Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present was broadcast on Democracy Now!. If you have not had the opportunity to listen/view this program, choose one of the links below.

Program Description:
Medical scholar Harriet Washington talks about her new book, “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today.

A report by the American Cancer society shows that African Americans are still more likely than any other group to develop and die of cancer. The study states that socio-economic factors play the largest role in this disparity - African Americans have less access to health care and information, and are less likely to get screening and medical treatment. Well, a new book offers one answer into why black Americans deeply mistrust American medicine.

Harriet Washington. Medical writer and editor. She is a visiting Scholar at DePaul University School of Law. Previously she was a Fellow in Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School and at Stanford University. She is the author of the new book, “Medical Apartheid.” -- January 19th, 2007.

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Interview begins at 17:00 on the divShare Audio Player

plez sez: this interview about medical apartheid in america ran chills up my spine!

i was aware of the Tuskegee Experiment, but was not aware of the amount of medical experimentation that had been wrought on Black people since we landed in this country as slaves. and the chilling experimentation that continues to this day in Africa and Brazil on behalf of large pharmaceutical companies.

after listening to this, one can see why illness and disease (cancer, hypertension, diabetes, hiv/aids, mental illness, etc.) always seems to be worse in the Black community. and i have no doubt that this long history (over 300 years) of being used as guinea pigs by the medical establishment is one reason why Black people are so leery of preventive medicine.

[Hat Tip: That Black Lesbian Jew]