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Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison
 
 
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Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison (Paperback)

by Allen M. Hornblum (Author) "They marched six of us, three blacks an three whites, all the same age, late twenties-early thirties, into this one room of the trailer ..." (more)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (12 April 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0415923360
  • ISBN-13: 978-0415923361
  • Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 14.7 x 2.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 924,212 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Review

"This admirably comprehensive story of the use of prisoners for medical research is embarrassingly painful to read... This encyclopedic, well-documented treatise....is a fascinating story
."
-"Journal of the American Medical Association
"Hornblum's book is awesome, revealing the sanctimonious venality of American medicine....Excellent! Highly recommended
."
-"Choice
"Admirably comprehensive story of the use of prisoners for medical research...Acres of Skin" is the result of exhaustive scholarship...a comprehensive anthology of the use of prisoners for medical experimentation in other U.S. prisons and universities...This encylopedic, "well-documented treatise is a fascinating story...Hornblum has recalled for all of us a history of abominable medical research and has given us all the opportunity to reflect on where we were when they experimented on prisoners and where we will be in the next ethical dilemma in medical"science
."
-"Journal of the American Medical Association
"A recently released expose has sparked new interest in this controversial chapter of American medical history
."
-"Village Voice
"A startling new book
."
-"Philadelphia Tribune


Product Description

For more than two decades, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, inmates of Holmesburg Prison, Philadelphia, were used, in exchange for a few dollars, as guinea pigs in a host of medical experiments. Based on interviews with dozens of prisoners as well as doctors and prison officials who performed and enforced these experimental tests, this book paints a portrait of abuse, moral indifference and greed. Central to the account are the millions of dollars which many of America's leading drug and consumer-goods companies made available for doctors seeking fame and fortune through their medical experiments. Many of those doctors established their careers on the backs of the inmates who served as ideal test subjects - isolated, cheap, and locked behind bars. The author argues that at Holmesburg the American medical establishment betrayed the ideals of the Hippocratic Oath and the Nuremberg Code. An array of doctors, in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania and prison officials, established Holmesburg as a laboratory testing ground. Hundreds of prisoners were used to test products from facial creams and skin moisturizers to perfumes, detergents and anti-rash treatments. Other experiments used the inmates as test subjects for far more hazardous, even potentially lethal, substances such as radioactive isotopes, LSD and chemical-warfare agents.
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They marched six of us, three blacks an three whites, all the same age, late twenties-early thirties, into this one room of the trailer. Read the first page
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars disturbing expose of human medical experiments in the U.S., 23 Aug 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison (Hardcover)
As a former UPenn student, I found this book to be especially horrifying. The U.S. tried the Nazi doctors for their crimes against humanity, but then we decided that the Nurembug Code didn't apply to us. Instead, the human medical experiments that went on at Holmesburg prison, which are described in disturbing detail in Hornblum's excellent book, were not unusual in this country. I liked this book because it exposes the hypocrisy beneath much of American morality. Out of one side of our mouth we quite rightly condemn the Nazis for their grotesque acts, but then we turn around & sanction similar experiments on disadvantaged members of our own population. Perhaps the most interesting section of the book is its history of medical experimentation in our country, which began well before the second World War & continued until the mid 1970's. A must-read.
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