Race-Based Mustard Gas Studies on U.S. Soldiers

Newswise — American scientists used mustard gas on their soldiers for race-based experiments during the Second World War, a study by a University of Alberta professor has shown.

At least nine separate studies were conducted on African American, Japanese American, Puerto Rican and Caucasian soldiers. The U.S. government funded the tests in preparation for potential chemical warfare, found the study. "The scientists who conducted the race-based studies suspected that non-whites would have a different response than whites to mustard gas," said researcher Susan L. Smith. "Scientists likely performed race-based human experimentation to better protect white American soldiers, rather than to develop better protective gear for non-white soldiers," she said. Smith, the first scholar to investigate these experiments, said her research demonstrates how scientists "easily slipped into investigating racial differences without questioning what they were actually measuring when they tested subjects by race." The experiments were conducted at several leading research facilities, including Cornell University Medical College, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York and the University of Chicago Toxicity Laboratory. The study was recently published in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. On Monday, Jan. 12, Smith will discuss "Race and Medicine: American Race-Based Human Experimentation and the Science of War" as part of the University of Alberta's Race, Anti-racism and Knowledge for Social Justice series. The presentation begins at noon at the Tory Building, Room 10-4.