United States government scientists infected 5,500 Guatemalans with syphilis and\u00a0gonorrhea\u00a0between 1946 and 1948 to study the effects of penicillin,\u00a0according to recent findings of a U.S. presidential panel investigation set up by President Obama.<\/p>\n
The Guatemalans forced to participate received no such explanation and did not give informed consent.\u00a0In fact, of the estimated 5,500 participants, only about 700 received some sort of treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe researchers put their own medical advancement first and human decency a far second,\u201d Anita Allen, a member of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues told the\u00a0Associated Press.<\/a><\/p>\n From 1946 to 1948, the U.S. Public Health Service and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau worked with the Guatemalan government to conduct medical research paid for by the US government that involved deliberately exposing people to sexually transmitted diseases.<\/p>\n The Commission said some 5,500 Guatemalans were involved in the research with at least 1,300 Guatemalans deliberately infected with syphilis,\u00a0gonorrhea\u00a0or cancroids, another sexually transmitted disease. The patients who were forced to participate included soldiers, sex workers, prisoners and mental health patients.<\/p>\n