Atomic Bombing in Hiroshima
Leading the World in terms of nuclear and atomic power, US have always maintained a diplomatic answer to the trials of the same. However, little do people know that US secretly tested the Bomb’s effect on people!
After noticing the devastating effect of the ‘Manhattan Project’, the deadly twin Atomic bombing that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, US scientists decided to secretly test the effects of the bomb on the people.
They injected micrograms of plutonium on 18 patients and assigned unique code names to them. They closely examined these 18 patients, noting all the changes in their health, Only 5 managed to survive longer than 20 years from the day they were injected.
In another bizarre event, Dr. William Sweet injected some patients with uranium, a project funded by the ‘Manhattan Project’. It seems like the government did not even spare the hospitals and carried their malicious activities in the name of medicine.
Agent Orange
Dermatology issues
The US Army, Johnson and Johnson, Dr. Albert Klingman and the Agent Orange producing Dow Chemical Company, carried out a ‘dermatological research’ where they tested the effects of Agent Orange on the skin.
They used prisoners as subjects and injected dioxin (main component of Agent Orange) into them to study the effects it had. However, the usage of dioxin can be lethal and causes severe health disorders.
The repercussion of the exposure of dioxin was monstrous. The prisoners led to an eruption of Chloracne. In order ‘to learn how the skin protects itself from against the so called hardening’, Klingman apparently injected 468 times the amount he was authorized to.
Operation Paperclip
Scientists involved in the Operation Paperclip
The Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the Allied forces after World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany. While justice was being delivered, the US secretly granted new identities to these Nazis.
As the name of the operation suggests, these Nazi scientists were given new profiles. New papers were attached to their existing identity. Suddenly their monstrous history was erased by their new identity. All their hideous acts, like de-veining people without anesthesia, conjoining twin people through surgery, were over shadowed by their new identity.
These scientists have illegally transported to the American soil and today they live on as a free man.
Infecting Puerto Rico With Cancer
Doctor injecting the Black
US may be the hub of medical sciences. However, it has its own tainted past. In one of the experiments conducted by the Rockefeller Institute, Dr Cornelius Rhoads injected certain innocent lives with cancer cells.
While the sole intention of the experiment was to study the development of those cells into full fledged disease, things didn’t go as planned. As a result, thirteen innocent lives were lost.
However, this history of medical negligence did not hinder in the political career of the doctor who was soon elected as the ‘official Incharge’ of chemical warfare projects. Not just that, He even won a seat on the United States Atomic Energy Commission.
The irony of this case is that he eventually became the vice president of the American Cancer Society. The perpetrators of the crime became the very face of crime committed.
Also read: Django Chained: How ‘Black’ Slaves Were Sold As Specimens To Ambitious ‘White’ Doctors
Pentagon Treats Black Cancer Patients with Extreme Radiation
torture and harassment faced by the prisoner
While US may defend its stand on racial discrimination, their claims may not be true. In the 60’s, Department of Defense performed a series of irradiation experiments on poor , African American cancer patients.
Although they were given treatment for the disease, what they didn’t know was that they will be subject to the ‘Pentagon’ type of treatment. This type of treatment is carried to study the effects of high level radiation on the human body.
To ensure there were no follow up in the course of treatment, the patient’s full name was not written on their official medical papers. With lack of proper paperwork, nobody could question the authority.
Operation Midnight Climax
newspaper clipping reporting the same
Operation Midnight Climax, misleading as it may sound, the operation was carried out by CIA, to study the growing dependence of LSD and its effect on people.
With drugs becoming a common phenomenon, CIA thought of testing people’s change in behavioral pattern after the dosage.
Since it was an undercover operation, the officials chose secluded areas as their base camp in New York and San Francisco. They used brothels as a honey trap for attracting people. The prostitutes were hired to lure customers on the pretext of sex. However, instead on having sex, they injected a dose of drug, commonly the LSD or marijuana into the person.
The change in intellectual and behavioural pattern was then noted. Though it isn’t as serious an offence as others commissioned by the US, but the mere fact that it was conducted on people without their consent, made it an offence.
Fallout Radiation on Unsuspecting Pacific Territories
bombing in pacific
Also read: Is It Ethical To Use Data From Nazi Medical Experiments?
As if Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing wasn’t enough, US continued to conduct thermonuclear bomb tests in the Pacific in response to increased Soviet bomb activity.
Their operation would have remained under wraps if their bombing in 1954 didn’t have fallout from blast. As a part of their routines tests, they detonated a thermonuclear bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Castle Bravo. While the bomb exploded in the Pacific, it had its impact till the island nearby.
As a result of the radiation, the residents of the island started suffering from diseases like birth defects and radiation sickness. More prominent sickness was recorded from the generation born later. Many of them developed thyroid cancer and neoplasm.
Tuskegee, Alabama
doctor administering an injection into a patient
Between 1932 and 1972, the researchers of the US recruited 400 black sharecroppers in Tuskee,Alabama to study the advent and progress of syphilis.
While the sharecroppers were busy investigating about the disease, little did they know that they themselves form suffering from the disease. Although, with the advancement of medical sciences, penicillin was discovered as a cure for syphilis, but this drug was never prescribed to the black share croppers.
They lived under the illusion that they were being treated for ‘bad blood’ but were instead treated as subjects to gain a better understanding about the disease. Even though the medicine was available, they were denied medical assistance as the doctors were studying the symptoms and effects of syphilis.
When the US government was exposed, Bill Clinton issued a formal apology for ‘orchestrating a study that was so racist.’
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