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experimental surgery
James Marion Sims conducted experimental surgery on 12 female slaves with fistulas, brought to him by their masters. He operated on one of them 13 times before her fistula repair was declared a success. Sims did not use any anesthetic during his procedures; he argued that anesthesia was not yet fully accepted and he was unaware of the possibility of the use of ether. -
effects of untreated syphilis
Was conducted in 400 African American men. Researchers withheld treatment even when penicillin became available. Research subjects were not informed that they were experimental subjects. Those who attended the Tuskegee clinic thought they were getting treatment for “bad blood.” The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health. -
Experiments with prisioners
Morally repugnant research was conducted by German scientists on concentration camps prisoners including men, women, and children. Japanese scientists conducted experiments on Chinese prisoners of war. Ellie Wiesel later argued that the Nazi killers knew how to differentiate between good and evil. But their sense of reality was impaired. -
Radiation effects
Secret research on radiation effects on human beings was conducted on individuals who were not informed that they were participating in research studies. The experiments were conducted on cancer patients, pregnant women, and military personnel and sponsored by the US Government. -
Babys in drugs
829 pregnant women at a health clinic run by Vanderbilt University were administered drugs that they were told were good for them and their babies. The drugs actually contain radioactive iron. -
Radioactive iron
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers fed oatmeal that included radioactive iron and calcium to 74 mentally deficient and disabled boys at the Walter E. Fernald State School in Massachusetts. -
Ethical research on human subjects
The Belmont Report was released by the National Commission. It addressed principles of ethical research on human subjects and became a key document in human research ethics regulations in the U.S. -
Mind Control MK ultra
Mind control experiments using LSD were conducted by the CIA. Research subjects were not informed of the experimental nature of the studies. -
Hepatitis
Researchers conducted hepatitis experiments on mentally disabled children at The Willowbrook State School. Children were deliberately infected with hepatitis and natural progression was observed. The experiments were approved by the New York Department of Health. -
Journal of Medicine
Beecher published a New. England Journal of Medicine article exposing 22 unethical studies including the Tuskegee syphilis study and the Willowbrook hepatitis study. -
Practices with humans
The national media and Congress focused on unethical research practices with human subjects, including the Tuskegee study. -
Privacity
Major revisions of federal human research regulations are published. -
Betrayers of Truth
Betrayers of Truth was published by Broad and Wade addressing misconduct in science. -
Environmental Protection Agency
All U.S. government agencies, except the EPA, are required to accept one regulatory framework, known as “the common rule” (45 CFR 46). -
Experiments in humans
46 years after the secret experiments using plutonium injections were completed a reporter for the Albuquerque Tribune, Eileen Welsome, discovered their names and story. Not until 1995 did the US government acknowledged the wrongs committed and the fact that informed consent was not obtained for the experiments. -
Dolly sheep
Dolly was cloned from a cell taken from the mammary gland of a six-year-old Finn Dorset sheep and an egg cell taken from a Scottish Blackface sheep. She was born to her Scottish Blackface surrogate mother on 5th July 1996. Dolly’s white face was one of the first signs that she was a clone because if she was genetically related to her surrogate mother, she would have had a black face. -
Office of Human Research Protection
The NIH and the Office of Human research Protection (OHRP) required ethics training of individuals engaged in clinical research. -
Pesticides
CHEERS study halted by EPA. Advocacy groups and members of Congress claimed that the study was intentionally exposing children to pesticides. -
Unethical clinical research
Susan Reverby, Professor of Women’s Studies at Wellesley College, discovered unethical clinical research conducted in Guatemala. Over 1300 subjects were deliberately infected with sexually transmitted infections to determine the effectiveness of penicillin. Only 700 subjects were given penicillin and 83 died as a result of the study. Research subjects were not informed of the experiment.
President Obama apologized for the Guatemala research studies. -
SUPPORT
The federal Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) determined that the Surfactant, Positive Pressure, and Oxygenation Randomized Trial (SUPPORT) trial to evaluating oxygen administration for premature infants violated federal regulations by failing to inform parents of “reasonably foreseeable risks” of death or blindness. NIH was subsequently accused of attempting to influence OHRP’s decision. -
Lethal Dedcisions
The Unnecessary Deaths of Woman and Children from HIV/AIDS is published exposing the exploitation and unethical experiments in women and children in poor countries.
