The United States government has apologised for deliberately infecting hundreds of people in Guatemala with gonorrhoea and syphilis as part of medical tests more than 60 years ago.

None of those infected - mentally ill patients and prisoners - consented.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom accused the US of "crimes against humanity".

US President Barack Obama has called Mr Colom to apologise and has said the acts ran contrary to American values.

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We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologise to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices”

Statement from secretaries of state and health
'Shocking, tragic, reprehensible'
Syphilis can cause heart problems, blindness, mental illness and even death, and although the patients were treated it is not known how many recovered.

Evidence of the programme was unearthed by Prof Susan Reverby at Wellesley College. She says the Guatemalan government gave permission for the tests.

No offer of compensation has yet been made, but an investigation will be launched into the specifics of the study, which took place between 1946 and 1948.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11454789

what type of government would condone this?

The lawsuit accuses seven white teenagers of setting out on June 26, 2011 after a night of partying to find a random black man to harass.

The accusation tracks with police allegations that a group of teens were out looking for a black man to "mess with" when they found 49-year-old James Craig Anderson before dawn in the parking lot of a Jackson hotel.

Investigators have said two of the teens attacked Anderson before one of them climbed into a green Ford F-250 and ran the man down near the hotel on Ellis Avenue.

Two of the defendants in the lawsuit also face criminal charges. Deryl Dedmon, 19, is charged with capital murder and robbery in Anderson's death. Authorities say Dedmon ran over Anderson and later bragged about it.

John Aaron Rice is charged with assault. Police say he attacked Anderson before he was run over.

Dedmon appeared briefly Tuesday in a Hinds County court for a preliminary hearing on the criminal charges, but the hearing was postponed until Sept. 26. There was heavy security in court with nearly a dozen sheriff's deputies, some wearing bulletproof vests.

Dedmon was shackled and wearing a blue jail jumpsuit. His shaggy blond hair had been cut short.

The young men's lawyers say their clients were not involved in a racially motivated attack.

The five other people named as defendants in the lawsuit include two teenage girls who allegedly were in the truck with Dedmon when Anderson was run down.

During a Tuesday news conference, Winston Thompson, an attorney for Anderson's relatives, said the seven teens acted in a "joint venture" to harm a black person.

"We allege that they acted as a group, as one," Thompson said.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages, but Thompson said he also wants to make sure all the facts come out. The Southern Poverty Law Center is assisting Thompson with the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said Rice, Dedmon and two others approached Anderson in the parking lot and surrounded him. It says Rice and Dedmon then attacked him "with the cooperation and encouragement" of the others. The three people who stayed in the vehicles during the attack acted as lookouts, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also said one of the teens screamed "white power" during the assault.