5 Modern Experiments Conducted on Human Beings

 While it’s comforting to believe that humanity is filled with  altruism and general good, there is undoubtedly a dark underbelly that  often goes ignored by those who don’t want to believe such darkness  exists. In many instances, atrocities were performed under the guise of  medical experimentation. This allowed those conducting the ‘experiments’  to remove their guilt from the equation in search of the truth. In  reality, many of those experiments were merely morbid curiosities about  the human body and its limits. Anyone with a shred of common decency can  see that these experiments were designed in ways that completely  ignored the rights and dignity of the subjects, and in many cases, the  experiments even ignored consent. There are literally hundreds of  examples of horrific human experimentation throughout history, and five  of the worst examples are presented below. 

Artificial Blood

In 2006, which many might assume would be well beyond the historical  time-frame for creepy scientific experimentation, a company called  Northfield Laboratories wanted to test their new synthetic blood. They  did so by giving it to unknowing trauma patients in need of  transfusions. Of the 349 individuals in the experiment who were given  the artificial blood, 13.2 percent died. One financial professional  eyeing the situation called it a ‘disaster’. You might recognize this  financial advisor, whose name was Martin Shkreli, otherwise known as the  Pharma Bro. One might assume that if the guy who increased the cost of  life-saving medicines for no reason claims that something goes too far,  it’s probably true. 

The Aversion Project

During apartheid in South Africa, homosexual individuals weren’t  exactly welcome. To root them out as much as they could, the military  used confidential confessions given to chaplains and psychiatrists as  evidence that the individuals who gave the supposedly private testimony  should receive the proper treatment to end their ‘affliction’. Instead  of discharging these individuals from the military, they were sent to a  military hospital called Ward 22. In the hospital, victims were  chemically castrated, subjected to electroshock therapy, and even forced  to undergo sexual reassignment surgery. As many as 900 men between the  ages of 16 and 24 were surgically changed into women without their  consent. After the surgeries, they were simply released back to the  public, often with incomplete surgeries or no hormonal medicine to  maintain the change forced upon them. 

Testicle Radiation

During the 1960s, scientists were struggling to deal with potential  issues involved with advanced technology, particularly with radiation as  a result of nuclear technology. These scientists, many of whom were  male, were worried about the effects of such radiation on their fragile  male anatomy. Instead of using test subjects like cadavers or animals,  the scientists decided to offer paltry sums to prison inmates in  exchange for bombarding the testicles of those prisoners with immense  radiation. Of course, the inmates weren’t told of the dangers or even  the actual radiation levels to which they were exposed, but it didn’t  take long for many of them to develop infertility, cancer, and other  grossly negative side effects. 

Child Spinal Taps

The idea of getting a spinal tap as an adult in the modern world is  terrifying in itself thanks to the potential complications that could  arise, not to mention the pain of having a hypodermic needle shoved into  your spine. However, when the procedure was first envisioned back in  the 1890s, it was a much more horrifying ordeal. A man by the name of  Dr. Wentworth performed the first spinal tap on a 2-year-old child he  believed suffered from tuberculous meningitis. Of course, with ether and  brandy as the only anesthetic, the child was understandably upset  during the procedure. The doctor went on to perform spinal taps on 29  children, each without the consent of the parents. 

MK Ultra

This might be the most famous and mysterious case of human  experimentation in recent history, and it’s nightmare-fuel at its  finest. The project was organized by the CIA, and the goal of the  experiment was to categorize or even potentially weaponize the influence  of mind-controlling substances for interrogation purposes or other  covert operations. Dr. Donald Cameron ran the experiment, and he did so  by subjecting unwitting hospital patients to various ‘therapies’. While  it’s still argued what those therapies included, some have said the  patients were subjected to extreme electroshock at nearly 40 times the  standard power, constant LSD exposure for months at a time, and even  drug induced comas in which hypnosis was attempted. Some of victims lost  the ability to speak, others experienced horrible amnesia, and some are  rumored to have killed themselves.