Acres of skin : human experiments at Holmesburg Prison : a true story of abuse and exploitation in the name of medical science

In the first expose of unjust medical experimentation since David Rothman's Willowbrook's Wars, Allen M. Hornblum releases devastating stories from within the walls of Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison. For more than two decades, from the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s, inmates were used, in exchange for a few dollars, as guinea pigs in a host of medical experiments. 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 to far more hazardous, even potentially lethal, substances such chemical warfare agents. Based on in-depth interviews with dozens of prisoners as well as the doctors and prison officials who performed or enforced these experimental tests, Hornblum paints a disturbing portrait of abuse, moral indifference, and greed. Central to this account are the millions of dollars many of America's leading drug and consumer goods companies made available for the all too eager doctors seeking fame and fortune through their medical experiments. Acres of Skin is rigorously researched and shocking in its depiction of men treated as laboratory animals.

At a time of increased interest and renewed shock over the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, Acres of Skin sheds light on yet another dark episode of American medical history. In this disturbing expose, Allen M. Hornblum tells the story of Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison.

Library Journal

Relying on prisoners' firsthand reports, Hornblum has written a thorough account of the questionable medical experimentation carried out in Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison from the mid-1940s to 1974. Research on everything from cosmetics to chemical warfare agents was conducted there, often with minimal or no record- keeping. Such research raises serious ethical issues. Throughout, Hornblum asks whether prisoners can give informed consent, particularly when the potential consequences of the research are not fully explained. Although most of the book centers on Holmesburg, Hornblum does cite other prisons across the country where similar practices took place before they received widespread condemnation in the 1970s. What is shocking about this is that it did not happen in the distant past but in our own generation, with the doctors involved still in practice. Frighteningly, Hornblum reveals that at the Nuremberg trials Nazi doctors cited American prison practices as a defense for their nefarious medical experiments in the camps. -- Eric D. Albright, Duke Medical Center Library, Durham, NC

Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 The Nuremberg Code......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 A Note on Sources......Page 22 ~The Money Was Good and the Money Was Easy.~ Inmates recall life and experiments at Holmesburg Prison......Page 26 ~It Was Like a Farmer Seeing a Fertile Field.~ Dr. Albert M.Kligman enters Holmesburg......Page 52 ~They're Dropping Like Flies Out Here.~ History of U.S. prisoner experimentation......Page 98 ~The Walls Seemed To Be Breathing.~ The Army tests chemical warfare agents......Page 142 ~I Am Not Part of the Program.~ Radioactive isotopes are introduced......Page 172 ~Danger! This Material Is Extremely Toxic.~ The dioxin experiments......Page 186 ~Where Are We Going To Do These Things Now?~ The slow demise of inmate experimentation......Page 210 ~Retin-A's Birthplace Was at Holmesburg Prison.~ The discovery of Retin-A......Page 234 ~A Conspiracy of Silence.~ Conclusion......Page 256 Acknowledgments......Page 268 Notes......Page 270 Bibliography......Page 294 Index......Page 308 This exposé tells the story of medical experimentation at Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison. From the early 1950s through the mid-1970s, Holmesburg's inmates were used, in exchange for a few dollars, as guinea pigs in a host of medical experiments. Based on in-depth interviews with dozens of prisoners as well as the doctors and prison officials who, respectively, performed and permitted these experimental tests, the book paints a disturbing portrait of abuse, moral indifference, and greed. Central to this account are the millions of dollars many of America's leading drug and consumer goods companies made available for the eager doctors seeking fame and fortune through their medical experiments. Many of these doctors established their illustrious careers on the backs of the inmates who served as the ideal test subjects - isolated, cheap, and locked behind bars In this expose, Allen M. Hornblum tells the story of Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison. From the early 1950s through the mid-1970s, Holmesburg's inmates were used, in exchange for a few dollars, as guinea pigs in a host of medical experiments. Based on in-depth interviews with dozens of prisoners as well as the doctors and prison officials who, respectively, performed and permitted these experimental tests, Hornblum paints a disturbing portrait of abuse, moral indifference, and greed. Central to this account are the millions of dollars many of America's leading drug and consumer goods companies made available for the eager doctors seeking fame and fortune through their medical experiments. Many of these doctors established their illustrious careers on the backs of the inmates who served as the ideal test subjects - isolated, cheap, and locked behind bars. Based on experiments on inmates in Philadelphia's Holmsburg Prison in the 1950s-1970s, this book raises provocative questions about human rights, prison treatment and medical and research ethics. 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.