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- Thousands of South American indians were infected with
measles, killing hundreds, in order to for US scientists to study the effects
on primitive societies of natural selection, according to a book out next
month.
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- The astonishing story of genetic research on humans,
which took 10 years to uncover, is likely to shake the world of anthropology
to its core, according to Professor Terry Turner of Cornell University,
who has read the proofs.
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- "In its scale, ramifications, and sheer criminality
and corruption it is unparalleled in the history of anthropology,"
Prof Turner says in a warning letter to Louise Lamphere, the president
of the American Anthropology Association (AAA).
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- The book accuses James Neel, the geneticist who headed
a long-term project to study the Yanomami people of Venezuela in the mid-60s,
of using a virulent measles vaccine to spark off an epidemic which killed
hundreds and probably thousands.
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- Once the epidemic was under way, according to the book,
the research team "refused to provide any medical assistance to the
sick and dying Yanomami, on explicit order from Neel. He insisted to his
colleagues that they were only there to observe and record the epidemic,
and that they must stick strictly to their roles as scientists, not provide
medical help".
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- The book, Darkness in El Dorado by the investigative
journalist Patrick Tierney, is due to be published on October 1. Prof Turner,
whose letter was co-signed by fellow anthropologist Leslie Sponsel of the
University of Hawaii, was trying to warn the AAA of the impending scandal
so the profession could defend itself.
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- Although Neel died last February, many of his associates,
some of them authors of classic anthropology texts, are still alive.
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- The accusations will be the main focus of the AAA's AGM
in November, when the surviving scientists have been invited to defend
their work. None have commented publicly, but they are asking colleagues
to come to their defence.
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- One of the most controversial aspects of the research
which allegedly culminated in the epidemic is that it was funded by the
US atomic energy commission, which was anxious to discover what might happen
to communities when large numbers were wiped out by nuclear war.
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- While there is no "smoking gun" in the form
of texts or recorded speeches by Neel explaining his conduct, Prof Turner
believes the only explanation is that he was trying to test controversial
eugenic theories like the Nazi scientist Josef Mengele.
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- He quotes another anthropologist who read the manuscript
as saying: "Mr. Tierney's analysis is a case study of the dangers
in science of the uncontrolled ego, of lack of respect for life, and of
greed and self-indulgence. It is a further
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- extraordinary revelation of malicious and perverted work
conducted under the aegis of the atomic energy i commission."
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- Prof Turner says Neel and his group used a virulent vaccine
called Edmonson B on the Yanomani, which was known to produce symptoms
virtually indistinguishable from cases of measles.
-
- "Medical experts, when informed that Neel and his
group used the vaccine in question on the Yanomami, typically refuse to
believe it at first, then say that it is incredible that they could have
done it, and are at a loss to explain why they would have chosen such an
inappropriate and dangerous vaccine," he writes.
-
- "There is no record that Neel sought any medical
advice before applying the vaccine. He never informed the appropriate organs
of the Venezuelan government that his group was planning to carry out a
vaccination campaign, as he was legally required to do.
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- Fatalities
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- "Neither he nor any other member of the expedition
has ever explained why that vaccine was used, despite the evidence that
it actually caused or, at a minimum, greatly exacerbated the fatal epidemic."
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- Prof Turner says that Neel held the view that "natural"
human society, as seen before the advent of large-scale agriculture, consists
of small, genetically isolated groups in which dominant genes - specifically
a gene he believed existed for "leadership" or "innate ability"
- have a selective advantage.
-
- In such an environment, male carriers of this gene would
gain access to a disproportionate number of females, reproducing their
genes more frequently than less "innately able" males. The result
would supposedly be a continual upgrading of the human genetic stock.
-
- He says Neel believed that in modern societies "superior
leadership genes would be swamped by mass genetic mediocrity".
-
- "The political implication of this fascistic eugenics
is clearly that society should be reorganised into small breeding isolates
in which genetically superior males could emerge into dominance, eliminating
or subordinating the male losers in the competition for leadership and
women, and amassing harems of brood females." Prof Turner adds.
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- In the memo he says: "One of Tierney's more startling
revelations is that the whole Yanomami project was an outgrowth and continuation
of the atomic energy commission's secret programme of experiments on human
subjects.
-
- "Neel, the originator of the project, was part of
the medical and genetic research team attached to the atomic energy commission
since the days of the Manhattan Project."
-
- James Neel was well-known for his research into the effects
of radiation on human subjects and personally headed the team that investigated
the effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs on survivors and their
children.
-
- According to Prof Turner, the same group also secretly
carried out experiments on human subjects in the US. These included injecting
people with radioactive plutonium without their knowledge or permission.
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- Nightmarish
-
- "This nightmarish story - a real anthropological
heart of darkness beyond the imagining of even a Joseph Conrad (though
not, perhaps, a Josef Mengele) - will be seen (rightly in our view) by
the public, as well as most anthropologists, as putting the whole discipline
on trial," he says.
-
- "This book should... cause the field to understand
how the corrupt and depraved protagonists could have spread their poison
for so long while they were accorded great respect throughout the western
world... This should never be allowed to happen again."
-
- Yesterday Professor Turner told the Guardian it was unfortunate
that the confidential memo had been leaked, but it had accomplished its
original purpose in getting a full response from the AAA.
-
- A public forum would be held at its AGM in November to
discuss the book its revelations and courses of action.
-
- In a statement yesterday the association said "The
AAA is extremely concerned about these allegations. If proven true they
would constitute a serious violation of Yanomami human rights and our code
of ethics. Until there is a full and impartial review and discussion of
the issues raised in the book, it would be unfair to express a judgment
about the specific allegations against individuals that are contained in
it.
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- "The association is anticipating conducting an open
forum during our annual meeting to provide an opportunity for our members
to review and discuss the issues and allegations raised in the book."
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- © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000
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