Customer Reviews

Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans (State Secrets)

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Undue Risk is a clearly and meticulously constructed documentation of over 50 years of medical and military experiments world wide, with an emphasis on those done in the U.S. It is one of the most important books written on the subject, and it is a must read for anyone concerned about the ethics and interests of government.
Moreno limits himself to information that is documentable. He focuses on the medical community as handmaidens to the military establishment. For example, his thorough and horrific accounts of Dr. Ishii's murderous medical experiments on thousands of helpless captives during WWII in Japan, and his grim comment that despite his criminality, Dr. Ishii today enjoys high social status and wealth, partially due to intervention by the United States, are a testimony to Moreno's clear insight into the pervasive nature of intellectual greed and the grand cover-up of government when it wishes to acquire knowledge.
It is unfortunate that Moreno could not cover the misdeeds of the neuro-sciences. But with the neuro/psychopharmacological arsenal of amnesiacs, sedatives, ECT, and hypnosis it is difficult to find those survivors who can clearly articulate the tale of what was done to them in the name of science. To his credit, Moreno does refer to the CIA's MKULTRA experiments, and gives a nice insight into the LSD death of Fort Detrick's Dr. Frank Olsen, who specialized in airborne delivery of disease as a biological weapon. This book is a must read. It is aurhoritative, restrained in nature, but completely accurate.

We are fortunate Jonathan Moreno did dare and took the time to write "Undue Risk." Not only does he inform, he has the courage to take a stand. A person of the caliber of David Kevles of California Institute of Technology says in his New York Times Book Review ". . . the historical record that he presents in ''Undue Risk'' strongly supports his contention that the rights of human subjects deserve to be held paramount over any needs of national security." Anyone familiar with the work of the President's Committee on Human Radiation Experiments knows it was anything but a whitewash. While flawed it is the most thorough review of documents surrounding this sad, sad chapter of our nations recent history. The experiments were outrageous attacks against human rights. I am co-founder of the Human Experiments Litigation Project which successfully filed seven suits against the experimenters. I commend Moreno for his in depth research, excellent grasp of the entire range of experiments, his concern for the sanctity of human life and ability to tell this story with a clear demarcation between fact and opinion. The more people who read this book, the more our chance as a society of remembering just a bit longer the lessons of science gone amuck.

Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans by Jonathan D. Moreno

This very readable book faces the uncomfortable reality of using humans for medical experiments. Government secrecy is corrosive to democracy, and is a true threat to our way of life. The use of human guinea pigs shows something rotten at the heart of society's political rulers.

Chapter 5 tells about radiation experiments. There was a need to study the health risks from inhalation or ingestion to determine the toxic levels. Releasing radioactive products into the air was part of deliberate policy that occurred hundreds of times (pp.153-4). Chapter 6 tells how the Nuremberg Code was adopted for testing ABC weapons (p.166). This rule prevailed in the civilian hierarchy but lacked traction in the military medical culture (p.184); this reflected the political struggles (p.187). Chapter 7 tells of the experiments with hallucinogens as a military secret weapon during WW II (pp.190-1), and afterwards. The Blauer Case tells how state hospitals' experiments killed patients (pp.194-8)! Scanty record keeping on atomic bomb explosions was continued with Agent Orange in Vietnam (p.206). The known dangers from uranium mines were disregarded by the AEC (p.221). Uranium miners fate was to die in their forties for reasons of national security (p.226). After Nuremberg, only America among Western countries experimented on prisoners (p.230).

Chapter 8 tells of the attacks on the Nuremberg Code rules. Pages 252-3 tell why it is legal to experiment on members of the Armed Forces: the Supreme Court said so! Nerve gas experiments were suspended in 1969 (p.263). President Nixon asked for the ratification of the 1925 Geneva Accord to prohibit the first use of biological and chemical weapons. The1977 Senate hearings on the biological testing program resulted in new ethics of research for government agencies (p.265). Chapter 9 tells of the 1991 Gulf War aftermath: many veterans reported illnesses. One explanation was the drug alleged to protect our soldiers caused this problem. PB was never tested or approved, so its use was reckless and a poor experiment (p.269). Pyridostigmine bromide was never approved against chemical weapons (p.270). The FDA created an exceptional "Rule 23(d)". Did PB react with organophosphates to create harm (p.272)? The lack of records prevents any investigation. The last section on '91 Bravo' reads like a very optimistic and cheerful ending to this story.

Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans by Jonathan D. Moreno

Calling chemical warfare "weapons of mass destruction" is misleading since they are more limited than atomic or biological weapons. Biological weapons can turn against their users. Only atomic weapons have enormous destructive capacity (p.xv). The Advisory Committee on Human Radiation documented secret experiments on humans from WW II to the present day. Biological warfare goes back to ancient times: placing decaying bodies into a water supply or launching them into a besieged fort. There is much more known about biological and chemical weapons today than before 1992. Government secrecy is corrosive to democracy, and is a true threat to our way of life. The use of human guinea pigs shows something rotten at the heart of society's political rulers. This very readable book faces the uncomfortable reality of using humans for medical experiments.

Bacteria and chemicals are hard to control and deliver effectively but relatively cheap to produce and transport. Testing on humans has a long international history, as is hiding these facts (p.4). The Nazi doctors trial at Nuremberg set a standard for military-medical human experiments. Hundreds of other doctors were never tried. A "crime against humanity" was defined as the reckless pursuit of scientific knowledge, or sheer sadism. Experiments on humans predated the Nazis; in 1931 the powerful chemical manufacturers were caught using patients in hospitals (p.64). Then there was America's own wartime research (pp. 65-6). But America was not riddled with a hate-mongering pathology that permitted the systematic injury of certain groups of humans (p.79).

Chapter 4 tells of Nazi scientists brought to America because of their expertise. They now used American soldiers rather than concentration camp victims (p.89)! Similar experiments were done by Japanese Unit 731 (pp.103-7). Their history was kept secret to protect Army biological weapon testing at Fort Detrick, whose budget was second to the Manhattan project (p.109). The US military wanted this information on crop destruction and human experiments. A Soviet war crimes trial documented these facts (p.111-4). Germ warfare charges in Korea and China are discussed on pages 115-6.

Anyone interested in the history and ethics of human experimentation in the U.S. should read this book. Moreno is a careful scholar and a good writer who knows how to choose important and interesting examples.

I used to work at an ethical review board, and I read whatever books I could find on medical research ethics. This is the most memorable one I read. It was shocking but fascinating. I would recommend this book to anyone working in clinical research or medical ethics.

This is a must read for just about every doctor.. and patient I guess.

I've never walked out of a movie or put down a book because it was too scary. Well.. I had to PUT DOWN "Undue Risk" at about the 20% point. Filed under "Read Later".

If it was a "Saw" movie or something like that? Sure that's all fake and make believe..

What is so horrifying about Undue Risk?
It is TRUE!
Most likely thousands of other incidents didn't MAKE it into this book.
Not to mention the day to day unreported medical horrors still happening today!

Be scared.. be very very scared!

GENE

Although I have read only a few excerpts from this book it appears to be full of errors and unfounded statements. An example, the military hallucigen BZ is called benzodiazepine, which it decidedly is not. BZ is 3 quinuclidinyl benzilate, a benzilate a member of the gylcolates. While this one example may seem unimportant to some readers, the cumulative effect of all the errors, misstatements and distortions of fact totally defeat the credibility of the book. This is very disheartening for an area that does need truthful and thoughtful discussion, without artificially created sensationalism. I would suggest that anyone reading this book, keep chemical and medical textbooks handy to check facts. Unfortunately for those people mentioned in the book, it will be difficult to check facts and innocent scientists will wind up maligned. The book is so riddled with mistakes and errors, it is hard to give it any credit.

Mr. Moreno's stunning account of experiments done by the Nazis was very interesting. His great writing made the book a page turner and I applaud Mr. Moreno for writing it. I am looking forward to reading more of his books.

Jonathan d. Moreno has written a catalogue of biological horrors that is regrettable but a necessary publication to inform the public. Although much of it has been published through historical and governmental sources the author makes you wonder why such experiments are required. On the other hand, is there another way to benefit the many at the cost of the few? Is there a way one can inform the subjects who volunteer for such assumptions of risks? I'll leave it to you to decide. What is frightful is just how easy a biological attack can occur on anyone, at anytime and anywhere. Very disconcerting but necessary for being forewarned to defend.