Modern medicine was able to advance far. Scientists have found a way to stop the growth of cancer cells, have created nano-robots that can be used to transport drugs, and are already considering a head transplant in 2017.
However, at each stage, a certain price is paid for the innovation. The head transplant scenario was given a chance to exist through a series of experiments conducted by neuroscientist Robert White in 1970. Then he transplanted the head of the monkey to the body of another monkey.
The experiment really worked, and unexpectedly for everyone. Monkey head "came to life”And was able to live during the day until she finally died. White's past fame prompts researchers to embark on a search for volunteers for such experiments. However, faced with a lack of willingness, most scientists use themselves as guinea pigs.
True, not all do this, some of them lure volunteers by deceit, sometimes without even telling them that they will become part of the experiment. Below are 10 crazy scientific experiments in which the participants had no idea what purpose they were used for. You may be interested in article 11 of the most shocking treatments in psychiatry.
10. Project 4.1
The explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the castle Bravo in March 1954 was supposed to remain a secret. However, the 15 megatons of radiation that followed after it led to the greatest radioactive pollution that has ever occurred on the planet. Inhabitants of the nearby Marshall Islands have been exposed to the toxic fallout.
Upon learning of this, the US government did not organize a mass evacuation, but decided to observe the development of the situation. The effects of the explosion were different, depending on the distance. Those citizens who were in the immediate vicinity of the accident received skin lesions, which were accompanied by hair loss. Over the next decade, the number of miscarriages and stillbirths increased, however, then these phenomena began to decline.
Over a long period, most babies were born with abnormalities, most often the rapid development of thyroid cancer. The explosion left the atolls virtually uninhabited. Despite the American claim that the event was an accident, the inhabitants of the island are still convinced that they were used as guinea pigs to study the effects of radiation..
9. Vanderbilt's experiment with radioactive iron
In 1945, Vanderbilt University claimed to be developing optimized nutrition for pregnant women. Pressing that drugs could prevent anemia in pregnant women, they gave 829 women pills containing radioactive iron.
The researchers wanted to see how a pregnant woman could tolerate this amount of iron. At the same time, the tablets exposed the body to radiation thirty times higher than the permissible norm. The secondary goal was to monitor newborn babies in order to study the effects of radiation on newborns.
The consequences of the experiment were such that three children died from cancer. The mothers of the deceased children sued Vanderbilt for $ 10.3 million.
8. An experiment with the treatment of syphilis
Syphilis was a fairly common condition among black equity holders in Taksji in the 1930s. The mercury ointment treatment available at the time was too toxic. It has always led to mouth ulcers, rashes, and liver damage.
Instead of trying to invent a new drug, the US Public Health Service decided to conduct an experiment without treating infected African Americans. For 40 years, patients have not been treated. They were either given a drug with a placebo effect, or the diagnosis of the disease was deliberately carried out incorrectly. Check out 10 surprising facts about the placebo effect. Out of 400 patients, 74 managed to survive. During the experiment, 40 patients' wives were infected, and 20 children were born with congenital syphilis.
But this was not the only experiment conducted with syphilis. In 1947, when penicillin was discovered as a cure for ailments, the US government decided to test its effectiveness. Moving to Guatemala, American scientists paid infected prostitutes to deliberately spread the disease to unsuspecting citizens... Some of them immediately dalt penicillin to see its effects, others were refused treatment. Of the 500 people who were not given the medicine, 80 died.
The test was kept under wraps until a Tuskegee researcher found it in 2010, prompting US President Barack Obama to apologize to Guatemalans years later.
7. Researching the monster
In 1939, speech therapist Wendell Johnson visited an orphanage in Iowa to test a hypothesis. Going to prove that stuttering can be cured, he created a group of 22 orphans. Not all members of the group suffered from a speech impediment; there were also those who did not suffer from stuttering in the group. Its goal was to cure stuttering in children with speech impediments and to instill stuttering in those who have never had it.
For five months, Johnson and his assistants praised and encouraged the speech-impaired group, while the non-speech-impaired group was subjected to constant criticism. By the end of the experiment, those orphans who had no problems with stuttering acquired it. And those who had stuttering from birth began to stutter even more. Despite efforts to remove the defect in children who had never suffered from stuttering, it was no longer possible to return to the starting position.
6. Exploration of the Edgewood Arsenal
After the end of World War II, the US Army Chemical Corps spent 25 years trying to assess the effects of chemical poisons on military personnel. Soon, the Corps involved 5-7 thousand soldiers in "Voluntary Medical Research Program».
The soldiers will be told that they are testing new clothes for the army and weapons. In fact, they were regularly exposed to over 250 different chemicals ranging from LSD, tranquilizers to nerve gas.
The Edgewood Arsenal, held in Maryland, did not satisfy military scientists "down to earth»Results. Mild dizziness, drunkenness, and depression were not considered noteworthy results. According to rumors, one scientist even put forward the assumption “Will we be able to create a weapon capable of incapacitating people from a mental point of view, without resorting to murder?».
