ETHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE” STD Research in Guatemala from 1946-1948 
O n October 1, 2010, President Barack Obama telephoned President 
Alvaro Colom of Guatemala to extend an apology to the people of 
Guatemala for medical research supported by the United States and con- 
ducted in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948. Some of the research involved 
deliberate infection of people with sexually transmitted diseases (“STDs”) 1 
without their consent. Subjects were exposed to syphilis, gonorrhea, and 
chancroid, and included prisoners, soldiers from several parts of the army, 
patients in a state-run psychiatric hospital, and commercial sex workers. 
Serology experiments that did not involve intentional exposure to infec- 
tion, which continued through 1953, also were performed in these groups, 
as well as with children from state-run schools, an orphanage, and several 
rural towns. President Obama expressed “deep regret” for the research and 
affirmed the U.S. government’s “unwavering commitment to ensure that all 
human medical studies conducted today meet exacting” standards for the 
protection of human subjects. 2 
Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services (DHHS), and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of the Depart- 
ment of State, immediately issued a joint apology to the government of 
Guatemala and the survivors and descendants of those affected. Calling the 
experiments “clearly unethical,” Secretaries Sebelius and Clinton amplified 
the President’s statements of regret and apologized “to all the individuals 
who were affected by such abhorrent research practices.” 3 In the spirit of 
openness and freedom of inquiry needed to restore trust and repair the 
damage created by these revelations, the Secretaries indicated that the U.S. 
government would launch an independent inquiry into the events. They also 
announced plans for the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical 
Issues (the “Commission”), with input from international experts, to under- 
take a thorough review of human subjects protections to “ensure that all 
[U.S. -sponsored] human medical research conducted around the globe today 
meets rigorous ethical standards.” 4 
The outrage that the U.S. government registered with these announcements 
echoed around the globe. For some, the story was reminiscent of the infamous 
U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Study of Untreated Syphilis (also known 
as the “Tuskegee Syphilis Study”), in which nearly 400 African American 
men with syphilis in Alabama were left untreated for nearly 30 years while 
2 
