A prominent California medical school apologizes for conducting dozens of experiments on inmates in the 1960s and ’70s that it now says were unethical.
Two UC San Francisco dermatologists, one of whom remains at the university, conducted experiments on at least 2,600 incarcerated men in the 1960s and 1970s, including applying pesticides and herbicides to the men’s skin. and injecting them into his veins.
The experiments were carried out at the California Medical Center, a prison hospital in Vacaville, about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. The practice stopped in 1977.
“UCSF apologizes for its explicit role in the harm caused to the subjects, their families, and our community by facilitating this investigation, and acknowledges the institution’s implicit role in perpetuating the unethical treatment of vulnerable and underserved populations, regardless of legal or perceived standards at the same time,” Executive Vice Chancellor and Chancellor Dan Lowenstein said in a statement on the school website.
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A wheelchair-bound inmate walks through a checkpoint at the California Medical Center in Vacaville, California.
((AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File))
The statement added that the men “volunteered for the studies and were paid to participate.”
“But the report raises ethical concerns about how the research was conducted.”
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California Medical Center in Vacaville, CA
(Google Maps)
The university issued a report earlier this month acknowledging that doctors engaged in “questionable informed consent practices” and conducted research on men who did not have the diseases the doctors purported to treat.
The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the program’s findings on Wednesday.
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Inmates wearing firefighting boots line up for breakfast at Oak Glen Conservation Fire Camp #35 in Yucaipa, California
(Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)
The report says further analysis is needed to determine the extent of harm done to prisoners as a result of the experiments and what the university should do in response.
The report focused on the research of Dr. Howard Maibach and Dr. William Epstein. Maibach continues to work at the university, and Epstein died in 2006. It was not immediately clear if Maibach would face any disciplinary action in light of the report.
Associated Press contributed to this report
