US infected Guatemalans with STDs

U.S. to apologize for STD experiments in Guatemala

Government researchers infected patients with syphilis, gonorrhea without their consent in the 1940s

By Robert BazellU.S. government medical researchers intentionally infected hundreds of people in Guatemala, including institutionalized mental patients, with gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge or permission more than 60 years ago.

Many of those infected were encouraged to pass the infection onto others as part of the study.

About one third of those who were infected never got adequate treatment.Comment:  You can bet many of the victims were Maya and other Indians.

Would any American propose doing this study in any white city or enclave? For instance, Beverly Hills? No, of course not. The idea is unthinkable.

But it was okay to do the study on the poor, indigenous people of Guatemala. Why? Because countless generations of American myth-making have told us Indians are savages. That they're not quite human like us. That unlike white people, they don't matter.

For more on related subjects, see The Straight Dope on the Sterilization of Native Women and The Facts About Blankets with Smallpox.