Cornelius P. Rhoads

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Cornelius P. Rhoads (* 1898 ; † 1959 ) was an American pathologist who carried out human experiments that allegedly led to the death of patients. It was alleged that in 1931, while he was working for the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University ), he deliberately infected a number of Puerto Rican patients with cancer cells.

In a letter that was later found, he wrote:

The Porto Ricans (sic) are the dirtiest, laziest, most degenerate and thievish race of men ever to inhabit this sphere ... I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off eight and transplanting cancer into several more .. .

The Porto Ricans (sic) are the filthiest, laziest, worst degenerate and predatory people who have ever lived in this area ... I did my best to push the extermination process forward and killed eight of them and I have cancer in quite a few more transplanted ...

He later claimed that he wrote in a moment of anger - his career had been ruined - and that nothing he wrote was truthful. In 1932 he was accused by the Puerto Rican activist Pedro Albizu Campos of having carried out these experiments.

According to doctor Hector Pesquera, at least 13 people were killed in these experiments, Science Magazine reported that 13 patients were killed by Rhoads. However, Susan E. Lederer, chair of the Medical History and Bio-ethics department at the University of Wisconsin , claims that a careful review of the records at the Presbyterian Hospital in San Juan , where Rhoads worked, found no evidence of noticeable deaths.

Rhoads would have been researching hookworm infestation and anemia, and Puerto Ricans would have suffered from this problem frequently. Rhoads' activities have been repeatedly investigated by the Puerto Rico government and the Rockefeller Institute and it has not been found that he murdered Puerto Ricans.

He later worked on biological and chemical warfare agent development in Maryland , Utah, and Panama . After World War II, Rhoads served as the director of the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and was an advisor to the United States Atomic Energy Commission on "nuclear medicine." He was awarded the Legion of Merit .

In 2002, biology professor Edwin Vazquez contacted the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). In 2003 the AACR decided that the Cornelius P. Rhoads Memorial Award, founded in 1979 and given annually, will be renamed. “Even if the investigations have not positively proven the guilt, the letter alone is reason enough to rename the award.” The award is now called AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Starr, Douglas. Science April 25, 2003: Vol. 300. no. 5619, pages 573-574
  2. ↑ Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero: Puerto Ricans Outraged Over Secret Medical Experiments in the Puerto Rica Herald, October 21, 2002, accessed March 25, 2014
  3. ^ Packard, Gabriel. RIGHTS: Group Strips Racist Scientist's Name from Award. IPS.org April 29, 2003 21:45:36 GMT
  4. ↑ Puerto Rican's Outraged Over Secret Medical Experiments
  5. ↑ Susan E. Lederer: "Porto Ricochet": Joking about Germs, Cancer, and Race Extermination in the 1930s ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in American Literary History Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 2002 pp. 720-746, accessed March 25, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / muse.jhu.edu
  6. ↑ a b c Eric T. Rosenthal: The Rhoads Not Given: The Tainting of the Cornelius P. Rhoads Memorial Award, September 10, 2003, accessed March 25, 2014
  7. ↑ PDF at www.nietoeditores.com.mx ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nietoeditores.com.mx
  8. ^ Packard, Gabriel. RIGHTS: Group Strips Racist Scientist's Name from Award. IPS.org April 29, 2003 21:45:36 GMT
  9. ↑ Lewis L. Strauss: New hope is held out for cancer cure in Daytona Beach Morning Journal, June 16, 1948, accessed March 25, 2014
  10. ↑ Aponte Vásquez, Pedro. The Unsolved case of Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads. Publicaciones René. ISBN 1-931702-07-1

literature

  • Oncology Times: September 10, 2003 - Volume 25 - Issue 17 - Pages 19-20
  • ETHICS: Revisiting a 1930s Scandal, AACR to Rename a Prize; Rigid; Science April 25, 2003: Pages 573-574 [1]
  • "Porto Ricochet": Joking about Germs, Cancer, and Race Extermination in the 1930s; Susan E. Lederer; American Literary History - Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 2002, pages 720–746 [2]

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rhoads, Cornelius P.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pathologist
DATE OF BIRTH 1898
DATE OF DEATH 1959