Today, American President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order that lifted the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The ban was put in place by past-president George W. Bush shortly after taking office in 2001. In lifting the ban, Obama said "we will vigorously support scientists who pursue this research. And we will aim for America to lead the world in the discoveries it one day may yield."
But perhaps even more importantly, Obama took this occasion to issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy "to develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making."
In sharp contrast to what many feel was a former president adverse to science, President Obama insisted that supporting science was a critical function of government. The memorandum, he said, would
"ensure that in this new Administration, we base our public policies on the soundest science; that we appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology; and that we are open and honest with the American people about the science behind our decisions. That is how we will harness the power of science to achieve our goals - to preserve our environment and protect our national security; to create the jobs of the future, and live longer, healthier lives."
He made clear that his decision was not made based on his belief in science alone: "As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering." Further, he said that "a false choice has often been presented between science and faith, and that corrupting, shielding, or shying away from the facts science lays bare benefits nobody."
The emphasis on science is very welcome to most scientists who feel that their ability to pursue meaning research has been unduly restricted in recent years.
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Comments: 104
Obama made a promise to overturn it, not based on anything else than fulfilling a promise. He is wrong just like Bush was in making the decision based on moral grounds. Neither is/was right in their justification. My argument against the Fed getting involved is this was based on the picking winners or losers for appropriations, this had substantial Obamaite support that is why it got funding. The Feds should not be involved in anything not directly pertaining to enumerated powers when shelling out research monies.
"The Feds should not be involved in anything not directly pertaining to enumerated powers when shelling out research monies."
I'm not sure I understand this part. The "enumerated powers" as specified in Article 1 of the Constitution apply to the Legislative Branch, whereas Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda would come under Article 2, which gives broad powers to the Executive Branch to implement the laws. Today's actions don't violate any of the laws passed by Congress.
It was the "right thing to do" when Bush banned it but it is political when Obama lifts the ban.
Stem cell research benefits us. While no one likes to think about how you get the material to research the fact is that scientists do get it.
If you seperate church from the government there is very little to warrant objection from stem cell research.
David I think anything Obama does that someone doesnt agree with is going to be called a political move. Yep, just like research investigating the declining bee population (which helps pollinate, and thus grow our food supply), is pork!
I'm afraid I don't understand. How is "big pharma" and the FDA and organics getting pushed out? And pushed out of what? I just can't seem to figure out what you mean here, Teresa. Can you help me out? Thanks.
As for freedoms taken away, what freedoms are you referring to? I haven't noticed that I lost any of mine.
Unfortunately, anyone can make a line item in the budget look like pork by giving it a silly name. Some of it is pork, but not usually the ones that get called out. (By the way, I'll have to check to see how many times John McCain has called out his fellow Senator from Arizona for his pork earmarks. It's always easy to play the good guy when you have a colleague collecting a hefty share for the state anyway...and Kyl is up there in the top group of pork getters.)
The government's only role should be that of protecting us from the adverse effects of other's endeavors be it science, banking, manufacturing, farming or whatever. That is the critical function of government not playing god or grandpa. Science has in no way been underfunded by our government since the 50's and too much of it has been junk science. The government has overstepped it's bounds too often in the realm of science and it's time to step back as government involvement has not improved it in any measurable ways.
Well, the benefits of research help everyone, not just the ones who bankrolled it (though pharmaceuticals arguably help their manufacturers as much or more than the people taking the medications sometimes). As for whether it will help, that is something we don't know, of course. That's why we need research - to find what works. It's not like there is something already out there that either works or doesn't work, we have to spend the money to develop it.
BLL says "The government has overstepped it's bounds too often in the realm of science and it's time to step back as government involvement has not improved it in any measurable ways."
Even if it means potentially preventing a wide-scale disruption to our food supply?
Is this a trick question or a joke? If nothing else, the internet was a government project, so thank Uncle Sam and your neighbors for allowing you to come onto Gather and offer your wisdom. So was space exploration that has resulted in many innovations we use every day. So was most of the research that led to cures for diseases that used to kill babies faster than we could make them. In fact, the government funds most of the basic research before turning it over to private industry - usually for free or for a tiny fee - so that industry can commercialize it and make billions of dollars.
I'm afraid you are seriously mistaken.
we have to spend the money to develop it.
There are a lot more important things That people NEED to spend yet MORE money on.
Trouble is, we need to spend money on the right things, and many believe we have been wasting too much money on things we should never have gotten into. You think it is money for stem cell research; others think it is money for a war.
JOB GROWTH, LOWER TAXES in reality, stop the raises on Capitol Gains, you just can't tell me, he isn't raising taxes on poor, or those who worked all their lives to see their monies being eaten up by stupid projects, un-proven and just earmarks for his cronies.
We just did our taxxes, NO THANKS, I know better, I guess beating down the older workers works for some, but it won't work long.
I'm a little confused about your comment regarding capital gains while also talking about the poor. It's unlikely that the poor have too many capital gains, especially since there are exclusions that would apply. And none of the stimulus money impacts at all the money we've all been putting away for our retirement....in fact, the idea is to stimulate the economy so our retirement savings grows again. Don't forget that the stock market was going down for the last several years, not just the last few months. My retirement account has been cut in half from what it was when Bush took office, and the decrease was very jagged but steadily down most of this decade. Meanwhile, social security is currently unaffected, though even there we need to do some things to keep it viable for the future.
Now that Federal monies can be funneled to embryonic stem stem research, what will happen to the adult stem cell research funding? How will that impact ongoing studies?
"Of all the trillions of dollars the government has spent on research over the years is there anything that anyone can name in specific that is the direct result of this government funded research that has produced a benefit to the general population?"
David has already mentioned the Internet, and I'll toss in the computer as well.
You seem to be right on their wave length. Oh, sorry, I shouldn't use science terms with you. You seem to agree with their ethical standards.
Because research has been on-going both in this country with the limited "lines" available and in at least 10 other countries who have not only permitted embryo "harvesting" for this purpose but have subsidized the research. This has been going on for the past 7 years and where are the miracle cures?
Answer: "Adult" stem cells harvested from the HOST have proven effective in producing positive results in certain cancer treatments. Well documented. But where is the evidence from Italy, Great Britain, Korea, China and Russia that embryonic stem cells cure any previously untreatable diseases?
The internet was not funded as a research project by the government. The technologies go back to the 30's and are a collaboration of inventions/discoveries of private individuals, companies, defense contractors and the military. Much of the technologies were ridiculed as pointless and senseless and even scrapped and at the time these technologies were created the thought of a "personal computer" was preposterous as no one would ever have the desire or need to own a computer. The organization of the internet may be what you are referring to but many of the people who worked on it actually paid to do so. The internet has also generated extreme profits for a very few as it is now a private utility under private management. When do we get paid back and receive a return on these investments?
As for the trillions spent on space travel how has that benefited the common person in their every day life? If you cite the weather technologies don't bother as that is the biggest waste of tax payers money that provide profits for a small group of media conglomerates. I studied that extensively for 3 years we were more accurate pulling a prediction out of a hat. It used to be a crime to give a false weather report. The law is still on the books but never used as every meteorologist would be out of a job. The farmers Almanac used to be far more accurate although that has gone down hill in the last 10 years or so as it relies more on technology than the human/natural element. What benefits have we gained from NASA space travel and why is it that someone else couldn't do the same or better and do it more cost effectively? It costs quite a bit to use their services and they are not attainable by many who would be in direct competition with "favored clients" and that is one of the reasons these companies leave the US although the US has tried to decide who and what kinds of satellites they can launch from foreign soil as well.
Science has also been responsible for a lot of pollution here on earth and when one takes a look at the satellites orbiting the earth it is quite sickening. If your talking national defense there again, the same people have been in place for years, it is for the most part non governmental and reaps exuberant profits not to mention they are not too good at what they do by any stretch of the imagination.
Pharmaceuticals and biochems are a real disservice to the people and another huge problem along with "social sciences" and "mental health". We have funded the research of many drugs and they are not effective or affordable and we see no return on our investments. They are priced high because like anything else the government develops and then purchases with the publics money cost is never an issue. They have unlimited funds. How much goes onto the market and has to get recalled or more people have to die or become illl from their effects before it does and then they have no responsibility for knowingly producing products that not only don't do what they claim but cause injury or death?
Even if it means potentially preventing a wide-scale disruption to our food supply?
Science is destroying our food supply. People should have a choice wether to raise or eat engineered foods. This is another large part of the governments over-involvement with science. Bad science. Just because someone developed it doesn't mean I should have to eat it and it's getting to the point where, like many other things, they will be enforcing the use of these toxic products with their greed and guns. It has already started. One word they keep barking about is "sustainable" crops but the reality is there is nothing sustainable about sterile vegetation. A few million to fund research on honey bees? What a wast of money. It has been determined what has killed them off. Government research in this area has nothing to do with finding out fact but is solely to support a position of corporate giants one of who already has patents on naturally organisms.
As an environmental scientist don't you see how this adds to the problems with the environment? All these companies have been involved in criminal activities and destroying the environment for years with the full knowledge of, and a blank check and a pat on the back from the US government.
The view that all science is good and that everyone should have to pay for a lot of nonsense research is not something I agree with and it is not something our government really has the authority to do. Article II does not give the president any powers to make laws. Nor did it give congress the authority to write half the garbage they write either. Congress doesn't do anything they are supposed to it is all done by private corporations. Remember this is the same government that promoted smoking and anyone who identified it as being harmful and the cause of illnesses was discredited.
People lose a lot of freedom in the name of science. First and foremost the freedom to choose to have to invest in areas of science that are a farce or that they morally oppose for whatever reason or force their terminal family members into treatments that will make their short life one of hell and misery bankrupting those who are left. Force their children on medications that do more harm than good and aren't needed for anything. Much of science has no incentive to be accurate or right when it is funded by and forced on the people by the government.
Science is no different than any other industry with very few exceptions. If the people are to have to accept policies based upon science full disclosure and accountability is required and nothing less. If the government paid for the R&D it should be open to everyone with no limitations and their should be no patents awarded.
While stem cell research has it's place it also poses many known and unknown dangers and the integrity of our government officials and those who lead many of the research facilities and publications is questionable to say the least. Sheryl L's second comment is only partially correct because this type of coercion has been going on for years and not just Bush Jr and like most before him Obama will do the same too. Bush Sr and Rumsfeld restructured the already poor government oversight of science during the Carter and Reagan years and contrary to popular belief all have increased funding in science through executive orders. Most of it junk science. They just called it national defense. Reagan was big on cancer funding yet went out of the country for treatments not performed here in the US.
Science and politics don't mix.
Anyone remember the tomatoes that smelled like fish when they were sliced because they were crossed with the genes of the flounder so the tomatoes in refrigerated transportation wouldn't get frost damage? And then there were the GMO potatoes that produced hydrochloric acid when they were sliced open in the presence of UVA/UVB (also known as "sunlight"). This reaction was detected when farmworkers who didn't wear gloves got chemical burns on their hands!
In other words there are a lot of scientists out there who are ethically "challenged". Anyone who thinks they can be trusted to go so far and no further with how they handle unfettered access to human embryonic tissue, watered liberally with your and my tax dollars, is out of touch with reality.
Scientists say ESCR is simply not working, and this science may never deliver new treatments for diseases. They believe they may never be able to overcome the hurdles of ESCR -- such as the development of tumors or immune syndrome rejection issues. This plagues ESCR and makes it risky in humans. Further, they could not guarantee to anyone that this work will actually lead to improvements in disease as a definite.
So what the bio-engineering firms will be trying to do at the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars is to get embryonic stem cells to stop behaving like they were designed to behave, and start behaving like adult stem cells.
Actually, no, I don't remember. Which isn't surprising, since none of it is true. Where did you get this?
Excuse me, but I surely thought that doctor's were sworn to be ethical, am I mistaken.
I guess some don't KNOW, about some of the experiments upon humans and don't care-- to name one, while patients were alive they'd inject them with various diseases and open them up and watch the progress of the various diseases like bubonic plague.
Science without ethics's, what's wrong with that?
Volunteer for it, yourself-to all who believe it, volunteer for it yourselves and pay for it too, while your at it.
Can you provide a link to this research?
Do we not have the ability to communicate instantaneously with others around the world, offer our opinions without inhibition (or peer-review), and use the internet to profit daily, both in the financial and emotional sense?
I'm afraid I can't follow the logic enough to know what you mean by this, Charles.
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~brownk4/BBC_GMfood.pdf
Gotcha! You're a Libertarian, aren't you?
My response is that basic science (research) benefits society, and informs our decisions (if we're smart enough to use it), just as art benefits society by giving us a visual clue to the emotions within us. Therefore, the greates benefactor of both art AND science has always been government. Without government funding, science would languish, and we'd NEVER get out of the coal age.
