IS THE CIA STILL CONDUCTING MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS ON UNSUSPECTING AMERICANS?

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Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP81M00980R000600030008-5
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RIPPUB
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K
Document Page Count: 
2
Document Creation Date: 
December 15, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 18, 2004
Sequence Number: 
8
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
November 1, 1978
Content Type: 
NSPR
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PDF icon CIA-RDP81M00980R000600030008-5.pdf216.95 KB
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Publ' S'c'rutiny . 1 Novt78 The spectre of continuing CIA med- ical experiments on humans, similar to, those conducted on unsuspecting American citizens 'in the 1950's and 1960's, was raised recently with the inclusion of aCIA a in a bill au thor nator Edward Kennedy, establishing a permanent commission charged with studying issues related to the ethics of medical research. '.'it boggles the mind to try and comprehend what value a CIA ad-, visor could be to a commission charged with the furthering of moral and ethical principles in the use of humans-in medical research," stated Carleen Bridgeman, a regis- tered nurse and executive director of the Institute for.the Study of Medical Ethics, a California pa- tient's rights group. "This is the agency which dispensed LSD to persons without their knowl- edge, conducted drug experiments on prisoners. disguised' as legitimate medical research, tested "knock-out" drugs on advanced cancer patients, and had as one of its purposes, to "perfect the use of drugs for brain- washing citizens, students, prisoners, and subjects at random and to do it surreptitiously," continued Ms. Bridgeman. "We can only conclude that such an advisor is included on this committee because such medical ex- perimentation is continuing and the CIA advisor's job is to instruct the committee what not to investigate:" Bridgeman was not the only one to come to such a conclusion. Roy Bran- son, a senior research scholar at the . Joseph and Rose Kennedy Institute for -,.the Study of Human Reproduction and Bioethics, in a letter concerning Ken- nedy's bill (S. 2579), stated, "I am in- trigued that your subcommittee. as- chemicals into sprays,- food, drinks, sumes that the CIA will continue to . and aerosol cans that will either kill or conduct experiments on humans, ' alter behavior. making its necessary'for them to , ? To get control of an individual.to have a non-voting, ex officio advisor the point where he will do our bidding to the commission included in Sec.: against his will, even against such fun- 1081(d)." damental laws 'of nature as self- Much of the information on the CIA's preservation. role in medical research was obtained Such experiments were carried through the Freedom. of Information out on numerous persons who had Act and front testimony before 'the no idea they were being, ex Senate Intelligence Committee in perimented on. 'At least 7,000 per 1975. It was revealed that between . sons were so treated by the Army.-' 1950 and 1971, acting under the au- alone. It was found that one Army spices of more than .50 universities, biochemist, 'Dr. -Frank Olson, hospitals and medical clinics, as well jumped to his death from a 10th as the US Army, the. CIA conducted story window in New York City after brainwashing and. experimentation. LSD was slipped into his drink by a with LSD and other illegal drugs on CIA agent. t~7i trio ?eiI mo 'Mba 1: cl y to ~ ~ I nt of D f~ c mos cases the by the i and epartmert of Defense subjects were, students, patients, sol diers, and people from all'walks of life, who were totally unaware that danger- ous and possibly fatal experiments were being conducted upon them., In 1975 the Senate Intelligence Committee uncovered at least partial data on some of the experiments con ducted by and for the CIA. The purpose of some of the experiments: ? To perfect the use of drugs for -brainwashing citizens, students, pris- oners and subjects at random and to do .it surreptitiously. *'To combine LSD with alcohol to find the reactions of given subjects. ? To combine LSD with planted electrodes to locate the centers of pain in the brain. ? To figure out. ways to deliver will probably never be known," said Bridgeman, ';because in 1973 the-re- search and methods under which it was carried-out was recognized'to be so potentially embarrassing that the, then head of the CIA, Richard Helms, ordered all-the files destroyed. Only, a few that were overlooked have given us this insight into the intelligence community's idea of 'medical re- search.' "While the Institute does not necessarily oppose a commission to work toward informed consent and, patients' protection as is pro- posed by Senator Kennedy's bill, we certainly would oppose the inclu- sion of CIA representatives on such, a commission and we do oppose the fact that the committee hearings and meetings will not be open to the public. The American' public has a . right to know what type of 'ex- perimentation'-.the CIA and other governmental -agencies are con- ducting,. if only out of a sense of self-protection," concluded' Ms. Bridgeman. "We've been the vic- tims too many times." The Institute recently spearheaded a successful drive for a California law which defines the rights, of persons used as subjects-in medical experi- ments and establishes penaltiesfor the violation, of informed. consent in med- ical experiments. The Institute is cur- rently investigating theluse of humans in experimentation not.~covered by the recently enacted law and intends to work for protection for people in these 25X1 Approved For Release 2004/05/21 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600030008-5 Approved For Release 2004/05/21 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600030008-5