It is awful to know that experiments were conducted on people without their knowledge. This experiment though did not harm the boys. The law suit was brought about 40 yrs. later when the knowledge of the experiment came out. It was based on their civil rights being violated.
“The boys — many of whom were wards of the state and inaccurately classified as mentally retarded — joined the “Fernald Science Club” in the late 1940s and early 1950s.”
“MIT said in a statement Tuesday that the exposure to radiation was about equal to the natural background radiation people are exposed to from the environment every year.”
“The university also noted a state task force in 1994 determined the students suffered no significant health effects.”
“That task force, however, said their civil rights were violated.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/01/01/radioactive-oatmeal-suit-settled-for-185-million/93894a5a-5844-4544-aca2-ffe4e52030b3/
At the Senate hearing, David Litster of MIT said the experiment involving oatmeal only exposed the boys to 170 to 330 millirems of radiation, roughly the equivalent of receiving 30 consecutive chest x-rays.
“As to what are the medical and biological effects of that, with such low doses of radiation, it’s very difficult,” Litster said. A child exposed to that kind of dose, he said, would have a one in 2,000 chance of contracting cancer, which was barely higher than the average rate. A 1994 Massachusetts state panel concluded none of the students suffered significant health impacts, and radioactive tracers continue to be used in medicine.
But the real issues weren’t simply a matter of future health risk: the boys, who were especially vulnerable without parents and guardians looking out for their best interests in the state school, were used for experiments without their consent.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/spoonful-sugar-helps-radioactive-oatmeal-go-down-180962424/
The below Tuskegee Experiment was a horrible thing to do to people and the reason the Blacks are so leery to take the vaccine now.
I learned a lot from this article that I hadn’t previously known. The fact that it began in 1932 and in 1947 they new penicillin would treat it but they went on with the placebo to see how syphilis progressed and they were still doing that when someone found out in 1960 and finally “the story broke in July 1972, prompting public outrage and forcing the study to finally shut down”.
It was then congress passed a law to prevent this from ever happening again.
UPDATED:DEC 15, 2020 ORIGINAL:MAY 16, 2017
Tuskegee Experiment: The Infamous Syphilis Study
ELIZABETH NIX
In 1973, Congress held hearings on the Tuskegee experiments, and the following year the study’s surviving participants, along with the heirs of those who died, received a $10 million out-of-court settlement. Additionally, new guidelines were issued to protect human subjects in U.S. government-funded research projects.
https://www.history.com/news/the-infamous-40-year-tuskegee-study
“It was then congress passed a law to prevent this from ever happening again.”
Until now