How 'bout a little explicaton on just what sort of funding would be allowable under your "enumerated powers" reason.
They probably can't (although I've heard of this one before), but EVERYone has heard of the Nazi's Dr. Death. And we all know about the syphillis experiment on black men in the American south.
And I guarantee you... someone is trying to clone a human somewhere (or has succeeded) TODAY! We aren't likely to hear about any successes for years (who, after all, wants to go to jail?), but I have absolute faith in both the venality and credulity of Man. It's gonna happen (but not necessarily because of research with stem cells).
Scientists say ESCR is simply not working, and this science may never deliver new treatments for diseases. They believe they may never be able to overcome the hurdles of ESCR -- such as the development of tumors or immune syndrome rejection issues. This plagues ESCR and makes it risky in humans. Further, they could not guarantee to anyone that this work will actually lead to improvements in disease as a definite.
So what the bio-engineering firms will be trying to do at the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars is to get embryonic stem cells to stop behaving like they were designed to behave, and start behaving like adult stem cells. "
In a word, "No!"
In several words - none of this is true. It's political kant, not scientific fact. It comes from "true believers" who claim they're scientists (and may even have the education), but put their politico-religious beliefs ahead of what's straight in front of them. And then they feed Hannity and Limbouah and their ilk this nonsense, to which you listen, and... VOILA! "Scientist say..." Nope. Scientists don't.
My wife has Multiple Sclerosis - if not for NASA and space exploration, she, and thousands of her peers would be dead (or well on their way). Interferon b was initially only extractable in micro-gravity, and so there was no way to test it.
Blind Lady Liberty: "People lose a lot of freedom in the name of science."
No. People lose a lot of freedom because of the imposition of dogmatic belief as a condition of governing. We fund a LOT of things in which we have no say (I had to help fund Shrub's absurd war, for instance).
Just stopped by to let you know that this post has been featured at the group -Barack Obama's Presidential Appointments, Bills and Policies.
http://obamasupporters.gather.com/viewPostsByGroup.action?filter=featured&nav=Groupspace
I agreed with President Obama when he said:
"It's about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it's inconvenient – especially when it's inconvenient."
I'm so happy we have a forward thinking President at the helm.
All I can say is that it's nice to have a human being starring in the reality show, White House.
BLL says A few million to fund research on honey bees? What a wast of money. It has been determined what has killed them off.
You are entirely wrong!
http://www.ento.psu.edu/MAAREC/index.html
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004071
Really? What is killing them off?
You make a quick and careless statement about the validity of my comment because it does not agree with what you may choose to believe, but you fail at refuting any of it.
How could you know what TV I watch? You are wasting your talents here on Gather if you are a seer who knows all and sees all.
Scientists DO say, exactly what I said they say in my original comment. These are the scientists at STEMTech Health Services, Inc. But I am most confident that you, in the absence of your professed infinite wisdom, could find a way to discredit them.
How can you know everything that every scientist has ever said? Did you see the final report on all their research? You imply that you do.
An effective refutation of my comment should have included an explanation of "Why or how" the points I made are mistaken. You are unable to do that, so you argue with a straw man.
So, I repeat:
"Not one single person on earth has ever been helped or cured by an Embryonic Stem Cell, after nearly ten years of experiments through "private" funding."
Still waiting for a link to this research, LH.
Aimee, can you provide a link to the statement in question. I don't see anything on their web site.
Thanks
It took over ten years to develop the polio vaccine. It took over ten years to perfect organ transplants enough that a patient would survive for more than a few days. All significant research takes DECADES to achieve results. If you had half a clue about the scientific process, you would know this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
Unit 731
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Body disposal at Unit 731.Unit 731 (731 ?? ,Nana-san-ichi butai?) was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel.
Officially known by the Imperial Japanese Army as the Kempeitai Political Department and Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory, it was initially set up under the Kempeitai military police of the Empire of Japan to develop weapons of mass destruction for potential use against Chinese, and possibly Soviet forces.
Contents [hide]
1 Description
2 Formation
3 Activities
3.1 Vivisection
3.2 Weapons testing
3.3 Germ warfare attacks
3.4 Other experiments
4 Biological warfare
5 Unit members
6 Divisions
7 Facilities
7.1 Anta testing site
7.2 Hsinking (Changchun) HQ
7.3 Peking (Peiping) HQ
7.4 Nanking HQ
7.5 Kwangtung (Canton) HQ
7.6 Syonan (Singapore) HQ
7.7 Hiroshima HQ
7.8 Manchuria HQ (Unit 200)
7.9 Manchuria HQ (Unit 571)
7.10 Special Mobile Teams
7.11 Special Operations units
8 Disbanding and the end of World War II
9 Cultural depictions and representations
10 See also
10.1 Pacific War (World War II)
10.2 Nazi Germany
10.3 In Asia
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links
13.1 Resources
13.1.1 Images
13.2 Accounts
13.3 Articles
[edit] Description
Unit 731 was based in the Pingfang district of the city of Harbin in the puppet state of Manchukuo.
Shiro Ishii, commander of Unit 731More than ten thousand people,[1] from which around 600 every year were provided by the Kempeitai,[2] were subjects of the experimentation conducted by Unit 731.
Those were both civilian and military of Chinese, Russian, American and other nationalities as well as some Japanese criminals from the Japanese mainlands.[3] The victims who died in the camp included at least 25 victims from the former Soviet Union, Mongolia and Korea. [4]Some American and European Allied prisoners of war also died at the hands of Unit 731.[4]
According to the 2002 International Symposium on the Crimes of Bacteriological Warfare, the number of people killed by the Imperial Japanese Army germ warfare and human experiments is around 580,000.[5] According to other sources, the use of biological weapons researched in Unit 731's bioweapons and chemical weapons programs resulted in possibly as many as 200,000 deaths of military personnel and civilians in China.[6]
Unit 731 was the headquarters of many subsidiary units used by the Japanese to research biological warfare; other units included Unit 516 (Qiqihar), Unit 543 (Hailar), Unit 773 (Songo unit), Unit 100 (Changchun), Unit Ei 1644 (Nanjing), Unit 1855 (Beijing), Unit 8604 (Guangzhou), Unit 200 (Manchuria) and Unit 9420 (Singapore).
Many of the scientists involved in Unit 731 went on to prominent careers in post-war politics, academia, business, and medicine. Some were arrested by Soviet forces and tried at the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials; others, who surrendered to the Americans, were granted amnesty in exchange for access to the data collected by them.[7]
On 6 May 1947, Douglas MacArthur, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, wrote to Washington that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii probably can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as 'War Crimes' evidence."[8] The deal was concluded in 1948.
Because of their brutality, Unit 731's actions have now been declared by the United Nations to have been crimes against humanity.
[edit] Formation
In 1932, General Shiro Ishii (????), chief medical officer of the Japanese Army and protégé of Army Minister Sadao Araki was placed in command of the Army Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory. He and his men built the Zhong Ma Prison Camp (whose main building was known locally as the Zhongma Fortress), a prison/experimentation camp in Beiyinhe, a village 100 kilometers south of Harbin on the South Manchurian Railway.
Ishii organized a secret research group, the "Togo Unit", for the conduct of various chemical and biological investigations. In 1935, a jailbreak, and later, an explosion (believed to be an attack) forced Ishii to shut down Zhongma Fortress. He later moved to Pingfang, approximately 24 kilometers south of Harbin, to set up a new and much larger facility.[9]
In 1936, Emperor Sh?wa authorized, by imperial decree, the expansion of this unit and its integration into the Kwantung Army as the Epidemic Prevention Department.[10] It was divided at the same time into the "Ishii Unit" and "Wakamatsu Unit" with a base in Hsinking. From August 1940, all these units were known collectively as the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army (??????????)"[11] or "Unit 731" (???731??) for short.
[edit] Activities
Weapons of
mass destruction
By type
Biological
Chemical
Nuclear
Radiological
By country
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
PR China
France
Germany
India
Iran
Iraq
Israel Japan
Netherlands
North Korea
Pakistan
Poland
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
South Africa
Sweden
Syria
Taiwan (ROC)
United Kingdom
United States
List of treaties
v • d • e
A special project code-named Maruta used human beings for experiments. Test subjects were gathered from the surrounding population and were sometimes referred to euphemistically as "logs" (?? ,maruta?).[12] This term originated as a joke on the part of the staff due to the fact that the official cover story for the facility given to the local authorities was that it was a lumber mill.[13]
The test subjects were selected to give a wide cross section of the population, and included common criminals, captured bandits and anti-Japanese partisans, political prisoners, and also people rounded up by the secret police for alleged "suspicious activities" and included infants, the elderly, and pregnant women.
[edit] Vivisection
Prisoners of war were subjected to vivisection without anesthesia.[14][12]
Vivisections were performed on prisoners after infecting them with various diseases. Scientists performed invasive surgery on prisoners, removing organs to study the effects of disease on the human body. These were conducted while the patients were alive because it was feared that the decomposition process would affect the results.[15][12] The infected and vivisected prisoners included men, women, children, and infants.[16]
Vivisections were also performed on pregnant women, sometimes impregnated by doctors, and the fetus removed.[17]
Prisoners had limbs amputated in order to study blood loss.[12]
Those limbs that were removed were sometimes re-attached to the opposite sides of the body.[12]
Some prisoners' limbs were frozen and amputated, while others had limbs frozen then thawed to study the effects of the resultant untreated gangrene and rotting.
Some prisoners had their stomachs surgically removed and the esophagus reattached to the intestines.[12]
Parts of the brain, lungs, liver, etc. were removed from some prisoners.[18][14][12]
In 2007, Doctor Ken Yuasa testified to the Japan Times that "I was afraid during my first vivisection, but the second time around, it was much easier. By the third time, I was willing to do it." He believes at least 1,000 persons, including surgeons, were involved in vivisections over mainland China.[19]
[edit] Weapons testing
Human targets were used to test grenades positioned at various distances and in different positions.[12]
Flame throwers were tested on humans.[12]
Humans were tied to stakes and used as targets to test germ-releasing bombs, chemical weapons and explosive bombs.[12]
[edit] Germ warfare attacks
Prisoners were injected with inoculations of disease, disguised as vaccinations, to study their effects.[12]
To study the effects of untreated venereal diseases, male and female prisoners were deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhea, then studied[12].
Prisoners were infested with fleas in order to acquire large quantities of disease-carrying fleas for the purposes of studying the viability of germ warfare[citation needed].
Plague fleas, infected clothing, and infected supplies encased in bombs were dropped on various targets. The resulting cholera, anthrax, and plague were estimated to have killed around 400,000 Chinese civilians.[12]
Tularemia was tested on Chinese civilians.[20]
Unit 731 and its affiliated units (Unit 1644, Unit 100, et cetera) were actively involved not only in research and development, but also in experimental deployment of epidemic-creating biowarfare weapons in assaults against the Chinese populace (both civilian and military) throughout World War II. Plague-infested fleas, bred in the laboratories of Unit 731 and Unit 1644, were spread by low-flying airplanes upon Chinese cities, coastal Ningbo in 1940, and Changde, Hunan Province, in 1941. This military aerial spraying killed thousands of people with bubonic plague epidemics.[21]
[edit] Other experiments
Prisoners were subjected to other experiments such as:
being hung upside down to see how long it would take for them to choke to death.[12]
having air injected into their arteries to determine the time until the onset of embolism.[12]
having horse urine injected into their kidneys.[12]
being deprived of food and water to determine the length of time until death.
being placed into high-pressure chambers until death.
being exposed to extreme temperatures and developed frostbite to determine how long humans could survive with such an affliction, and to determine the effects of rotting and gangrene on human flesh.[12]
having experiments performed upon prisoners to determine the relationship between temperature, burns, and human survival.
being placed into centrifuges and spun until dead.
having animal blood injected and the effects studied.
being exposed to lethal doses of x-ray radiation.
having various chemical weapons tested on prisoners inside gas chambers.
being injected with sea water to determine if it could be a substitute for saline.
[edit] Biological warfare
Japanese scientists performed tests on prisoners with plague, cholera, smallpox, botulism and other diseases.[22] This research led to the development of the defoliation bacilli bomb and the flea bomb used to spread the bubonic plague.[23] Some of these bombs were designed with ceramic (porcelain) shells, an idea proposed by Ishii in 1938.
These bombs enabled Japanese soldiers to launch biological attacks, infecting agriculture, reservoirs, wells, and other areas with anthrax, plague-carrier fleas, typhoid, dysentery, cholera, and other deadly pathogens. During biological bomb experiments, scientists dressed in protective suits would examine the dying victims. Infected food supplies and clothing were dropped by airplane into areas of China not occupied by Japanese forces. In addition, poisoned food and candies were given out to unsuspecting victims and children, and the results examined.
