Human Guinea Pigs In Texas

Although Harvard has taken no stand on the issue of regulatory legislation regarding the use of human subjects in experimentation, one Medical School dean has been actively engaged in uncovering past abuse as documentation of the necessity for Federal controls.

Earlier this week, Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, associate dean of Student Affairs, exposed two University of Texas studies in which researchers deprived infants of a nutrient, aware that their action might cause emaciation and irrevocable brain damage.

Following an initial 1956-57 study in which 17 infants were deprived of linoleic acid, a fatty substance essential for growth and development, the same research team repeated its experiment in 1962 with 428 infants, seven of whom died during the course of the investigation.

Poussaint called the two studies funded by Baker Laboratories and Gerber Products "abuse to satisfy mere curiosity" and warned that these were not isolated instances of such mistreatment.

The infants in the studies developed skin lesions, diarrhea, and respiratory infections, and were subject to marked growth retardation.

Poussaint cited the predominantly black composition of what he called the "guinea pigs" in his contention that human subjects are often drawn from low-income populations.

Poussaint, who is compiling his findings for a Congressional committee conducting hearings on human experimentation, pledged to keep digging for more evidence of the need for regulatory legislation.