PHS-funded research in Guatemala ‘unconscionable’

Research by the US Public Health Service (PHS) in Guatemala in the 1940s that intentionally exposed vulnerable populations to sexually transmitted diseases without their consent involved “unconscionable basic violations of ethics,” according to the chairwoman of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

The commission’s report on its investigation on 13 September described the individuals who approved, conducted, facilitated and funded the experiments as “morally culpable.”