Introduction

Have you ever thought about the dark history of the world? How come we have the certain requirements set forth by the Food and Drug administration? Throughout history we've, as a human race, been performing experiments on one another. Why you may ask? We do this because of an interest that is peaked or something…

Chester M. Southam

In the late 1950s into the early 60s, Chester M. Southam performed many experiments without consent. His experiments involved injecting living-cancer cells into patients. However, the major problem presented was the fact his patients were senile, there was absolutely no way to be given consent. Southam still proceeded though. These 22 patients, were African American…

Declaration of Helsinki

The Declaration of Helsinki is a set of principles for medical research with human subjects. It was first amended in June of 1964 and several times afterwards. As a ethical code of principles that are required to be followed, the main purpose behind the declaration is that clinical trials cannot happen until research in animals…

Kefauver-Harris Amendment Act

Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy signed a law "establishing the scientific safeguards used today by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)." (Commissioner) The reasoning was so consumers would not be victims of ineffective and unsafe medications.     The law was strictly set into place after the Thalidomide tragedy that was mention in…

Thalidomide Tragedy

During the 1950s into the 1960s a drug known as Thalidomide emerged in the world. The drug was known to help with sleeping and at the time many people in this post-war era depended on sleeping aids. With a higher demand in Europe than anywhere else in the world, the drug was deemed safe for…

Willowbrook Experiements

In 1956, an experiment occurred in mentally disabled children who were housed in Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York. Dr. Saul Krugman, New York University School of Medicine, and his coworkers began to conduct studies involving hepatitis. Willowbrook had a major problem with hepatitis for patients and staff. It is thought to believe…

Operation Sea Spray

In September of 1950, the crew of a U.S. Navy minesweeper ship spent six days spraying Serratia marcescens into the air while only being about two miles off the northern California coast. Serratia marcescens is a bacterium that lives in soil and water. Best known for the ability to produce bright red pigment makes it useful in experiments. The…

Donald Ewen Cameron

Donald Ewen Cameron, born in 1901, attending the University of Glasgow. After his education he began his career as a resident surgeon in Glasgow. Cameron moved around a bit between 1929 and 1943. From Canada to the United States and back, he soon came to realize his true calling. Cameron's interest in sensory deprivation and…

Project Artichoke/Bluebird

In the 1950s, during the time of the Korean war, Project ARTICHOKE formally known as Project BLUEBIRD involved the CIA beginning to venture more into the area of mind control. To be more specific, ARTICHOKE involved "special" interrogations. Both of these projected had a great deal of work in the creation of amnesia, hypnotic couriers…

Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks was born in August of 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. When she was four years old her mother died in childbirth, causing her father to move with his 10 children and dividing them among relatives. Little Henrietta was raised by her grandfather. In her twenties, she married her cousin Day and soon moved to…