On July 25, 1972, the U.S. government acknowledged its role in the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment, a 40-year study conducted by the United States Public Health Service at Tuskegee Institute, involving 600 poor Black sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama.
Nearly 400 men had syphilis, but none were informed of their condition nor treated, believing they were receiving free health care for “bad blood.”
This unethical study, which provided participants with free medical care, meals, and burial insurance, resulted in numerous deaths, infections, and congenital syphilis cases.
The media leak ended the experiment, but prompted widespread outrage and led to federal laws requiring Institutional Review Boards to protect human subjects in studies.
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