Rating: 
Summary: A Short History of Secret Experiments
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Chillingly accurate with ominous implications for the future
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Moreno unmasks the evil and human cost of government secrecy
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Undue Risk = Undue Errors
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Moreno unmasks the evil and human cost of government secrecy
Review: 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.
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