re-think america

The Holmesburg Prison Experiments and ‘Pharmacologic Waterboarding’ at GITMO

The recent story of so-called ‘pharmacologic waterboarding‘ at Guantanamo Bay- where detainees were exposed to massive doses of controversial drugs- is nothing new in the long, sad story of American medical experimentation on (and doctors’ abuse of) prison inmates. Perhaps the best-known example is that of the Holmesburg Prison experiments. From 1951 until 1974, inmates of Philadelphia’s Holmesburg Prison were used as ‘guinea pigs’ for secret (and illegal) medical experiments. The experiments were overseen and sponsored by the U.S. Army, the CIA, The University of Pennsylvania, and private corporations including Dow Chemical Co. and Johnson & Johnson.

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