Tuskegee: 399 men with syphilis, 201 "controls," no evidence of consent, 1932–1972 (Macon County, Alabama)

SUMMARYTuskegee: 399 men with syphilis, 201 "controls," no evidence of consent, 1932–1972 (Macon County, Alabama) [Connections: Genetics (honest), Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDThe CDC: the US Public Health Service study was "conducted between 1932 and 1972," with 399 men in the syphilitic group and 201 in the control group; "There is no evidence that researchers obtained informed consent from participants"; community members "thought it was a special government health care program"; treatment was withheld even after penicillin was "widely available." It ended in 1972 on an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel's recommendation after press reports. A 1974 $10 million settlement paid living syphilitic-group men $37,500 and living control-group men $16,000. President Clinton gave a "formal Presidential Apology" in 1997

PATTERNin the most famous Black American research case, the government chose the controls and the subjects did not consent. This is the history behind Black and Native caution toward DNA studies

LENS (WW9)who sets the control, literally: 201 men were made the "control" without knowing it

OPENHenrietta Lacks (HeLa cells, 1951) belongs here as a consent case; not fetched this session

SOURCECDC, "About the USPHS Syphilis Study".