Apologies are welcome but stop deadly research please
Saturday, 9 October 2010
President Barak Obama last Friday(1October 2010) took it upon himself to apologise to his Guatemalan counterpart, President Alvaro Colom, for the scandalous experiment that US researchers had carried out in the 1940s, deliberately infecting a special group of Guatemalan women — hundreds of them — with STDs ( sexually transmitted diseases) and then testing remedies on them to see how effective they were. Obama had the grace to include ‘all those affected’ by the experiment that was conducted by US public health researchers between 1946 and 1948. The study was headed by the controversial doctor John Cutler who had also played a major role in another questionable public health research, known as the Tuskegee experiment, conducted between 1932 and 1972 in the state of Alabama.
According to the wire service AFP, all this came to light when a Wellesley College Professor, Susan Reverby, accidently came upon some archived documents that outlined how Dr Cutler had conducted the research with his team. In 1997, the then President Bill Clinton had offered his apologies for the Tuskegee study, which involved 400 black seasonal farm hands who were already suffering from syphilis, though a good many of the subjects had no idea what they suffered from. These disadvantaged men were recruited by the US public health authorities, but were denied treatment, for the focus of the researchers was not to heal them but to study the natural course of the disease!
Note President Clinton’s attitude when apologising, as revealed through the quote used by the AFP report. ‘What was done cannot be undone but we can end the silence,’ he is reported to have said. ‘We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eyes and finally say, on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful and I am sorry.’ Isn’t that typical Clintonesque, reminiscent of the Monica-related utterings on television ? Be that as it may, Clinton’s apology seems to lack the humility of a truly sorry man!
One wonders if anybody would ever stumble upon any such archives of experiments carried out in this land on the pretext of finding cures for this or that disease! Shigella, cholera, STDs, all kinds of deficiency diseases — the choice is broad enough in a nation where over half the population is said to be suffering from persistent hunger — for both macro and micro nutrients. The abundance of guinea pigs available here, and the lack of awareness among people in general, present virtually unlimited opportunities for any enterprising researcher, to study all kinds of diseases and drugs and even human behaviour under special psyops (psychological operations).
Of course, with informed consent, the benefits for mankind from ethically conducted studies are not to be condemned. But who decides whether or not such research in Bangladesh follows internationally accepted standards ? Given the apathy/complacency/ignorance of our own scientific community, and our governments, the temptation for less- than- ethical researchers to tap the huge potential here for tests of everything under the sun — drug development, chemical, biological or electromagnetic tests, mind-altering, behaviour-controlling experiments etcetera — is by no means small. According to knowledgeable sources, with 21st century technologies, skilled researchers could have a great deal of ‘fun’ in socio-economic environments like ours — and nobody would know what hit them!
History is replete with stories of deadly fun that some researchers have been having at the expense of people, livestock and crops throughout the world. During World War 1, Germany is said to have infected South American pack animals, that were being sent to Europe, with anthrax — the very disease that’s been creating such panic over the past months in Bangladesh! Cutenous anthrax was first identified in April in Ghatail (Tangail) and was carried by a vernacular daily, possibly the ‘Amader Shomoi.’ It is curious that most of the media missed that first sighting. And strangely, none seem to have understood the seriousness of the anthrax outbreak and nobody is investigating the likely source competently enough ! The glaring truth is the government functionaries have been caught napping and have not proved to be up to the task of handling the situation as promptly as required.
Here are some facts about this favourite disease of Bioweapons researchers, developers and deployers: The British during WW 2 considered using anthrax against the Germans, and in preparation, tested it on the Scottish island of Gruinard, which has been declared unfit for habitation for decades after that. Anthrax is a disease which can strike both animals and people. Inhaling the spores almost always leads to death from suffocation within a few days. The spores can live in and contaminate the soil for years and are said to be resistant to quick freezing, boiling and disinfectants. Given these facts, how could government officials in Bangladesh tell the public it’s all right if meat from infected animals is boiled thoroughly before eating?!
In 1937 a Japanese army surgeon, Shiro Ishii, was authorised by his government to establish a major biological warfare research institution in Manchuria , where with a staff of 3000, he worked with some of the world’s most deadly diseases. Anthrax was predominant. Other diseases included botulism, brucellosis, cholera, dysentery, gas gangrene, glanders, influenza, smallpox, meningococcus and many more, which he tested on prisoners of war, petty criminals and others he considered inferior.
According to science writer Jeanne McDermott, ‘The experiments ranged from the gruesome to the horrific: Ishii’s researchers injected tetanus into the heels of prisoners; .... sprayed them with anthrax, cholera, typhoid, plague-infected fleas, and other diseases to calculate the minimum lethal dose; contaminated chocolate, bread, tooth powder, milk, cream, and butter with anthrax spores; tied prisoners to a stake and then exploded germ bombs overhead while soldiers wearing protective gear time their deaths with stopwatches .....’ McDermott tells us further that after the end of the war the Americans tracked down Ishii and offered him immunity from war crimes in return for his research data, including 8000 slides, most of which are still ‘classified’!
The US began its biological warfare programme in 1943 with George Merck of the giant drug company of the same name. Research and development of biological weapons continued after the war. Between 1945 and 1969 the US military reportedly ‘conducted over 200 known experimental disseminations of micro-organisms, spraying some 239 populated areas. All were top-secret at the time. For six days in 1950 scientists from Camp Detrick together with the US Navy ‘attacked’ the city of San Fransisco with Serratia marcescens, a supposedly harmless bacterium, from a navy ship in San Francisco Bay ........’ The US government continued using organisms ‘long after some medical experts had published reports describing human illnesses, and even death, resulting from infection with the same type of organism’, according to US Senator Richard Schweiker.
