The Time United States Recruited Volunteers from the Army for Science Experimentation- No, Captain America Wasn't Created
by Rachel Clayton
Science and Technology is undoubtedly a critical front during any war. In the United States, research was done in defense against atomic, biological, and chemical warfare. Volunteers were used in this research, as opposed to enemies of the United States, who sometimes used forced victims. In this 1953 report, one of the first tenants of such research is stated, “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential” (3). There were other regulations, such as using only the bare minimum of volunteers, all unnecessary physical and mental suffering was to be avoided, and “the degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment” (4).
Essentially, rules were made to keep experiments humane to the fullest extent, and not only towards Americans, but the use of prisoners of war in human experimentation was forbidden. Life insurance was provided to volunteers and they were paid similar to other government employees. There were also precedents for therapy afterward, adequate animal experimentation beforehand, and gradual testing, to determine the subjects’ level of susceptibility. No research using volunteers was undertaken without express permission from the Secretary of the Army. It is clear from this report that the utmost caution was employed by the United States Government before experimenting with any biological, chemical, or atomic agents on human subjects. The level of care and legalese in this document are reassuring, especially compared with other government’s policies on human experimentation. This document is from the early 1950s, so it would be enlightening to view the United States policy on such throughout its history.
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