ETHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE” STD Research in Guatemala from 1946-1948 
131 
132 
133 
134 
135 
136 
137 
138 
139 
140 
141 
142 
143 
144 
145 
146 
147 
148 
149 
150 
151 
Originally established to provide medical treatment to merchant seamen in American ports, it grew to 
become the U.S. Public Health Service, a uniformed service of the U.S. government charged with duties 
that involved the research, prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment of human illness throughout the 
United States. Parascandola, J. (1998). Public Health Service. In Kurian, G.T. (Ed.) A Historical Guide to 
the U.S. Government. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 487-493. 
Parascandola, J. (2001). Op cit., p. 7. 
Biographical Sketch, Dr. Cassius J. Van Slyke. (n.d.). PCSBI HSPI Archives, NPRC 0002846. 
Parascandola, J. (2001). Op cit, p. 7. 
Ibid. 
Ibid. 
Proposal for Contract in Medical Research Pertaining to National Defense. (1943, June 25). PCSBI 
HSPI Archives, NARA-II 0000583; Cassius J. Van Slyke Personnel Files. (Various dates). PCSBI HSPI 
Archives, NPRC_0002844-57. 
Ibid, PCSBI HSPI Archives, NARA-II_0000585. 
Approximately $590,000 today, when adjusted for inflation. 
Proposal for Contract in Medical Research Pertaining to National Defense. (1943, June 25). PCSBI HSPI 
Archives, NARA-II_0000584. 
Report to Subcommittee on Venereal Diseases. (1943, November 11). PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
NAS_0003530; Draft of CMR History, Section on Venereal Disease attached to February 25, 1946 
Memorandum from E. Cowles Andrus to Chester S. Keefer, (n.d.). PCSBI HSPI Archives, NARA- 
II 0000419; Cutler Award Citation, (n.d.). PCSBI HSPI Archives, MISC_0000341. 
Dr. John C. Cutler, CV. (n.d.). PCSBI HSPI Archives, MISC_0000409. 
Ibid. 
Henrik Blum, M.D., M.P.H., op cit. 
Mahoney, J.F., Van Slyke, C.J., Cutler, J.C., Blum, H.L. (1946, January). Experimental gonococcic 
urethritis in human volunteers. American Journal of Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and Venereal Disease 30:3. 
Reports to a Conference Held Under the Auspices of the Subcommittee on Venereal Diseases 9 February 
1944, on the Chemical Prophylaxis of Venereal Disease. (1944, February 9). PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
NAS_0003112. 
The Department of Justice was unable to locate any records pertaining to this research. E-mail from Mala 
Adiga, Counsel to the Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, to Brian Eiler, Senior 
Policy and Research Analyst, Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. (2011, June 6). 
PCSBI HSPI Archives, DOJ_0000098. 
Report to Subcommittee on Venereal Diseases. (1943, November 11). PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
NAS 0003531; Mahoney, J.F., Van Slyke, C.J., Cutler, J.C., Blum, H.L. (1946). Op cit. 
Report to Subcommittee on Venereal Diseases. (1943, November 11). PCSBI HSPI Archives, 
NAS 0003531. 
Minutes of the Twenty-First Meeting of the Subcommittee on Venereal Diseases. (1943, November 
11). PCSBI HSPI Archives, NAS_0002782; Reports to a Conference Held Under the Auspices of the 
Subcommittee on Venereal Diseases 9 February 1944, on the Chemical Prophylaxis of Venereal Disease. 
(1944, February 9). PCSBI HSPI Archives, NAS_00031 14-17. 
Reports to a Conference Held Under the Auspices of the Subcommittee on Venereal Diseases, op cit. 
In an oral history conducted with Dr. Henrik Blum in 1997, he stated that it was his job to “examine[] 
prostitutes to find gonorrhea bugs to bring fresh bugs in because it was part of our experiment.” According 
to Dr. Blum, the prostitutes had been “picked up by the police. Terre Haute was a town famous for its 
prostitution because it was the soft coal mining center. The miners came to Terre Haute for recreation— R 
& R, rest and recreation.” Henrik Blum, M.D., M.P.H., op cit. 
168 
