There was a recent revelation that the United States of America participated in human studies on Guatemalans. The United States government has issued an apology for the experiments conducted, which infected Guatemalans with syphilis. The Guatemalans were infected with syphilis, the very same sexually transmitted disease in the Tuskegee studies which were conducted on hundreds of black people. There were 40 years of experiments and studies within the Tuskegee experiments. John C. Cutler carried out the Guatemalan tests for the two years that it ran, and several years of the Tuskegee program.
Guatemalan experiment was approved 1st
In the early 20th century, treatment for sexually transmitted disease was not as simple as today. Somebody infected can take a few hours and get a prescription. MSNBC reports that an analysis on syphilis was done by the Guatemalan government, the Pan American Health Sanitary Institute, the National Institute of Health and the United States of America Public Health Service, in 1946 before it was lawful to use penicillin. One man was in charge of the study. Dr. John Cutler was chosen. Male prisoners and female prisoners were amongst the 696 test subjects. Some were encouraged to catch the disease the typical way, and others were injected with the disease. The disease wasn’t treated in some. About a 3rd of the subjects did not get this treatment. The study then ended. This happened in 1948.
The Tuskegee syphilis studies
The Tuskegee Experiments are a dark chapter in American history. Between 1932 and 1972, African Americans were viewed with the disease. They were then observed to determine what would happen. 399 of the subjects were from Alabama. They were also all male. The study was carried out by the United States Public Health Service. A difference could be seen. We just have to it. The Tuskegee patients already had syphilis. The patients from Guatemalan with STDs were given the disease instead. Treatments weren’t given to two thirds of the Guatemalan patients. This is another difference. Penicillin treatment was not given to many. The Tuskegee patients did not get it at all. 1947 was when penicillin begun being used. It was not before then. The experiment ran until 1972.
Apology ought to be produced
It is impossible to say the human experimentation can just be excused. Apologies to the Guatemalan individuals flooded in. These came from Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and President Obama. That is something like a start.
Articles cited
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com/id/39456324/ns/health-sexual_health
CNN
cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/01/us.guatemala.apology/index.html?hpt=T1
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment
