Tuskegee experiment
The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was a controversial medical study conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service from 1932 to 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama. The study involved 400 African American men who had syphilis, yet they were misled into believing they were receiving treatment while, in fact, they were only being observed without any therapeutic intervention. The aim of the research was to track the progression of the disease, but it resulted in significant harm, with at least 254 men dying from complications related to syphilis. Critics argue that the experiment was rooted in racist assumptions and contributed to the perception of institutional racism within the U.S. healthcare system. The legacy of the Tuskegee study has had lasting effects on the African American community, influencing distrust in medical institutions, particularly seen during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. This distrust is reflective of broader societal issues regarding race and health, prompting discussions about ethics and the treatment of marginalized groups in medical research. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment remains a pivotal example in the history of medical ethics, highlighting the need for transparency and respect in clinical studies.
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Tuskegee experiment
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was a study conducted in Tuskegee, Alabama, by the US Public Health Service between 1932 and 1972 on four hundred African American men who had syphilis. During the experiment, scientists charted the course of the disease in the men, all of whom had contracted the disease before their participation in the study. None of the men received treatment for the condition. At least 254 men died as a result of the disease or complications stemming from it. None of the subjects knew that they were simply being observed over the course of the illness as part of an experiment on the effects of syphilis on African American men. Instead, the men were told that they were receiving medical treatment.
It has been argued that the Tuskegee experiment was motivated by the assumption that blacks were more susceptible than whites to syphilis, and therefore the Public Health Service was interested in studying whether this was the case and, if so, why. One critic of the study, Martin Levine, goes so far as to argue that the origins of the experiment lay in a stereotypical view of black sexuality: “It was widely believed [among whites] that black racial inferiority made them a notoriously syphilis-soaked race! Their smaller brains lacked mechanisms for controlling sexual desire, causing them to be highly promiscuous. They matured earlier and consequently were sexually active; and the black man’s enormous penis, with its long foreskin, was prone to venereal infections. These physiological differences meant the disease must affect the races differently,” (quoted by John Fiske in Media Matters, University of Minnesota Press, 1994).
Other critics of this medical study point to it as evidence of the US government’s complicity in institutional racism against blacks. Comments such as those by John Heller, the director of the Department of Venereal Diseases at the Public Health Service from 1943 to 1948, are often cited as evidence of this racism. Heller, for example, is quoted as saying of the men in the Tuskegee study that their “status did not warrant ethical debate. They were subjects, not patients: clinical material, not sick people” (according to John Jones in Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment—A Tragedy of Race and Medicine, Free Press, 1984).
For many African Americans, the Tuskegee study has come to represent verifiable evidence that institutionalized racism still exists in the United States. The study is also often cited to support possibly less verifiable claims of such racism. In the early 1990s, the Tuskegee study was often cited as supporting evidence for the AIDS conspiracy theory, which posited that the US government manufactured the AIDS virus and intentionally infected blacks in Africa through immunization programs in order to commit genocide. In the mid-1990s, a widespread rumor in the African American community involved the idea that the company that made Snapple, a popular brand of bottled beverages, was owned by the Ku Klux Klan. On April 19, 1996, ABC’s news magazine, 20/20, aired a segment, narrated by journalist John Stossel, that investigated this claim. Stossel interviewed a number of people from various African American communities, many of whom believed this and other rumors, such as the US government’s manufacturing of the AIDS virus, and cited the Tuskegee experiment as evidence that such institutional racism has existed in the past in the United States and still exists today.
Impact
For many African Americans, the Tuskegee study has come to represent verifiable evidence that institutionalized racism still exists in the United States. The study is also often cited to support possibly less verifiable claims of such racism. In the early 1990s, the Tuskegee study was often cited as supporting evidence for the AIDS conspiracy theory, which posited that the US government manufactured the AIDS virus and intentionally infected blacks in Africa through immunization programs in order to commit genocide. In the mid-1990s, a widespread rumor in the African American community involved the idea that the company that made Snapple, a popular brand of bottled beverages, was owned by the Ku Klux Klan. On April 19, 1996, ABC’s news magazine, 20/20, aired a segment, narrated by journalist John Stossel, that investigated this claim. Stossel interviewed a number of people from various African American communities, many of whom believed this and other rumors, such as the US government’s manufacturing of the AIDS virus, and cited the Tuskegee experiment as evidence that such institutional racism has existed in the past in the United States and still exists today.
The history of the Tuskegee study also shadowed many Black American's views of the COVID-19 vaccines during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic between in 2020. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about 22 percent of Black Americans were waiting to get the vaccine until seeing more side effects after the rollout of the vaccine. In June 2021, a short-form documentary sharing the story of the Tuskegee study and interviewing descended relatives of victims, who encouraged people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Other information sessions were also scheduled for concerned citizens to ask questions and clarify information. By September 2021, about 70 percent of Black adults had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Bibliography
"About the USPHS Syphilis Study." Tuskegee University, 2022, www.tuskegee.edu/about-us/centers-of-excellence/bioethics-center/about-the-usphs-syphilis-study. Accessed 31 Jan. 2022.
Burch, Audra D. S., and Amy Schoenfeld Walker. "Why Many Black Americans Changed Their Minds About Covid Shots." The New York Times, 16 Oct. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/us/black-americans-vaccine-tuskegee.html. Accessed 31 Jan. 2022.
Jones, James H. Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Free, 2003.
Katz, Ralph V., and Rueben C. Warren. The Search for the Legacy of the USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Lexington, 2011.
Reverby, Susan. Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and Its Legacy. U of North Carolina P, 2009.
"Tuskegee Study Descendants Tackle Distrust of Medicine and Overcoming COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy at Howard University." Howard Newsroom, Howard University, 28 July 2021, newsroom.howard.edu/newsroom/article/14706/tuskegee-study-descendants-tackle-distrust-medicine-and-overcoming-covid-19. Accessed 31 Jan. 2022.
"U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee." CDC, 22 Apr. 2021, www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/index.html. Accessed 31 Jan. 2022.