[edit] Unit members
Lieutenant General Shiro Ishii
Lieutenant Colonel Ryoichi Naito
Dr. Masaji Kitano
Yoshio Shinozuka
Yasuji Kaneko
[edit] Divisions
Unit 731 was divided into eight divisions:
Division 1: Research on bubonic plague, cholera, anthrax, typhoid and tuberculosis using live human subjects. For this purpose, a prison was constructed to contain around three to four hundred people.
Division 2: Research for biological weapons used in the field, in particular the production of devices to spread germs and parasites.
Division 3: Production of shells containing biological agents. Stationed in Harbin.
Division 4: Production of other miscellaneous agents.
Division 5: Training of personnel.
Divisions 6–8: Equipment, medical and administrative units.
[edit] Facilities
One of the buildings is open to visitorsThe Unit 731 complex covered six square kilometers and consisted of more than 150 buildings. The design of the facilities made them hard to destroy by bombing. The complex contained various factories. It had around 4,500 containers to be used to raise fleas, six giant cauldrons to produce various chemicals and around 1,800 containers to produce biological agents. Approximately 30 kg of bubonic plague bacteria could be produced in several days.
Some of Unit 731's satellite facilities are in use by various Chinese industrial concerns. A portion has been preserved and is open to visitors as a War Crimes Museum.
Tons of biological weapons (and some chemicals) were stored in various places in northeastern China throughout the war. The Japanese attempted to destroy evidence of the facilities after disbanding. In August 2003, 29 people were hospitalized after a construction crew in Heilongjiang inadvertently dug up chemical shells that had been buried deep in the soil more than 50 years before.
[edit] Anta testing site
This site was an open air testing area about 120 km from the Pingfang facility.
[edit] Hsinking (Changchun) HQ
Headquarters of "Wakamatsu Unit" (Unit 100), under command of veterinarian Wakamatsu Yujiro. This facility dedicated itself to both the study of animal vaccines to protect Japanese resources, and, especially, veterinary biological-warfare. Diseases were tested for use against the Soviet and Chinese horses and other livestock. In addition to these tests, Unit 100 ran a bacteria factory to produce the pathogens needed by other units. Biological sabotage testing was also handled at this facility: everything from poisons to chemical crop destruction.
[edit] Peking (Peiping) HQ
This HQ served as the headquarters of Unit 1855. It was also an experimental branch unit based at Tsinan, Shantung. Pandemic diseases were extensively studied at this facility.
[edit] Nanking HQ
This section was the headquarters of the "Tama Unit" (Unit Ei 1644) and conducted extensive joint projects and operations with Unit 731.
[edit] Kwangtung (Canton) HQ
The headquarters of the "Nami Unit" (Unit 8604). This installation conducted human experimentation in food and water deprivation as well as water-borne typhus. In addition, this facility served as the main rat-farm for the medical units to provide them with bubonic plague vectors for experiments.[citation needed]
[edit] Syonan (Singapore) HQ
Formed in 1942, by Ryoichi Naito, Unit 9420 had approximately 1000 personnel based at the Raffles Medical University. The unit was commanded by Major General Kitagawa Masataka and supported by the Japanese Southern Army Headquarters.
There were two main sub units: the "Kono Unit," which specialized in malaria, and "Umeoka Unit," which dealt with the plague. In addition to disease experiments, this facility served as one of the main rat catching and processing centers. Evidence points towards this facility supplying a medical sub-unit operating in Thailand, with diseases for unknown operations and or experiments.[citation needed]
[edit] Hiroshima HQ
A top secret factory in ?kunoshima produced chemical weapons for the Japanese military and medical units. Starting with mustard gas production in 1928, the factory moved on to such poisons as Yperite, Lewisite, and Cyanogen. During the 1930s, as the war in China grew worse, the island the factory sat on was removed from most maps to strengthen secrecy and security.
[edit] Manchuria HQ (Unit 200)
This unit was associated directly with Unit 731, and worked mainly in plague research.
[edit] Manchuria HQ (Unit 571)
This section, with unknown headquarters, was another unit that worked directly and extensively with Unit 731.
[edit] Special Mobile Teams
Special units led by Ishii Shiro's elder brother and only staffed with members from Ishii's home town operated separately from the regular medical organizations as roving researchers and trouble shooters.[citation needed]
[edit] Special Operations units
Units with special and unknown assignments in Manchuria and the Asian mainland. It has been suggested that nuclear weapons research was conducted in Manchuria towards the end of the war by this branch.[citation needed]
[edit] Disbanding and the end of World War II
Information sign at the site today.Operations and experiments continued until the end of the war. Ishii had wanted to use biological weapons in the Pacific conflict since May 1944, but his attempts were repeatedly foiled by poor planning and Allied intervention.
With the Russian invasion of Manchukuo and Mengjiang in August 1945, the unit had to abandon their work in haste. The members and their families fled to Japan.
Ishii ordered every member of the group "to take the secret to the grave", threatening to find them if they failed, and prohibiting any of them from going into public work back in Japan. Potassium cyanide vials were issued for use in the event that the remaining personnel were captured.[12]
Skeleton crews of Ishii's Japanese troops blew the compound up in the final days of the war to destroy evidence of their activities, but most were so well constructed that they survived somewhat intact as a testimony to what had happened there.
After Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, Douglas MacArthur became the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, rebuilding Japan during the Allied occupation. MacArthur secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Unit 731 in exchange for providing America with their research on biological warfare.
The United States believed that the research data was valuable because the Allies had never publicly conducted or condoned such experiments on humans due to moral and political revulsion. The United States also did not want other nations, particularly the Soviet Union, to acquire data on biological weapons, not to mention the military benefits of such research.[24]
The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal heard only one reference to Japanese experiments with "poisonous serums" on Chinese civilians. This took place in August 1946 and was instigated by David Sutton, assistant to the Chinese prosecutor. The Japanese defense counselor argued that the claim was vague and uncorroborated and it was dismissed by the tribunal president, Sir William Webb, for lack of evidence. The subject was not pursued further by Sutton, who was likely aware of Unit 731's activities. His reference to it at the trial is believed to have been accidental.
