Original title: Philadelphia apologizes for unethical medical experiments, most of the subjects were African American
The city of Philadelphia officially apologized on October 6 for unethical medical experiments conducted in a prison in the 20th century, mostly on African American men.
From the 1950s to the 1970s, inmates at Philadelphia’s Holmesburg Prison were deliberately exposed to drugs, viruses, molds, asbestos and even dioxins, according to a statement released by the city of Philadelphia. The prisoners subjected to these experiments, mostly African Americans, many illiterate, are in jail waiting to be charged, trying to save money for bail.
“This is yet another tragic example of shameful and unethical medical experimentation on people of color in American history,” the statement said.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said that although it happened decades ago, the historical impact and trauma caused by this practice of medical racism have persisted for generations and it is necessary to reflect on the atrocities of the past to this day. “There are no excuses, we formally offer our sincere apologies to those who have suffered inhuman and horrific abuse.”
The experiments, conducted by researcher Albert Kligman of the University of Pennsylvania, involved dermatology, biochemistry, and pharmaceutical research, and many prisoners were left with lifelong scars and health problems as a result of the experiments. Kligman died in 2010. The University of Pennsylvania apologized last year and removed Kligman’s name from some of the school’s honorary degrees.
According to historical data, the U.S. Federal Government’s Department of Public Health began collaborating with Tuskegee College in Alabama in 1932, recruiting hundreds of African Americans as experimental subjects to study syphilis and its damage to the human body. Treat experimental subjects appropriately. It took 40 years to stop the experiment and the White House has asked for a presidential apology for it.