Tuskegee Experiment

As an assiduous student of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment, I find compelling ironies in the attacks being leveled on surgeon general nominee Dr. Henry Foster.

The facts are these: The Tuskegee experiment was by no means a deep dark secret that was withheld from the national and international medical communities, or for that matter, the public at large. In fact, the U.S. Public Health Service and later the Centers for Disease Control, viewed the study as a “sacred cow,” a shining example of public health research. In 1932, when the study commenced, it had the full faith and backing of the then surgeon general as well as the entire public health community.

During the 40-year duration of the experiment, scores of articles regarding the study appeared in nearly every major medical and public health journal in the country. These articles continued to appear well into the 1960s. The protocol of the study and its findings were known to literally tens of thousands of American physicians, both black and white, particularly those who worked in the area of public health.

It is patently absurd to assume that any surgeon general from 1932 to the present did not know about the tragedy of Tuskegee. This by no means excuses the inaction of Dr. Foster. This is an indictment of the entire medical Establishment that for 40 years chose to look the other way.

MICHAEL LAZAROU

Woodland Hills