Tuskegee Experiment: The Infamous Syphilis Study

In order to track the disease’s full progression, researchers provided no effective care as the study's African American participants experienced severe health problems including blindness, mental impairment—or death.

 Generations later, the effects of the Tuskegee syphilis study linger

Decades later, it’s still hard to grasp what the federal government did to hundreds of black men in rural Alabama — even if you’re among their descendants, lighting candles in their memory.

 In Tuskegee, History Drives Distrust in Covid-19 Vaccines

Black residents of this Southern town say the pain and distrust fomented by a decadeslong syphilis study here are inseparable from their personal deliberations over whether to take a Covid-19 vaccine.

 Stop Blaming Tuskegee, Critics Say. It's Not An 'Excuse' For Current Medical Racism

"It's a scapegoat," Lincoln says. "It's an excuse. If you continue to use it as a way of explaining why many African Americans are hesitant, it almost absolves you of having to learn more, do more, involve other people – admit that racism is actually a thing today."

 The Myth of The Tuskegee Experiments

Guys, it's time to stop claiming that the government injected blacks men with syphilis. They did not. They refused to treat them, and prevented them from getting a cure. I know it's only a minor difference, but it's an important one. We don't have to embellish, folks. The truth is horrid enough.

 The Tuskegee Study and Black Culture

New research points to health fallout from the Tuskegee Study. But it also affirms a long cultural conversation.

 The Tuskegee Study reminds us that transparency in government science is vital

The original sin of the Tuskegee experiment is not that the residents were denied care, but that they were denied a choice. They were denied agency over their own lives and bodies.

 Troubling History In Medical Research Still Fresh For Black Americans

"I see my friends mentioning Tuskegee all the time on Facebook," Gooding says. "There's a lot of deep, deep-seated fear and concern that black lives don't matter and that the medical community really will harm people of African descent on purpose — just for profit or just to help someone from another race." And some people's reluctance has nothing to do with Tuskegee or Lacks. Don't forget: The study is asking volunteers to give up a sample of their DNA.

 We Learned the Wrong Lessons from the Tuskegee ‘Experiment’

t’s understandable that Black Americans are wary of vaccines, but that despicable episode involved the withholding of treatment, whereas vaccines actively prevent disease.

40 Years of Human Experimentation in America: The Tuskegee Study

The goal was to “observe the natural history of untreated syphilis” in black populations, but the subjects were completely unaware and were instead told they were receiving treatment for bad blood when in fact, they received no treatment at all.

A Generation of Bad Blood

New research suggests a strong link between the public revelation of the Tuskegee study and poor health outcomes for black men.

Did Infamous Tuskegee Study Cause Lasting Mistrust of Doctors Among Blacks?

There is no question that the Tuskegee study is one of the most horrific examples of unethical research in recent history. For 40 years, ending in 1972, members of the United States Public Health Service followed African-American men infected with syphilis and didn’t treat them (although they told some men they did) so that they could see the disease take its course.

Echoes of Tuskegee: The Socioeconomic Cycle of Heart Disease

Being poor and uneducated remains a health risk to large segments of first-world societies.

How the Public Learned About the Infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study

At the time the test began, treatment for syphilis was uncertain at best, and involved a lifelong series of risky injections of such toxic substances as bismuth, arsenic and mercury. But in the years following World War II, the PHS’s test became a matter of medical morality. Penicillin had been found to be almost totally effective against syphilis, and by war’s end it had become generally available. But the PHS did not use the drug on those participating in the study unless the patients asked for it.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study And 2 Other Inhumane American Experiments Carried Out In The Name Of Science

While the men in the Tuskegee syphilis experiment were already infected with the disease prior to the study, inmates who were part of the Guatemala Syphilis experiment were purposely infected with the disease without their knowledge by American scientists. The men were either infected by prostitutes, who were also purposely infected with the bacteria, or through deliberate injection of the bacteria...

Worse Than Tuskegee

Seventy years ago, American researchers infected Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea, then left without treating them. Their families are still waiting for help.