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Medical Research: Tuskegee Syphilis and Nazi Human Experiments

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When you think of medical research, you probably think of lab rats. The “lab rats” in both Tuskegee syphilis study and the nazi human experiments were living human beings. History repeats itself as the two studies occur with the same intention and procedures. It was a result of ignorance and the idea of hierarchy: superiority and inferiority. The inhumane action of the researchers led to policies that protects against barbarous experiments. Tuskegee syphilis study started in 1932 with a good intention, scientists were trying to examine the abundance of syphilis within rural African Americans in the South in order to anticipate a mass treatment. When there was an economic downturn during Great depression, study was terminated although US public health service was in favor of continuing the study (Deria). The purpose of the following study did not have the same objective as the first. The intent of the second study was to determine whether African American population would be affected by syphilis just as much as White population. It also had an intention to discover how long a human can live without untreated syphilis (Ogungbure) The research took place in Macon city, Alabama where low class families were prevalent. Taking an advantage of uneducated, they disguised the word syphilis with “bad blood”. The study continued for 40 years with 400 men left untreated and 600 men was manipulated. Nazi human experiment was conducted in order to enhance the ability of German

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