Although publicly silent on the issue at the Tokyo trials, the Soviet Union pursued the case and prosecuted twelve top military leaders and scientists from Unit 731 and its affiliated biological-war prisons Unit 1644 in Nanjing, and Unit 100 in Changchun, in the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials. Included among the prosecuted for war crimes including germ warfare was General Otozo Yamada, the commander-in-chief of the million-man Kwantung Army occupying Manchuria.
Many Russian civilians, including women and children, and Soviet POWs held by Japan were killed in chemical and biological warfare experiments by Unit 731, along with the Chinese people, American POWs, Russian and other nationalities.[25] The trial of those captured Japanese perpetrators was held in Khabarovsk in December 1949.
A lengthy partial transcript of the trial proceedings was published in different languages the following year by a Moscow foreign languages press, including an English language edition: Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1950). (French language: Documents relatifs au procès des anciens Militaires de l'Armée Japonaise accusés d'avoir préparé et employé l'Arme Bactériologique / Japanese language: ?????????????????????????????????????? / Chinese language: ????????????????????????)
This book remains an invaluable resource for historians on the organization and activities of the Japanese biological warfare "death factory" lab-prisons. The lead prosecuting attorney at the Khabarovsk trial was Lev Smirnov, who had been one of the top Soviet prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials.
After World War II, the Soviet Union built a biological weapons facility in Sverdlovsk using documentation captured from Unit 731 in Manchuria.[26]
The Japanese doctors and army commanders who had perpetrated the Unit 731 atrocities and germ warfare experiments received sentences from the Khabarovsk court ranging from two to 25 years in a Siberian labor camp.
Some former members of Unit 731 became part of the Japanese medical establishment. Dr. Masaji Kitano led Japan's largest pharmaceutical company, the Green Cross. Others headed U.S.-backed medical schools or worked for the Japanese health ministry. Shiro Ishii in particular moved to Maryland to work on bio-weapons research.[27]
[edit] Cultural depictions and representations
Japanese author Morimura Seiichi published the book The Devil's Gluttony (?????) in 1981, followed by The Devil's Gluttony: A Sequel in 1983, which were the first Japanese language publications to reveal the history of Unit 731 in Japan.
The Chinese movie Men Behind the Sun, 1987, is a graphic film about the atrocities committed by Unit 731, as is the Russian film Philosophy of a Knife, directed by Andrey Iskanov and released in 2008.
The television show The X-Files weaves Unit 731 into its complex government conspiracy mythology. In the episodes "Nisei" and "731", Japanese scientists given amnesty in the U.S. after World War II are said to be continuing their work in secret, experimenting with alien-human hybrids, possibly to be immune to biological weapons. The name of the character in charge of the former Unit 731 doctors, Takeo Ishimaru, and his alias, Shiro Zama, are based on Dr. Shiro Ishii and Camp Zama (a U.S. Army base in Sagamihara, Japan).
Japanese director Minoru Matsui's 2001 documentary Japanese Devils was composed largely of interviews with 14 members of Unit 731 who had been taken as prisoners by China and later released.
Japanese author Shusaku Endo published the book The Sea and Poison (1958): Set largely in a Fukuoka hospital, during World War II, this novel is concerned with lethal vivisections carried out on downed American airmen. It is told from the first-person point of view of one of the doctors and the third-person perspective of his colleagues who cut open, experiment on, and kill the six crew members. This is based on a true incident.
In The Zombie Survival Guide author Max Brooks depicted Unit 731 as experimenting with the "Solanum virus" in an attempt to train zombies as soldiers.
[edit] See also
[edit] Pacific War (World War II)
Japanese human experimentations
Changde chemical weapon attack
Japanese war crimes
Kaimingye germ weapon attack
Second Sino-Japanese War
[edit] Nazi Germany
Nazi human experimentation
Josef Mengele
[edit] In Asia
North Korean human experimentation
[edit] References
^ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-10/17/content_273165.htm – Book on Japan’s germ warfare crimes published.
^ Yuki Tanaka, Hidden Horrors, Westviewpress, 1996, p.138
^ AII POW-MIA Unit 731 "BE OFFENEDED that the survivors of this nightmare, the Chinese people, American POWs, Russian and other nationalities, have received no reparations for their suffering, nor an apology or answers."
^ a b http://english.people.com.cn/200508/03/eng20050803_200004.html - Archives give up secrets of Japan's Unit 731. "The files include full descriptions of 318 cases, including at least 25 victims from the former Soviet Union, Mongolia and Korea."
^ Daniel Barenblatt, A Plague upon Humanity, 2004, p.xii, 173.
^ http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/japan/bw.htm – Biological Weapons Program.
^ http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/cbw/bw.htm - Biological Weapons.
^ Hal Gold, Unit 731 Testimony, 2003, p. 109
^ Harris, Sheldon H. Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up, Routledge, 1994. ISBN 0-415-09105-5 ISBN 0-415-93214-9. Page 26 for the Zhong Ma Prison Camp's creation, page 33 for the Pingfang site's creation.
^ Daniel Barenblat, A plague upon humanity, 2004, p.37.
^ Yuki Tanaka, Hidden Horrors, 1996, p.136
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Christopher Hudson (2 March 2007). "Doctors of Depravity". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=439776&in_page_id=1770.
^ Doctors of Depravity | Mail Online
^ a b Richard Lloyd Parry (February 25, 2007). "Dissect them alive: order not to be disobeyed". Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1438491.ece.
^ Interview with former Unit 731 member Nobuo Kamada
^ "Unmasking Horror" Nicholas D. Kristof (March 17, 1995) New York Times. A special report.; Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity
^ Unlocking a deadly secret Photos of vivisection
^ Japan Admits Dissecting WW-II POWs James Bauer. "Japanese Unit 731 Biological Warfare Unit" Viewed January 16, 2007
^ Vivisectionist recalls his day of reckoning, http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071024w1.html
^ Video adapted from "Biological Warfare & Terrorism: The Military and Public Health Response", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved October 21, 2007
^ Barenblatt, Daniel. A Plague Upon Humanity: the Secret Genocide of Axis Japan's Germ Warfare Operation, HarperCollins, 2004. ISBN 0-06-018625-9
^ Biological Weapons Program-Japan Federation of American Scientists
^ Review of the studies on Germ Warfare Tien-wei Wu A Preliminary Review of Studies of Japanese Biological Warfare and Unit 731 in the United States
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/1796044.stm - Unit 731: Japan's biological force.
^ AII POW-MIA Unit 731
^ Ken Alibek and S. Handelman. Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World - Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran it. 1999. Delta (2000) ISBN 0-385-33496-6.
