“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of whom they oppress.”
Steve Biko
After being shot with Novocain, brothers at Holmesburg Prison were compensated $50 for each fingernail they agreed to have torn off. Prisoners were deliberately exposed to rashes such as Poison-Ivy so that doctors could monitor how quickly it would spread and what actual creams were effective when applied.
In 1957, black prisoners were involved in experiments that dealt with the inoculation of ectoderm-topic viruses such as warts viruses and herpes. During this exploitative process, the major skin areas that were targeted were the back, face, scalp, and genital areas.
Brothers were paid to actually submerge one of their arms in Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Solution one hour per day for (55) consecutive time periods until their arm looked like leather.
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Types of Experiments
-Microwave light testing, which would result in major skin burns on forearms
-Different acids would be rubbed on the testicles of prisoners–while a tin cup was strapped underneath to catch blistered skin. This particular experiment was worth $3.00 per trial.
-Prisoners were placed in overheated chambers, after which their armpit glands would be cut for examination.
-Sutures and stitches would be applied to deliberately made wounds to monitor how effective the procedure was on the damaged skin
-Lotion for female hygiene was used on men’s skin
-Foreign devices and stainless-steel cups were strapped to prisoners’ foreheads to collect dead skin and perspiration
-Scalp transplant experiments and studies were performed
-Liver Biopsies
-Prisoners were affected with bacteria and exposed to photo-toxic drugs and long ultraviolet rays
Between (1962 and 1966), Holmesburg prison conducted over 280 studies using 270 experimental drugs and over 30 drugs by pharmaceutical companies waiting for permission and approval from the FDA.
Countless companies and the U.S. armed services compensated prisons to conduct experiments on our brothers and sisters. Companies such as Man-LaRouche, Park Davis, Abbott Lederle, Pfizer, and Smith-Kline tested products such as anti-anxiety medicines, tranquilizers, valium, Librium, Antavan, Lerax, and Haldol.
Pfizer Corporation conducted tests and blood studies for the reactions to certain toxicity. In 1960, the Reynolds Tobacco Corporation conducted research and studies on smoking and bladder cancer.
Dupont Corporation sponsored female napkin absorbency on Black women in the Philadelphia County Prison system. Over 200 Black women were paid 50 cents for each tampon insertion.
Afterward, the tampons were frozen and returned to the Dupont company.
In 1963, Philadelphia’s House of Corrections prison conducted experiments on over 150 Black and Brown women to determine the tolerance of the vagina by daily insertions of medicated and unmedicated suppositories.
The Johnson and Johnson company conducted dental experiments to test the toxicity in toothpaste and mouthwash. Johnson and Johnson also conducted antiseptic research and tested for gauze absorbency on wounds. Prisoners were paid $5.00 per wound.
In 1964, Upjohn Company and Parke-Davis contributed $750,000 to construct a state-of-the-art laboratory at Michigan State Prison. At the time, Michigan State Prison held over 4,700 prisoners on 75 acres of land.
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Major companies that have products right in your bathroom medicine cabinet have contributed to this terrible cycle of experimentation and exploitation.
Companies such as Bristol-Myers, Dow Chemical, Proctor and Gamble, Cress, and Dohme have used Black bodies to help build their Pharmaceutical Empires.
We have found that our beautiful Black sisters were exploited just as much as our brothers. Dr. Joseph Stokes from the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital conducted a study on viral hepatitis. Women prisoners were examined for salt and water retention as well as the impact of chocolate consumption on facial acne.
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The U.S. armed military and major universities also had lucrative contracts with prisons all across the country.
In 1949, the Federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, Yale University, and the U.S. Armed Services inoculated prisoners with mononucleosis infections to monitor the long-term and short-term effects. In Philadelphia, biological and chemical warfare testing for the U.S. Army was a daily practice. Through testing, prisoners earned up to $200 on a monthly basis. In the late ’50s and early ’60s, huge army trailers could be seen lined up in front of Holmesburg Prison.
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This article was written to remind us of the ‘Evil Capability.’ Let us not forget what has happened to our people in the past, what is happening to our people in the present, and what we have the ability to defend in the future! We are Strong and Righteous people who must survive for the future of those yet unborn!
Khabyr Hadas is a teacher at Harambee Institute founded by Baba John Skeif in 1972, the author of numerous books on African History and Culture, and a graduate of Cheyney University, khabyrhadas@gmail.com.
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