Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study

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dc.contributor.authorBrandt, Allan M.
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-14T15:01:33Z
dc.date.available2019-08-14T15:01:33Z
dc.date.issued1978
dc.description.abstractIn 1932 the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) initiated an experiment in Macon County, Alabama, to determine the natural course of untreated, latent syphilis in black males. The test comprised 400 syphilitic men, as well as 200 uninfected men who served as controls. The first published report of the study appeared in 1936 with subsequent papers issued every four to six years, through the 1960s. When penicillin became widely available by the early 1950s as the preferred treatment for syphilis, the men did not receive therapy. In fact on several occasions, the USPHS actually sought to prevent treatment. Moreover, a committee at the federally operated Center for Disease Control decided in 1969 that the study should be continued. Only in 1972, when accounts of the study first appeared in the national press, did the Department of Health, Education and Welfare halt the experiment.
dc.description.urihttp://www.jstor.org/pss/3561468
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/smdr-enrb
dc.identifier.citationBrandt, Allan M. (1978) Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Hastings Center Report, 8 (6). pp. 21-29.
dc.identifier.otherEprint ID 1089
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/23023
dc.subjectBioethics
dc.subjectPublic Health
dc.subjectResearch
dc.subjectTuskegee Syphilis Study
dc.subjectU.S. Public Health Service
dc.titleRacism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study
dc.typeArticle

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