Useful bodies
Subtitle: humans in the service of medical science in the twentieth century
By: edited by Jordan Goodman, Anthony McElligott, and Lara Marks.
Contributors: Goodman, Jordan.; McElligott, Anthony, 1955-; Marks, Lara, 1963-
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 217
Subjects: Human experimentation in medicine -- History -- 20th century
Description: Though notoriously associated with Germany, human experimentation in the name of science has been practiced in other countries, as well, both before and after the Nazi era. The use of unwitting or unwilling subjects in experiments designed to test the effects of radiation and disease on the human body emerged at the turn of the twentieth century, when the rise of the modern, coercive state and the professionalization of medical science converged. This book brings together leading historians of medicine to explore the intersection of government power and medical knowledge in revealing studies of human experimentation₇germ warfare and jaundice tests in Great Britain; radiation, malaria, and hepatitis experiments in the U.S.; and nuclear fallout trials in Australia. These examples of medical abuse illustrate the extent to which living human bodies have been "useful" to democratic states and emphasize the need for intense scrutiny and regulation to prevent future violations.
Notes: "Earlier versions of the chapters in this volume were first given as contributions to a workshop on human experimentation held at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London on 3-4 September 1998"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references.