US apologizes for infecting Guatemalans with STDs in the 1940s

Another atrocity in the history of U.S. medical research has come to light.  In the late 1940s, the U.S. Public Health Service Sexually Transmitted Disease Inoculation Study purposely infected more than 1,600 Guatemalans with syphilis, gonorrhea and chancres.  The study, which came to light recently when a  Wellesley College researcher found unpublished notes from the project, has drawn an official apology from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

By the CNN Wire Staff

October 1, 2010

 

The United States apologized Friday for a 1946-1948 research study that purposely infected people in Guatemala with sexually transmitted diseases.
A statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called the action "reprehensible."

"We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices," the joint statement said. "The conduct exhibited during the study does not represent the values of the United States, or our commitment to human dignity and great respect for the people of Guatemala."

Clinton called Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom on Thursday night to inform him, said Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela.

"They were obviously concerned about this information. They were saddened by it," Valenzuela said in a telephone news conference Friday.

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