On the 16th day in November
in 1906, Robert Strong Pearson inoculated 24 men - inmates at of the Bilibid
prison in Manilla - with an experimental cholera
vaccine that had "mysteriously" become contaminated with plague organisms.
All recipients of the vaccine fell ill and 13 in fact died. It was speculated
by Strong and his colleagues that the visiting physician from Chicago had
accidentally placed one of Strong's plague
tubes in the cholera rack. Although a general committee was appointed to
investigate the incident by the governor-general of the Philippines, no
mainland investigations ensued.
At the time of this incident Strong was the head of the Philippine Biological Laboratory, a division of the Philippine Bureau of Science, where his research centered on vaccinating against cholera and plague. In 1904, after being granted permission by the then governor-general to carry out, "investigation among inmates of Bilibid Prison with reference to diseases which prevail among them...," Stong admitted to exercising his authority while inoculate humans (himself and often prisoners included) with his candidate vaccines. The plague disaster was one such incident where Strong thought himself free to do as he pleased in the prison and, "forgot the respect due every human being," when he did not ask for consent from the individuals being inoculated. In fact on the ill fated day Strong had simply asked the prisoners to stand in a line without telling them what he was going to do. Furthermore, when the governor-general at the time had only authorized investigations into prevalent (neither plague nor cholera were prevalent when Strong experimented with his vaccine) diseases among the Bilibid prisoners, and this authorization did not imply or extend to the trial of prophylactic experiments.
The plague disaster in Manila's
Bilibid Prison is just one of the many examples from history where investigators
have shown a complete disregard for an individual. The lack of freedom
to resist and protest afforded to the prisoners made it possible for Strong
to conduct his trial without explicitly stating what it was he sought to
learn or how he planned to control for or measure the outcome. Documents
state that beyond the fact that Strong wanted to test a live cholera vaccine,
his motives were unclear. Although the appointed investigating committee
exonerated Strong of negligence, the most haunting decision taken in light
of the 1906 plague disaster was that which allowed Strong and his colleagues
continued access to carry out investigations among the inmates of Bilibid
Prison. And Strong did in fact use the Bilibid prisoners yet again 6 years
later in experiments against beriberi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
REFERENCES
1) Chernin, E: Richard Pearson and the Iatrogenic Plague Disaster in Bilibid Prison, Manila, 1906. Reviews of Infectious Diseases 11 (6): 996-1004, 1980