Indiana’s Fourth Congressional District candidate Nels Ackerson is criticizing Steve Buyer and calling for an investigation of a situation that brings to mind the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.
According to an Ackerson press release:
A recent Washington Times investigation revealed that hundreds of veterans participated in a government program that paid them a small monthly stipend in exchange for taking drugs with severe side effects like psychosis and suicidal behavior.
At least one of the experiments specifically targeted veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. One veteran involved in that experiment referred to himself as “a lab rat for $30 per month.”
Ackerson criticizes his opponent, Steve Buyer, the ranking member of the Veteran’s Affairs Committee for his lack of oversight and cozy relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.
In the Tuskegee Experiment, the United States Public Health Service conducted a 40 year experiment on unwitting black share croppers, leaving their syphilis untreated. The subjects were not required to give informed consent and were not informed of their diagnosis; instead they were told they had “bad blood” and could receive free medical treatment, rides to the clinic, meals and burial insurance in case of death in return for participating.
I’m not sure we have anything on the level of Tuskegee, but, as the man said, history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.
Obviously the work of BushHitler & Cheney.
Hell, Tuskegee was FDR wasn’t it?
I would hope we get a few more facts surrounding the circumstances than what that article cites, which is absolutely NO facts, but rather a handfull of quotes.
From what best I can determine from the clipette you have posted, in this case the participants have given consent to take part in this study. Does that make it right? That is the question that needs to be answered.
I remember studying the Tuskegee case in a class I took at IU called “Epidemics in History.” (Which ended up being one of my favorite classes-I’m weird, I guess!) Anyway, the Wikipedia article does not do the horrors of that study justice. I’m still amazed that such a barbaric study was still going on in my country during my lifetime!
AJB,
I’m glad that you mentioned that it happened during your lifetime. I think a lot of folks tend to think of the Tuskegee Study as having happened in the 20s or 30s, not up until the 1970s.
If you’re not already familiar, I recommend you read about the various eugenics programs that existed in the several states until the 1970s, too.
The Winston-Salem Journal did a fascinating look at North Carolina’s in their Against Their Will series, linked below.
http://againsttheirwill.journalnow.com/