After the end of the program, participants were sent home without further supervision. The soldiers, however, suffered psychological trauma and a host of illnesses that were blamed on the experiment. When a conflict arose, scientists remained silent, or strenuously argued that they did nothing wrong with the soldiers.
5. The Hungry Experiment of Minnesota
In an effort to tackle the problem of food shortages during World War II, US military scientists studied the effects of calorie restriction. A group of refuseniks who did not go to war for religious reasons were selected as participants. During the first two months, participants were fed their fill to bring their weight to optimal levels.
Thereafter, the diet received a drastic reduction in calories to accommodate the situation that civilians faced. The dishes served consisted mainly of cabbage broth, rye bread and beans, no meat.The diet was high in carbohydrates and low in protein. In addition to the limited calorie intake, the participants were required to walk 36 kilometers per week.
For the sake of naturalness of the study, jogging passed by bakeries and restaurants, as a result of which many were dropped out of the experiment. Those who remained were severely affected by the consequences. They all lost 25% of their weight, acquired anemia and depression.... One of the participants was banished for cannibalistic thoughts, while the other was able to complete his degree in law.
Although the participants in the experiment at the end looked like victims of a concentration camp, the answer to the alleged question was found. A person needs about 4,000 calories a day to recover from the effects of hunger.
4. Serration bacteria test in San Francisco
For six days in 1950, a military patrol sprayed San Francisco with a huge cloud of Serration bacteria, subspecies marcescens... The state Coast Guard detained a patrol.
The patrol was created with the aim of testing bacteria for impact on a potential enemy, if protection is required from an attack from the port. Biologically speaking, bacteria Serration is considered a substance that pathogenically affects humans. The experiment was considered successful when colonies of red microbes were found on the soil on which the spraying took place, which made it possible to make the port city a site of attack.
However, soon 11 people were hospitalized with symptoms that put doctors in a stop. The most important symptom was suddenly developing pneumonia, this case was even written about in a medical journal. One of the patients died from complications caused by bacteria. Ultimately, the experiment was considered an unnecessary action, entailing potential danger to 150 thousand civilians through exposure to deadly bacteria.
3. Perfumery experiment of Holmesburg
The successful dermatologist Albert Kligman found a way out of the annoying situation for everyone when it was impossible to find volunteers for the next experiments. He is credited with inventing retinabut he is also notorious for his experiments on prisoners.
In 1951, Kligman was invited to prison to treat an outbreak of athlete's foot. He soon realized that he had attacked a gold mine, saying in an interview “All I saw in front of me was a few hectares of leather. I felt like a farmer seeing a field for the first time". There was a crowd of relatively healthy people of all ages who were willing to accept his offers for a small reward.
Kilgman became a frequent visitor to Holmesburg, but he brought with him more than money. Over the next 20 years, he carried out experiments on prisoners, some of them were testing of perfumes, deodorants, shampoos, talc for feet, but not all of them were so harmless. Kligman researched dioxin, mind-altering drugs, and radioactive isotopes.
In 1974, the experiments came to an end, but until his death in 2010, Kilgman denied his guilt. It was not possible to prove anything, since he destroyed all the records at the end of the tests.
2. Experiment with electroshock therapy
Dr. Loretta Bender is best known for developing Bender-Gelstalt testhowever, some patients remember her for her negative merits. While working at Bellevue Hospital, from 1930-1956, she specialized in the treatment of childhood schizophrenia.
To treat the disease, Bender used the method of electroconvulsive therapy, a group of children were exposed to electricity for twenty days... Presumably, over a hundred children, aged three to twelve, went through shock therapy in twenty days.
Regular "frying"Brain cells led to consequences that forever changed the lives of young patients. The behavior of most of the test subjects changed, some became shy, some were cruel, in some cases the children fell into a catatonic stupor. Some of those whose character acquired cruelty after being tested by electricity were later convicted of murder.
1. Experiment on gender identity
Janet Reimer gave birth to two twin boys in 1966, but the happiness of motherhood was short-lived. During the circumcision of the genitals of Bruce's son, the doctor did it so carelessly that they had to be completely removed.
Confused parents visited sex expert Dr. John Money, who advised sex reassignment surgery to turn the boy into a girl. Trusting him, the parents decided to experiment, and the doctor himself was interested in proving one of the hypotheses.
Bruce, having turned into Brenda, tore dresses and preferred toy pistols to dolls. Mani, publishing articles about "successful"Experiment, assured the parents that this is how the child goes through the stage of transformation. Moreover, every time he received money for consultations, he tried to intimidate the child, thus forcing him to become a girl.
When the truth surfaced, Bruce decided to return to his real gender, taking on the name David. Then he entrusted himself into the hands of a surgeon to carry out another sex reassignment operation, after which he even got married. However, childhood trauma led to deep depression and, as a result, a ruined marriage. In 2002, his brother died, after which David committed suicide.
Money did not receive what he deserved and remained professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University until his death in 2006.
Interesting to see:
With the passage of time, human experimentation has gone beyond the bounds. In addition to experiments on themselves, scientists go headlong into their plans and play on the feelings of living people. For example, prisoners or slaves can become test subjects. Your attention is a video illustrating the ten most creepy experiments on people.
