Acres of Skin

In Acres of Skin (1998), Allen Hornblum discusses the experiments conducted on prisoners at Holmesburg Prison from the 1950's until the experiments ended in 1974. Unlike the subjects in the Tuskegee experiment, the prisoners were not exclusively African-American. Also unlike the Tuskegee trials, the Holmesburg Prison experiments did not focus on sexually transmitted diseases, but focused on dermatological experiments. Albert Kligman, MD was the dermatologist supervising the studies and shockingly likened the prisoners' skin to acres of fertile farmland. Prisoners were exposed to radioactive elements, hallucinogenics, and other toxins while Kligman tested various drugs, including what would become Retin A. For years after the experiments ended, prisoners still suffered from exposure to these chemicals.

In doing a Google search of Dr. Kligman, I found that he is on the faculty as Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his medical degree from Penn in 1947. "Contact sensitization" is listed as one his specialties, along with "cutaneous toxicology".

In interviews after the experiments at Holmesburg ceased, Dr. Kligman continued to defend his practices. In 2006, renewed interest in using prisoners for research resurfaced. Supporters proposed that the 1978 regulations forbidding the use of prisoners in clinical research be repealed but that the government add safety measures to prevent abuses. Dr. Kligman is quoted as saying that regulations that restricted prisoner use in clinical research "should have never been written in the first place" because of the gains that the research provided to the general population.

Where do we draw the line between achieving greater good and abusing individuals who are incarcerated, marginalized, or without representation?