THE CONSCIENTIOUS GUINEA-PIGS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 401, 28 February 1947, Page 8

THE CONSCIENTIOUS

GUINEA-PIGS

Written fcr "The Listener

by

A.M.

R.

AST week’s cable that Major Kenneth Mellanby had re‘ported back to the British Government on the results of the Nazi’s medical experiments upon contentration camp inmates, omitted to tell us his qualifications for this investigation. Briefly these are that he, too, spent most of the war experimenting upon human "subjects." But whereas most, though not all, of the Nazi experiments seem (according to his’ Report) to have been almost worthless, his own ‘experiments produced considerable practical results, and st other doctors experimenting in America. A far bigger difference, however, is that whereas the German experiments were enforced upon those whom the Nazis labelled as "anti-socials," Mellanby (and the Americans) worked upon (or, more. correctly, with) voluntecrs — though volunteers from a section of the community which has been widely . regarded as anti-social. Mellanby was a biologist who tound himself at a loose end when. the .war began. If se-med impossible to ‘keep on with his long-term researches; yet, on the other hand, he was in a "reserved occupation" out. of which no efforts of his. own ¢ould. get -him into the Forces. Ile escaped from his frustration. howcver, by finding a very useful job to‘do in between the two’stools. The country was full of indignant ‘talk about the "ditty evacuees from town" who brought lice with them into their billeters’ clean homes and about the. scabies or contagious itch which was sweeding throveh Britain "wh-rever soldiers went." He determined to find, if possible, the trues wherce, why and how-cure, of these debilitating epidemics. Very soon, how-ver, he realised that to rely on the usual experiments with guinea-pigs,- rats, horses and other animals would get few results, since animals are rarely infected by the same

itch-mite as humans and since infection is spread by social relations and _ personal habits. But where could he get a body of men or women prepared to suffer-under scientific observationfor the common good? The only group he could see that was both available for such work and likely to accept it were the conscientious objectors who, excused from military activities and working at their ordinary job:, often felt uncomfortably comfortable in a time of general danger and dislocation. He rather timidiy put his proposal -that they should allow themselves to

be infected and thereafter scientifically observed — to some groups of C.0.’s, and found

them very willing to co-operate. The government supplied them with private’s pay, rations, and quarters. And .the experiment began. Scabies Investigated It lasted right through the war, developing into research into various oth’r problems also, and _ involving larger and larger numbers of volunteer "guinea-pigs." And it brought results. First, putting "subjects" into sweaty clothes or stinking beds that infected persons had occupied forced abandonment of the universal theory that scabits was carried by dirt and _ infected clothing: for so few caught the itch that the company came to look upon themselves as "frauds." Then the theory was advanced that the means of infection was venereal. But their suffrrings (and scabies endured over a’ period of months, as in their case, apparently becomes excruciating) made it clear that any close contact of skin with skin could pass on the infection-par-ticularly when general physical resistance was low. Moreover, so far from

soldiers carrying it to civilians, the exact opposite was the case. And, with the means of infection known, fairly simple means to lessen the likelihood of it were found. "Dermatological research’ was felt by many of Mcellanby’s assistants (as he looked upon them) to be something short of a full-time job, although they were also growing a good part of their own food, doing all their own cooking and housework, and running a public clinic and a small scabies hospital for soldiers. So dietetic experiments upon them wre added-at first as a side-

line. The first problem was to discover the exact extraction percentage of flour that made the most

nourishing bread: for too white a bread is deficient in vitamins and roughage, whereas too completely wholemeal a bread decreases the amount of calcium in the body. The men undergoing these tests at times had practically to live on bread, and always had to weigh exactly everything that went into their bodies and everything that came from them. The experiment was neither dangerous nor spectacular-only very long-drawn-out, restricting and unpleasant. But it,. too, yielded important and immediately practical results. ; Laboratory Shipwreck Before the war had ended, volunteers had spent periods totally without water on dry "shipwreck" hard tack, had lived for twenty to thirty months on end on diets deficient in Vitamin A, had been dosed with experimental antimalarian preparations, and had had "surgical shock" induced in them in various ways. All experiments led to practical findings, and Mellanby’s only complaint was that his men were "too tough"-in other words that they over-

conscientiously exerted degrees of resistance which the average person "in real life’ would not possess. Meanwhile the idea of asking exempted pacifists to perform endurance feats under test conditions for humanitarian ends had spread to America. In Minnesota’s land of plenty, 34 young men were . systematically starved until they had lost a quarter of their weight. Then they were fattened up again by various diets to give UNRRA doctors and diet.tians a lead as to what foods and what quantities of. them it would be best to feed to Europe’s hungry people when the opportunity to do so arrived. Convicts Co-operated On the Atlantic coast others experimented with drinking sea water and enduring’ continuous direct sunshine. Another team of 12 were kept awake for one whole week. After 48 hours they could not talk intelligibly. Rather later some began to "see things." Yet physically they were fit enough for baseball even on the fourth day. In America also, some 800 convicts. in State penetentiaries voluntarily exposed themselves to malaria so that doctors could study the effects of the diseasé upon them, * 5 2%. hes. Some of these tests, quite’ obviously, were really gruelling, ar:d others, though not dangerous or.painful in the same way would make their. subjects’ lives a burden for many months ‘on ‘end. Yet, if one reads (for example) ‘the two books with the same title of’ Human Guinea-Pigs, the one by Melanby on his own cxperiments, the other. by three Swiss observers on the Nazi experiments, the difference in atmosphere is ‘that between spring sunlight and. a bat-infested cave. .The Nazi -doctors, respectable middle-aged scientific men for the most part, appear to have started out in an attitude of extreme detachment. But, presented with an overwhelming and quite valueless abundance of raw" materials for experiments and with a human recalcitrance and individuality in each unit that mere "material" should’ not possess, they grew more and more recklessly wasteful" and actively savage. Priests ‘and pas-tors-presumably because they most conspicuously represented the unscientific "spir.tual’’ element-were invariebly singled, out for the worst tortures. Mellanby, on the absolute other hand. regarded his subjects all the way through as assistants, not "material." ’ gic >

He disagreed with their conscientious ‘object.ons and political views, and ‘in his book tries" to psycho-analyse these away to some ‘degree. But obviously in. practice he respected his volunteers’ opinions and personal.ties. He believes that experimenting upon human beings under these conditions has proved so worthwhile that it must go on-in fact must be developed into regular techniques and a regular volunteer service. But it ‘is more valuable than experiments on animals only because (or when) the "subject" intelligently and conscientiously cooperates. For quite apart

from their disastrous moral effect upon the experimenter, experiments done upon unwilling-or even uninterested-persons tend to bring few results, and these as likely as not will be misleading. So Mellanby was convinced two years ago from his own experience. To judge by last week’s cable message his investigations into the German experiments have only strengthened his conviction.