^ "An Ethical Blank Cheque: British and US mythology about the second world war ignores our own crimes and legitimizes Anglo-American war making". The Guardian, May 10, 2005, by Richard Drayton.
[edit] Further reading
Barenblatt, Daniel. A Plague Upon Humanity: The Secret Genocide of Axis Japan's Germ Warfare Operation, HarperCollins, 2004. ISBN 0-06-018625-9.
Barnaby, Wendy. The Plague Makers: The Secret World of Biological Warfare, Frog Ltd, 1999. ISBN 1-883319-85-4, ISBN 0-7567-5698-7, ISBN 0-8264-1258-0, ISBN 0-8264-1415-X.
Endicott, Stephen and Hagerman, Edward. The United States and Biological Warfare: Secrets from the Early Cold War and Korea, Indiana University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-253-33472-1.
Gold, Hal. Unit 731 Testimony, Charles E Tuttle Co., 1996. ISBN 4-900737-39-9.
Handelman, Stephen and Alibek, Ken. Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World—Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran It, Random House, 1999. ISBN 0-375-50231-9, ISBN 0-385-33496-6.
Harris, Robert and Paxman, Jeremy. A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare, Random House, 2002. ISBN 0-8129-6653-8.
Harris, Sheldon H. Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932–45 and the American Cover-Up, Routledge, 1994. ISBN 0-415-09105-5, ISBN 0-415-93214-9.
Moreno, Jonathan D. Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans, Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-92835-4.
Williams, Peter. Unit 731: Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II, Free Press, 1989. ISBN 0-02-935301-7.
[edit] External links
Find more about Unit 731 on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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Learning resources from Wikiversity
[edit] Resources
The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG) — The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
History of Japan's biological weapons program — The Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
History of United States' biological weapons program — The Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
Dan Barenblatt's A Plague Upon Humanity: The Continuing Story — an internet gathering place for news and emerging information about Japan's human experiment and biological warfare program of the 1930s and '40s, commonly known in shorthand as "Unit 731".
UNIT 731: Japanese Experimentation Camp (1937-1945) — information site.
Unit 731, Nightmare in Manchuria, a World Justice documentary, [1]
[edit] Images
The forgotten victims of biological warfare — online slideshow from the Sunshine Project.
Unit 731: Auschwitz of the East — AII POW-MIA images.
[edit] Accounts
Army Doctor — a firsthand account by Yuasa Ken.
[edit] Articles
Theodicy - through the Case of “Unit 731” — by Eun Park (2003).
Why the past still separates China and Japan — by Robert Marquand (2001), Christian Science Monitor.
China recalls germ warfare experiments — Agencies (2005), China Daily.
Ex-Japanese Soldier Deemed War Criminal — by Michael Zielenziger (1998), Houston Chronicle.
US paid for Japanese human germ warfare data — Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Online.
Japan's sins of the past — by Justin McCurry (2004), The Guardian.
The Asian Auschwitz of Unit 731 — by Shane Green (2002), The Age.
Doctors of Depravity - by Christopher Hudson (2007), the Daily Mail.
Orrori e misteri dell'Unità 731, la "fabbrica" dei batteri killer — by Marco Lupis (2003), La Repubblica (Italy).
Imperial Japanese Army special research units
Unit 100 (Shenyang) | Unit 516 (Qiqihar) | Unit 543 (Hailar) | Unit 731 (Pingfang) / Unit 200 (Manchuria) / Unit 8604 or Nami Unit (Guangzhou) | Unit 773 (Songo) | Unit Ei 1644 (Nanjing) | Unit 1855 (Nanjing) | Unit 2646 or Unit 80 (Hailar) | Unit 9420 or Oka Unit (Singapore)
[hide]v • d • eWorld War II
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Timeline Prelude Causes · in Asia · in Europe
1939 Invasion of Poland · Phoney War · Winter War · Battle of the Atlantic
1940 Denmark and Norway · Battle of France · Battle of Britain · Libya and Egypt · British Somaliland · Baltic Occupation · Occupation of Bessarabia and Bukovina · Invasion of Indochina · Invasion of Greece
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1944 Cassino and Anzio · Invasion of Normandy · Mariana and Palau Islands · Operation Bagration · Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive · Warsaw Uprising · Jassy–Kishinev Offensive · Belgrade Offensive · Liberation of Paris · Gothic Line · Operation Market Garden · Operation Crossbow · Operation Pointblank · Budapest Offensive · Battle of Leyte Gulf · Battle of the Bulge
1945 Vistula–Oder Offensive · Battle of Iwo Jima · Battle of Okinawa · Final offensive in Italy · Battle of Berlin · Prague Offensive · Battle of Budapest · Surrender of Germany · Soviet invasion of Manchuria · Battle of Manila · Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki · Surrender of Japan
Aspects General aspects Attacks on North America · Blitzkrieg · Comparative military ranks · Cryptography · Home front · Military awards · Military equipment · Military production · Nazi plunder · Technology · Total war
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consequences Effects · Casualties · Expulsion of Germans · Operation Paperclip · Occupation of Germany · Morgenthau Plan · Territorial changes · Soviet occupations: Romania, Poland, Hungary, Baltic States · Occupation of Japan · First Indochina War · Cold War · Contemporary culture
Civilian impact /
atrocities Allied war crimes · German war crimes · Italian war crimes · Japanese war crimes · Soviet war crimes · War crimes committed by the United States · The Holocaust · Bombing of civilians
What's the saying if you can't learn from "HISTORY", your BOUND to repeat it?
Maybe, I can be your lamp shade one day, who know's?
Cure Michael J. Fox, with his own family, who volunteer, leave mine alone, thanks, blobs, can be people, next IS people. Leave my blobs alone use your own and while your at it, pay for your own.
I didn't read your cut-and-paste because, frankly, its easier to read on Wikepedia. Any reason why you couldn't just leave a link like everyone else rather than waste space and everyone elses time?
As for the actual content, you made a statement earlier impuning the ethics of scientists and cited human experiments to support your statement. And your supporting statement is some henious experiments done by the Japanese during World War II over 60 years ago?
How exactly does that relate to today?
Other countries are developing bio-warfare or didn't ya notice?
They use PEOPLE, good old science- jus say science and I guess you figure it will scare any question away, you then say your religious to insult and call backward.
BTW, it's today's experimentation, I'm referring to not 60-70 years ago, some would care, other's dismiss it.
i'm sure you just were first in line to stop abuses, ya do tell?
