On this day, 25 July 1972, the US government admitted its role in the Tuskegee syphilis experiment: a horrific 40 year study of poor black agricultural workers in Alabama who had syphilis but were not informed. Numerous people died as a result, and women and children were infected with the disease. The government owned up following leaks to the media about the programme. The resulting public outrage forced the introduction of federal regulation to protect human subjects in medical trials. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1174571372728011/?type=3
