by A prominent California medical school apologizes for conducting dozens of experiments on prison inmates in the 1960s and 1970s, which it now calls unethical.
Two dermatologists from the University of California, San Francisco — one of whom is still at the university — conducted the experiments on at least 2,600 incarcerated men in the 1960s and 1970s, which included applying pesticides and herbicides to the men’s skin and injecting them in her veins.
The experiments were conducted at the California Medical Facility, a prison hospital in Vacaville, about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. The practice ceased in 1977.
“UCSF apologizes for its explicit role in the harm done to subjects, their families and our community by facilitating this research, and recognizes the institution’s implicit role in perpetuating the unethical treatment of vulnerable and underserved populations — independently.” by the legal or perceptual standards of the time”, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Dan Lowenstein said in a statement on the school website.
CRIME WAS INCREASING, PRISON POPULATION DOWN: PRISONERS WERE GRANTED EARLY RELEASE, COURTS WERE GRANTED WITH BACKORDERS IN 2020
A wheelchair-bound inmate rolls through a checkpoint at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California.
((AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file))
The statement added that the men “volunteered for the studies and were paid to participate.”
“But the report raises ethical concerns about how the research was conducted.”
I spent some time in prison for robbing a bank. This is how we prevent ex-convicts from going back to prison
California Medical Facility in Vacaville, CA
(Google Maps)
The university released a report earlier this month acknowledging doctors who engaged in “questionable informed consent practices” and conducted research on men who did not have the diseases the doctors wanted to treat.
The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the results of the program on Wednesday.
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Prisoners in firefighter boots line up for breakfast at Oak Glen Conservation Fire Camp #35 in Yucaipa, California
(REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)
According to the report, further analysis is needed to determine the extent of the harm done to prisoners by the experiments and what the university should do in response.
The report focused on the research of Dr. Howard Maibach and Dr. William Epstein. Maibach continues to work at the university, and Epstein died in 2006. It was not immediately clear if Maibach would face disciplinary action in light of the report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
