Unethical human experimentation violates the principles of
medical ethics. It has been performed by countries including
Nazi Germany,
Imperial Japan,
North Korea, the
United States and the
Soviet Union. Examples include
Project MKUltra,
Unit 731,
Totskoye nuclear exercise, the experiments of
Josef Mengele, and the human experimentation conducted by
Chester M. Southam. Nazi Germany performed human experimentation on large numbers of prisoners (including children), largely
Jews from across Europe, but also
Romani,
Sinti,
ethnic Poles,
Soviet POWs and
disabled Germans in its
concentration camps mainly in the early 1940s, during
World War II and
the Holocaust. Prisoners were
forced into participating; they did not willingly volunteer and no
consent was given for the procedures. Typically, the experiments resulted in death,
trauma,
disfigurement or permanent
disability, and as such are considered as examples of
medical torture. After the war, these crimes were tried at what became known as the
Doctors' Trial, and the abuses perpetrated led to the development of the
Nuremberg Code. During the
Nuremberg Trials, 23 Nazi doctors and scientists were prosecuted for the unethical treatment of concentration camp inmates, who were often used as research subjects with fatal consequences. Of those 23, 15 were convicted, 7 were condemned to death, 9 received prison sentences from 10 years to life, and 7 were acquitted.
Unit 731, a department of the
Imperial Japanese Army located near
Harbin (then in the puppet state of
Manchukuo, in northeast China), experimented on prisoners by conducting
vivisections,
dismemberments, and bacterial inoculations. It induced epidemics on a very large scale from 1932 onward through the
Second Sino-Japanese war. During World War II,
Fort Detrick in Maryland was the headquarters of US biological warfare experiments.
Operation Whitecoat involved the injection of infectious agents into military forces to observe their effects in human subjects. Subsequent human experiments in the United States have also been characterized as
unethical. They were often performed illegally, without the knowledge,
consent, or
informed consent of the test subjects. Public outcry over the discovery of government experiments on human subjects led to numerous congressional investigations and hearings, including the
Church Committee,
Rockefeller Commission, and
Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, amongst others. The
Tuskegee syphilis experiment, widely regarded as the "most infamous biomedical research study in U.S. history," was performed from 1932 to 1972 by the
Tuskegee Institute contracted by the
United States Public Health Service. The study followed more than 600 African-American men who were not told they had syphilis and were denied access to the known treatment of
penicillin. This led to the 1974
National Research Act, to provide for protection of human subjects in experiments. The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research was established and was tasked with establishing the boundary between research and routine practice, the role of
risk-benefit analysis, guidelines for participation, and the definition of informed consent. Its
Belmont Report established three tenets of ethical research: respect for persons,
beneficence, and justice. From the 1950s-60s,
Chester M. Southam, an important virologist and cancer researcher, injected
HeLa cells into cancer patients, healthy individuals, and prison inmates from the
Ohio Penitentiary. He wanted to observe if cancer could be transmitted as well as if people could become immune to cancer by developing an acquired immune response. Many believe that this experiment violated the bioethical principles of
informed consent,
non-maleficence, and
beneficence. In the 1970s, the Indian government implemented a large-scale
forced sterilization program, primarily targeting poor and marginalized populations. Millions of people, especially women, underwent
sterilization surgeries without their informed consent, often under pressure from local authorities or in exchange for government services. Some pharmaceutical companies have been accused of conducting
clinical trials of
experimental drugs in Africa without the informed consent of participants or without providing adequate access to healthcare. These practices raise questions about the exploitation of vulnerable populations and the prioritization of commercial interests over the rights of participants.
Psychological experiments have also faced ethical criticism due to their manipulation of participants, inducing stress,
anxiety, or other forms of emotional distress without informed consent. These experiments raise concerns regarding the respect for the dignity and well-being of the individuals involved. == See also ==