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83 Guatemalans died as ‘human guinea pigs’ in the 1940s - report
A commission appointed by the US President revealed how at least 83 people died as human guinea pigs whilst research on sexually transmitted diseases in Guatemala in the 1940s.
Reportedly, the commission found that nearly 5,500 people underwent diagnostic testing and more than 1,300 were exposed to venereal diseases by contact or inoculations.
Commission member Stephen Hauser told the media that within the 1,300 group, “we believe that there were 83 deaths”, whilst “under 700 received some form of treatment as best as could be documented.”
US President Barack Obama ordered the commission last year after news of the experiments were revealed. He personally apologized to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom in October before a thorough review of what happened.
The research, which was never published, was found in 2010 by a Wellesley College professor. It was revealed how the researchers infected Guatemalan prostitutes with gonorrhea or syphilis and then let them have unprotected sex with soldiers or prison inmates.
The research was headed by US doctor John Cutler, also involved in another controversial study (Tuskegee Experiment) in which hundreds of African-American men with late-stage syphilis were observed but given no treatment between 1932 and 1972.
