Human Experiments

Sometimes, the balance between national interest and personal interest is completely upset. Such was the case in Operation Whitecoat, a series of medical experiments that were carried out at Fort Detrick in Maryland from 1954 to 1973. Human test subjects allowed themselves to become infected with hepatitis A, yellow fever, or the bubonic plague so vaccines and other treatments could be tested. The original test subjects were soldiers lured into the program thanks to a promised extra two weeks' leave.