RETIN-A:
PRODUCT TESTING ON PRISON INMATES

After the Nuremberg codes were passed by America as a response to the horrific experiments performed in Germany during World War 2, Holmesburg Prison housed various human experiments. The experiments violated numerous rules instilled Nuremberg codes but went unnoticed for many years.

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Kilgram was summoned to the prison in hopes of helping the athlete’s foot problem that plagued the prisoners. Kilgram was recognized by Holemsberg prison for the article he wrote detailing new techniques for diagnosing ringworm. At first, the prisoners accepted to the physicians help but were unaware of the experiments that were performed on them. Dr. Kligman used liquid diets, foot cream, deodorant, eye drops, foot powder, and more as methods to cure athletes’ foot. Two-thirds of the prisoner participated but were paid very little for their service.

Kligman also used the inmates as guinea pigs for experimental drugs and allowed for his wife to perform gynecology experiments on female prisoners. When Kilgram first arrived at the prison he described it as “All I see before me were acres of skin. It was like a farmer seeing a fertile field for the first time.” Dr. Kligman was renowned dermatologist known for his revolutionary invention of the popular acne medication Retin-A. One of his most famous feats was his two-decade experiments on the inmates of Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia.

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Zabala and other prisoners accepted the treatments because the money was easy and fast. Usual prison jobs paid little and were very competitive. Prisoners were exposed to tranquilizers, antibiotics, dental studies, antiperspirant studies, skin sensitization tests, wound healing, and napkins all for testing new products. Many of the prisoners experiments adverse symptoms such as burns and illness. The symptoms weren’t always sudden, Zabala experienced sudden psychosis breaks that he forgot instantly afterwards. Zabala was unable to sue or report their traumas due to the release forms signed prior to the experiments.

The experiment was shut down in 1974, but benefited major companies, because testing on inmates was cheap and accessible. The inmate however suffered being Guinea pigs for untested products. The FDA even supported these practices, mostly with the untested drugs.

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Sources:

Reports, Wire. "Albert Kligman, Retin-A Researcher,Dead at 93."Tulsa World, 22Feb.2010, www.tulsaworld.com/obituaries/albert-kligman-retin-a-researcher-dead-at/article_5347557a-13c1-5d6e-b316-6adcba1f06f8.html.

Anil Pundlik Gokhale. "Acres of Skin—Human Experiments At Holmesburg Prison –Countercurrents."Countercurrents, 9July2016, countercurrents.org/2016/07/acres-of-skin-human-experiments-at-holmesburg-prison

"40 Years of Research Ethics: The Prisoners at Holmesburg."Bioethics Research Library,May2014, bioethics.georgetown.edu/2014/05/40-years-of-research-ethics-the-prisoners-at-holmesburg/

Hornblum, Allen M.Acres of Skin Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison : a Story of Abuse and Exploitation in the Name of Medical Science. Routledge, 1998.