It’s good that the US apologises after the dastardly deeds are done but who can say they won’t be committed again, and again ? And who can catch the others in their covert operations ? Over a dozen other countries, including our neighbours, were believed to be playing with virulent diseases, chemicals and gases, as the past century came to an end. None of them has so far been made to apologize!
According to the wire service AFP, all this came to light when a Wellesley College Professor, Susan Reverby, accidently came upon some archived documents that outlined how Dr Cutler had conducted the research with his team. In 1997, the then President Bill Clinton had offered his apologies for the Tuskegee study, which involved 400 black seasonal farm hands who were already suffering from syphilis, though a good many of the subjects had no idea what they suffered from. These disadvantaged men were recruited by the US public health authorities, but were denied treatment, for the focus of the researchers was not to heal them but to study the natural course of the disease!
Note President Clinton’s attitude when apologising, as revealed through the quote used by the AFP report. ‘What was done cannot be undone but we can end the silence,’ he is reported to have said. ‘We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eyes and finally say, on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful and I am sorry.’ Isn’t that typical Clintonesque, reminiscent of the Monica-related utterings on television ? Be that as it may, Clinton’s apology seems to lack the humility of a truly sorry man!
One wonders if anybody would ever stumble upon any such archives of experiments carried out in this land on the pretext of finding cures for this or that disease! Shigella, cholera, STDs, all kinds of deficiency diseases — the choice is broad enough in a nation where over half the population is said to be suffering from persistent hunger — for both macro and micro nutrients. The abundance of guinea pigs available here, and the lack of awareness among people in general, present virtually unlimited opportunities for any enterprising researcher, to study all kinds of diseases and drugs and even human behaviour under special psyops (psychological operations).
Of course, with informed consent, the benefits for mankind from ethically conducted studies are not to be condemned. But who decides whether or not such research in Bangladesh follows internationally accepted standards ? Given the apathy/complacency/ignorance of our own scientific community, and our governments, the temptation for less- than- ethical researchers to tap the huge potential here for tests of everything under the sun — drug development, chemical, biological or electromagnetic tests, mind-altering, behaviour-controlling experiments etcetera — is by no means small. According to knowledgeable sources, with 21st century technologies, skilled researchers could have a great deal of ‘fun’ in socio-economic environments like ours — and nobody would know what hit them!
History is replete with stories of deadly fun that some researchers have been having at the expense of people, livestock and crops throughout the world. During World War 1, Germany is said to have infected South American pack animals, that were being sent to Europe, with anthrax — the very disease that’s been creating such panic over the past months in Bangladesh! Cutenous anthrax was first identified in April in Ghatail (Tangail) and was carried by a vernacular daily, possibly the ‘Amader Shomoi.’ It is curious that most of the media missed that first sighting. And strangely, none seem to have understood the seriousness of the anthrax outbreak and nobody is investigating the likely source competently enough ! The glaring truth is the government functionaries have been caught napping and have not proved to be up to the task of handling the situation as promptly as required.
Here are some facts about this favourite disease of Bioweapons researchers, developers and deployers: The British during WW 2 considered using anthrax against the Germans, and in preparation, tested it on the Scottish island of Gruinard, which has been declared unfit for habitation for decades after that. Anthrax is a disease which can strike both animals and people. Inhaling the spores almost always leads to death from suffocation within a few days. The spores can live in and contaminate the soil for years and are said to be resistant to quick freezing, boiling and disinfectants. Given these facts, how could government officials in Bangladesh tell the public it’s all right if meat from infected animals is boiled thoroughly before eating?!
In 1937 a Japanese army surgeon, Shiro Ishii, was authorised by his government to establish a major biological warfare research institution in Manchuria , where with a staff of 3000, he worked with some of the world’s most deadly diseases. Anthrax was predominant. Other diseases included botulism, brucellosis, cholera, dysentery, gas gangrene, glanders, influenza, smallpox, meningococcus and many more, which he tested on prisoners of war, petty criminals and others he considered inferior.
According to science writer Jeanne McDermott, ‘The experiments ranged from the gruesome to the horrific: Ishii’s researchers injected tetanus into the heels of prisoners; .... sprayed them with anthrax, cholera, typhoid, plague-infected fleas, and other diseases to calculate the minimum lethal dose; contaminated chocolate, bread, tooth powder, milk, cream, and butter with anthrax spores; tied prisoners to a stake and then exploded germ bombs overhead while soldiers wearing protective gear time their deaths with stopwatches .....’ McDermott tells us further that after the end of the war the Americans tracked down Ishii and offered him immunity from war crimes in return for his research data, including 8000 slides, most of which are still ‘classified’!
The US began its biological warfare programme in 1943 with George Merck of the giant drug company of the same name. Research and development of biological weapons continued after the war. Between 1945 and 1969 the US military reportedly ‘conducted over 200 known experimental disseminations of micro-organisms, spraying some 239 populated areas. All were top-secret at the time. For six days in 1950 scientists from Camp Detrick together with the US Navy ‘attacked’ the city of San Fransisco with Serratia marcescens, a supposedly harmless bacterium, from a navy ship in San Francisco Bay ........’ The US government continued using organisms ‘long after some medical experts had published reports describing human illnesses, and even death, resulting from infection with the same type of organism’, according to US Senator Richard Schweiker.
It’s good that the US apologises after the dastardly deeds are done but who can say they won’t be committed again, and again ? And who can catch the others in their covert operations ? Over a dozen other countries, including our neighbours, were believed to be playing with virulent diseases, chemicals and gases, as the past century came to an end. None of them has so far been made to apologize!