Dangerous Medicine: The Story Behind Human Experiments with Hepatitis – review

Sydney Halpern ’s account of postwar US research that deliberately infected hundreds with the disease is shocking – and important for the Covid eraFor three decades after the second world war, US scientists and doctors carried out a research programme of striking ambition – and breathtaking moral negligence. They deliberately infected more than 1,000 people, including at least 100 children, with hepatitis, an illness that can trigger chronic liver disease and cancer.Very few of those subjected to this experimentation had much idea of what was being inflicted upon them. Many were poor and uneducated and came from prisons, asylums and orphanages. A disproportionate number were black.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Science and nature books Culture Hepatitis B Hepatitis C Medical research Source Type: news