ETHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE” STD Research in Guatemala from 1946-1948 
our observation too, that many of our patients had the classic, pure Indian 
features indicating little or no mixture [with other races].” 575 Dr. Spoto, the 
PHS onchocerciasis researcher, told Dr. Cutler that he need not explain 
the experiments at all to the “Indians” in the Penitentiary “as they are only 
confused by explanations and knowing what is happening.” 576 Dr. Mahoney 
observed upon his visit to Guatemala City and his trip to the city of Chichi- 
castenango that he did “not think much of the natives.” 577 
Despite the pervasive belief that the effects of syphilis varied among races, 
and despite the underlying beliefs about the indigenous population that the 
researchers may have harbored, Dr. Cutler concluded in his Final Syphilis 
Report that the researchers found no evidence of “‘racial immunity’ in the 
Central American Indian.” 578 He speculated that the authors of earlier arti- 
cles claiming that such immunity existed had instead encountered the same 
serology-testing problems that the researchers experienced and were inter- 
preting their diagnostic false positives incorrectly. 579 
Concerns about Secrecy 
The Cutler Documents specifically elucidate contemporaneous efforts to limit 
knowledge about the experiments. “[a]s a result of experience elsewhere,” 
Dr. Cutler wrote in 1955, “it was deemed advisable, from the point of view 
of public and personnel relations, to work so that as few people as possible 
know the experimental procedure.” 580 In February 1947, the same month the 
researchers began sexual intercourse experiments in the Guatemalan Army, 
G. Robert Coatney, a PHS malariologist, wrote Dr. Cutler about Surgeon 
General Parran’s interest in his work. 
“I saw Doctor Parran on Friday [February 14] and he wanted to 
know if I had had a chance to visit your project. Since the answer 
was yes, he asked me to tell him about it and I did so to the best of 
my ability. He was familiar with all the arrangements and wanted 
to be brought up to date on what progress had been made. As you 
well know, he is very much interested in the project and a merry 
twinkle came into his eye when he said, ‘You know, we couldn’t 
do such an experiment in this country.’” 581 
74 
