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US Army makes deal to recruit volunteers
for hepatitis experiments with Mr. Durnquist, the Attorney
General of the State of Minnesota, with respect to the
possibility of conducting experimental work on volunteers in the penitentiaries. Mr. Durnquist was favorably inclined
to the idea and quite optimistic
about its feasibility...He pointed
out that during the war volunteer prisoners were used for the
testing "of synthetic blood serum", and that one or more deaths
in addition to a number of severe
illnesses resulted.
Attachment 4
April 5, 1948 letter from C.J. Watson, M.D., Army
Epidemiological Board to Dr. McLeod, with a copy to Dr.
Stokes and others
War Department
Office of the Surgeon General
ARMY EPIDEMIOLOGICAL BOARD
United States Army
April 5, 1948
Dr. Colin M. MacLeod
New York University
College of Medicine
477 First Avenue
New York 16, N.Y.
Dear Dr. MacLeod:
I have given careful consideration in the past few
weeks to
the matter of using volunteers in penal institutions for
experimentation, with particular reference to hepatitis. Three
weeks ago I had a conversation with Mr. Durnquist, the Attorney
General of the State of Minnesota, with respect to the
possibility of conducting experimental work on volunteers in the
Minnesota penitentiaries. Mr. Durnquist was favorably inclined
to the idea and quite optimistic about its feasibility. Later I
had a lengthy discussion with Dean Everett Fraser (Law School)
and with Dr. Vold of the Division of Criminology of the
Department of Sociology in the University. I asked them
specifically whether a waiver signed by the volunteers would be
legal at a later date, insofar as evidence of responsibility for
disability or death was concerned. I asked this question both
with respect to a waiver made out to the individual experimenter
as well as to one assigned to the official agency sponsoring the
research, that is to say, the army Epidemiological Board of the
War Department. They did not believe that such a waiver would be
of much value, although they stated that so far as they knew
there was no precedent in law to determine in advance what might
happen in case of a suit. They pointed out that a clever
attorney at some later date might very well be able to overthrow
such a waiver and get a judgment against an experimenter in case
of a disability or even succeed in having him declared guilty of
homicide in case of a death.
Mr. Vold stated that there might be some recorded law
___ing
on this whole matter in the state of Massachusetts. He pointed
out that during the war volunteer prisoners were used for the
testing "of synthetic blood serum", and that one or more deaths
in addition to a number of severe illnesses resulted. He
suggests one might get all the information about this from the
Commissioner of Correction of the State of Massachusetts, State
House, Boston. Mr. Vold also informed me of an interesting point
that may have no bearing on the present matter; namely, that the
brains of criminals executed in New York state are removed by law
or at least by state prerogative, but that the body is not available for
dissection unless it is unclaimed. While this is probably not
germane to the problem of using volunteers for experimentation,
Mr. Vold thought that it might be of interest to determine
whether there is any written law concerning this prerogative and,
if so, how it has been established.
There is, of course, precedent for the use of
volunteers for
experimental purposes, as for example in Illinois and New Jersey.
According to my legal friends, however, the responsibility for
these experiments would devolve entirely upon the individual
experimenter in case of a later suit or complaint. The mere fact
that the warden or the state authorities give permission to the
experimenter to ask for volunteers in no way removes his
responsibility, not does it place any of it on the state. This
at least is the interpretation that Dean Fraser put upon the
question, although he admitted that he knew of no law by which
any real decision could be reached in advance.
I have given considerable thought to the matter of
whether
it would be advisable to approach individuals or groups in
Congress with the idea of having laws passed relating either to
payment of compensation for disability or release of the
experimenter from liability. I am afraid that this would be a
very dangerous course, and that it might in fact, injure clinical
investigations generally. There is a very real possibility that
unfavorable publicity would quickly result. Dean Fraser and his
colleagues were in thorough agreement on this point.
I have concluded then that any human experimentation
must be
carried out in the future as in the past, on the basis of the
sole liability of the individual experimenter.
I should be glad to hear from you or from others to
whom
copies of this letter are being sent as to any alternative
approaches to the problem that the may have in mind. I think it
would be well if someone could look in the Massachusetts
experience as mentioned above.
With kindest regards,
Sincerely yours,
C. J. Watson, M. D.
P.S.: I do feel strongly, however, that if the
Army approves and finances a specific research
involving human experimentation, with the
intention of accepting and utilizing any practical
results therefrom, it should be willing to
obligate itself to the protection of the
experimenter, at least to the extent of purchasing
a special insurance policy for each project of
this type, covering disability or death. (By this
I mean one comparable to a malpractice policy ,
protecting the experimenter against later suit for
compensation. Obviously, no publicity should be
given to this.)
CS/vr
cc: Col. F. Rauer
Dr. W. P. Havens
Dr. J. Neefe
Dr. J. Stokes
Dr. J. Paul
COPIED: 12/2/94
RECORD Group: # 334
Entry: #14
File: Commission on Liver Diseases on Human Volunteers for
Hepatitis Studies in Feb. 1945
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Comments from HCVets Facebook group
member Dottie
I
am going to post
something so
that others are
aware of the
HUGE mistakes
that were made
and the horrific
risks
people were
placed in. In
1979, I was
incarcerated in
the St. Louis
City Workhouse
in Missouri.
They had a
program
in place that
offered $15.00
to the prisoners
that would let
their blood be
drawn, saline
solution put in
and they waited
while other
prisoners like
myself spun the
plasma out of
their blood.
Then the blood
was placed back
into the
prisoner. I know
this is true. I
witnessed it and
worked in that
section for a
few months. Not
one person ever
had their blood
tested prior to
selling the
plasma in their
blood. I only
hope this helps
someone out
there realize
the magnitude of
how far hep c
was able to
reach. That was
a lot of money
to most
prisoners back
then and there
was never any
lack of supply.
We never wore
gloves.
Read more::Cutter
oversaw and
processed the the
workhouse program
patients plasma.
An executive of
Cutter Laboratories
once acknowledged,
for instance, that
gross contamination
was apparent in the
areas where the
largest blood plasma
operations were
conducted. The rooms
were "sloppy," he
observed. When a
Government doctor
asked why Cutter
continued to reward
such an enterprise
with hundreds of
thousands of
dollars' worth of
business, the
executive explained
that the Stough
group enjoyed
crucial "contacts"
with well placed
officials.
1988 Expert Witness
AFFIDAVIT OF THOMAS
DREES...He states he
has seen “documents
which indicate
fractionators in
conjunction with
Dennis Donohue of
the FDA and the AABB
and ARC conspired to
prevent the use of
the HB Core Test
from being
implemented to
prevent having to
incur the expense of
the test to avoid
having to reject
donors who were
positive for the
test.” “It is now
clear to me that the
HB Core Test should
have been used from
the time it became
available through
Abbott Laboratories
in 1975.” “there was
such resistance to
the use of the HB
Anti Core Test by
the blood industry,
and the blood
industries
resistance to take
the most obvious and
needed precautions
to the AIDS epidemic
convinces me that
there was a
concerted effort by
the influential
leaders of the blood
industry to save
dollars at the
expense of lives,
even when it was
clear beyond any
doubt that there was
widespread
contamination of the
blood supply.
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