If you recall, you mentioned WWII, not Iraq. What happened in WWII is pretty much not relevant to today. Iraq is more recent. Now, what about Iraq? I'm sorry, but if you just toss out statements and don't explain them, how is anyone supposed to know what you're talking about.
Frankly, I have to say that it's just a cop out, pure and simple, to throw out excuses like "you'll just blame it on religion" or "gee, I guess you're just a genius" crap. When people offer up opinions, it's not too much to ask that it some sort of logical sense. And to start with, you have to say what you mean instead of making some irrational sounding statement with absolutely no reference as to what you might be referring. Nobody here reads minds. Tell us what your opinion is, then support it with enough information so we can understand it. That really isn't that hard to do, is it?
JUST IN THE PAST -FO FORGET IT-hm, not true, but ah well, was is gas chambers, what was that again IRAQ, nothing to worry, Y- me worry about the EVER trust worthy scientific community, just say the word and we SHALL OBEY.
Ah, that was 70 years ago, hmm
Trust me!
Secret US Human Biological Experimentation
1931 Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, under the auspices of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Investigations, infects human subjects with cancer cells. He later goes on to establish the U.S. Army Biological Warfare facilities in Maryland, Utah, and Panama, and is named to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. While there, he begins a series of radiation exposure experiments on American soldiers and civilian hospital patients.
1932 The Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins. 200 black men diagnosed with syphilis are never told of their illness, are denied treatment, and instead are used as human guinea pigs in order to follow the progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently die from syphilis, their families never told that they could have been treated.
1935 The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occured within poverty-striken black populations.
1940 Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.
1942 Chemical Warfare Services begins mustard gas experiments on approximately 4,000 servicemen. The experiments continue until 1945 and made use of Seventh Day Adventists who chose to become human guinea pigs rather than serve on active duty.
1943 In response to Japan's full-scale germ warfare program, the U.S. begins research on biological weapons at Fort Detrick, MD.
1944 U.S. Navy uses human subjects to test gas masks and clothing. Individuals were locked in a gas chamber and exposed to mustard gas and lewisite.
1945 Project Paperclip is initiated. The U.S. State Department, Army intelligence, and the CIA recruit Nazi scientists and offer them immunity and secret identities in exchange for work on top secret government projects in the United States.
1945 "Program F" is implemented by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This is the most extensive U.S. study of the health effects of fluoride, which was the key chemical component in atomic bomb production. One of the most toxic chemicals known to man, fluoride, it is found, causes marked adverse effects to the central nervous system but much of the information is squelched in the name of national security because of fear that lawsuits would undermine full-scale production of atomic bombs.
1946 Patients in VA hospitals are used as guinea pigs for medical experiments. In order to allay suspicions, the order is given to change the word "experiments" to "investigations" or "observations" whenever reporting a medical study performed in one of the nation's veteran's hospitals.
1947 Colonel E.E. Kirkpatrick of the U.S. Atomic Energy Comission issues a secret document (Document 07075001, January 8, 1947) stating that the agency will begin administering intravenous doses of radioactive substances to human subjects.
1947 The CIA begins its study of LSD as a potential weapon for use by American intelligence. Human subjects (both civilian and military) are used with and without their knowledge.
1950 Department of Defense begins plans to detonate nuclear weapons in desert areas and monitor downwind residents for medical problems and mortality rates.
1950 I n an experiment to determine how susceptible an American city would be to biological attack, the U.S. Navy sprays a cloud of bacteria from ships over San Franciso. Monitoring devices are situated throughout the city in order to test the extent of infection. Many residents become ill with pneumonia-like symptoms.
1951 Department of Defense begins open air tests using disease-producing bacteria and viruses. Tests last through 1969 and there is concern that people in the surrounding areas have been exposed.
1953 U.S. military releases clouds of zinc cadmium sulfide gas over Winnipeg, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, the Monocacy River Valley in Maryland, and Leesburg, Virginia. Their intent is to determine how efficiently they could disperse chemical agents.
1953 Joint Army-Navy-CIA experiments are conducted in which tens of thousands of people in New York and San Francisco are exposed to the airborne germs Serratia marcescens and Bacillus glogigii.
1953 CIA initiates Project MKULTRA. This is an eleven year research program designed to produce and test drugs and biological agents that would be used for mind control and behavior modification. Six of the subprojects involved testing the agents on unwitting human beings.
1955 The CIA, in an experiment to test its ability to infect human populations with biological agents, releases a bacteria withdrawn from the Army's biological warfare arsenal over Tampa Bay, Fl.
1955 Army Chemical Corps continues LSD research, studying its potential use as a chemical incapacitating agent. More than 1,000 Americans participate in the tests, which continue until 1958.
1956 U.S. military releases mosquitoes infected with Yellow Fever over Savannah, Ga and Avon Park, Fl. Following each test, Army agents posing as public health officials test victims for effects.
1958 LSD is tested on 95 volunteers at the Army's Chemical Warfare Laboratories for its effect on intelligence.
1960 The Army Assistant Chief-of-Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) authorizes field testing of LSD in Europe and the Far East. Testing of the european population is code named Project THIRD CHANCE; testing of the Asian population is code named Project DERBY HAT.
1965 Project CIA and Department of Defense begin Project MKSEARCH, a program to develop a capability to manipulate human behavior through the use of mind-altering drugs.
1965 Prisoners at the Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia are subjected to dioxin, the highly toxic chemical component of Agent Orange used in Viet Nam. The men are later studied for development of cancer, which indicates that Agent Orange had been a suspected carcinogen all along.
1966 CIA initiates Project MKOFTEN, a program to test the toxicological effects of certain drugs on humans and animals.
1966 U.S. Army dispenses Bacillus subtilis variant niger throughout the New York City subway system. More than a million civilians are exposed when army scientists drop lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto ventilation grates.
1967 CIA and Department of Defense implement Project MKNAOMI, successor to MKULTRA and designed to maintain, stockpile and test biological and chemical weapons.
1968 CIA experiments with the possibility of poisoning drinking water by injecting chemicals into the water supply of the FDA in Washington, D.C.
1969 Dr. Robert MacMahan of the Department of Defense requests from congress $10 million to develop, within 5 to 10 years, a synthetic biological agent to which no natural immunity exists.
1970 Funding for the synthetic biological agent is obtained under H.R. 15090. The project, under the supervision of the CIA, is carried out by the Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, the army's top secret biological weapons facility. Sp