Human Medical Experimentation: From Smallpox Vaccines to Secret Government Programs

When the phrase “human medical experimentation” is heard, what may first come to many people’s minds are the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis in the Second World War. Medical experimentation on humans has been going on in one form or another from the time of Hippocrates. For most, many of the experiments and those conducting them are unknown unless they or their work are notorious, as with the Nazis, or are responsible for life-saving discoveries, such as Jonas Salk’s vaccine for polio. Numerous lesser-known experiments, research studies, discoveries and the ethical concerns, implications and ultimately regulations are covered in this...