The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
November 24, 2010
Presidential Memorandum--Review of Human Subjects Protection
MEMORANDUM FOR DR. AMY GUTMANN Chair, Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues
SUBJECT: Review of Human Subjects Protection
Recently, we discovered that the U.S. Public Health Service conducted research on sexually transmitted diseases in Guatemala from 1946 to 1948 involving the intentional infection of vulnerable human populations. The research was clearly unethical. In light of this revelation, I want to be assured that current rules for research participants protect people from harm or unethical treatment, domestically as well as internationally.
I ask you, as the Chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, to convene a panel to conduct, beginning in January 2011, a thorough review of human subjects protection to determine if Federal regulations and international standards adequately guard the health and well-being of participants in scientific studies supported by the Federal Government. I also request that the Commission oversee a thorough fact-finding investigation into the specifics of the U.S. Public Health Service Sexually Transmitted Diseases Inoculation Study.
In fulfilling this charge, the Commission should seek the insights and perspective of international experts, including from Guatemala; consult with its counterparts in the global community; and convene at least one meeting outside the United States. I expect the Commission to complete its work within 9 months and provide me with a report of its findings and recommendations.
While I believe the research community has made tremendous progress in the area of human subjects protection, what took place in Guatemala is a sobering reminder of past abuses. It is especially important for the Commission to use its vast expertise spanning the fields of science, policy, ethics, and religious values to carry out this mission. We owe it to the people of Guatemala and future generations of volunteers who participate in medical research.
BARACK OBAMA
Information on the 1946-1948 United States Public Health Service STD Inoculation Study
My Email to the Commission on 10th February 2011:
Subject: Current neurological medical and science experiments carried out in London since February 2001 by US government agents/contractors on a non-consenting human guinea pig research subject 24/7/365
From: Gary D Chance 10 February 2011 15:24
To: info@bioethics.gov
Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues
1425 New York Avenue, NW
Suite C-100
Washington, DC 20005
Mesdames et Messrs
Less than a week ago on Friday last, 4th February 2011, I became aware of your work through the current issue of Emory Magazine from an Email I had just received.
Over the weekend I read the four major articles online devoted to ethics including the one concerning your work since Emory's President, James Wagner, is the Commission's Vice Chair.
I finished this Email on Monday, 7th February 2011, sending it along as noted below and then sent a copy of it to the Commission's Chair, Amy Gutmann, at the University of Pennsylvania the following day, Tuesday, 8th February 2011.
It was not until Tuesday last, 8th February 2011, that I began exploring your web site and have been doing so slowly and thoroughly.
My sense of my experience and its relevance to your work was solidified by President Obama's letter to Dr Gutmann dated 24th November 2010 charging the Commission with taking up the issue of protecting human research subjects in light of the Guatemala experiments in 1946-48. He took the words right out of my mouth when I read that letter a few moments ago.
Presidential Memorandum--Review of Human Subjects Protection | The White House 24.11.2010 to Dr Amy Gutmann, Chair. [Tweet]
I quote this paragraph since it is so very important to what is happening currently:
"I ask you, as the Chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, to convene a panel to conduct, beginning in January 2011, a thorough review of human subjects protection to determine if Federal regulations and international standards adequately guard the health and well-being of participants in scientific studies supported by the Federal Government. I also request that the Commission oversee a thorough fact-finding investigation into the specifics of the U.S. Public Health Service Sexually Transmitted Diseases Inoculation Study."
For the last decade I have been the non-consenting human guinea pig subject of neurological research relating to surveillance technology 24/7/365 carried out by agents and/or contractors of the US government who are named and described below.
I enclose a copy of the Email below for your preliminary evaluation with respect to this remit by President Obama. My comments based upon my experience reflect an international relevance and current day activity for the evaluation of US Federal regulations and international standards. This activity goes on while I write.
Further, since President Obama urges the Commission to hold at least one meeting at an international location, I would recommend that you consider London for that meeting which would give me an opportunity to present my experience and respond to any and all questions that members of the Commission might have.
This would also provide an opportunity for the Commission to engage in a fact finding activity on as broad a scale as is possible similar to the one which President Obama has requested of the Commission for the research carried out in Guatemala in 1946-8. The key advantage being that this is currently under way and in need of such a fact finding effort by the Commission for this situation will burst forth publicly at some point calling into question all the aspects of the ethical issues which the Commission is currently considering.
The abuses are still going on and need to be addressed especially in light of the five points for consideration that the Commission has provided which I note below. .
I have enclosed a copy of my Email below as well as attached a *.PDF file of it. I was trying my best to get the URL links operating to which I referred that appeared in the blogged version of this Email.
Those links most likely will appear as clickable in the Email you receive but not resolved into an HTML document format.Here is a copy of my Email of Monday, 7th February 2011, for your consideration
I have provided the additional *.PDF attachment for ease of distributing this 11-page document for your convenience, but it too will have the unresolved codes of an HTML document that will give the links but will have to be highlighted for automatic reference.
This is the best I can do at the present. The document is otherwise free of codes except for the links and italicised words.
Here is a copy of my Email of Monday, 7th February 2011, for your consideration:
