More than 60 years after the fact, the U.S. has finally gotten around to officially apologizing for a government research study that purposely infected Guatemalans with sexually transmitted diseases to gauge the effectiveness of penicillin treatments.

The study echoes the infamous Tuskegee Experiment, where the U.S. government studied more than 400 poor African-Americans with syphilis, withholding treatment to track how the disease progressed. –JCL

CNN:

The United States apologized Friday for a 1946-1948 research study that purposely infected people in Guatemala with sexually transmitted diseases.

A statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called the action “reprehensible.”

“We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices,” the joint statement said. “The conduct exhibited during the study does not represent the values of the United States, or our commitment to human dignity and great respect for the people of Guatemala.”

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