In the aftermath of World War II the Nuremberg Code and other
standards established that all research on people should be
based upon two fundamental principles: voluntary informed
consent and minimization of harm. “The voluntary consent of the
human subject is absolutely essential,” begins that Code. The
principles of the Nuremberg Code were widely incorporated,
including in the United States, into professional ethical rules
and laws governing human research. New evidence suggests that,
not only did the CIA torture the detainees in their custody, but
they also conducted illegal and unethical research on them.
Experiments in Torture A new report of which I am a coauthor,
Experiments in Torture: Evidence of Human Subject Research and
Experimentation in the “Enhanced” Interrogation Program, just
released by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) provides the first
strong evidence that the CIA was indeed engaged in research on
detainees in its custody. The report, the result of six months
of detailed work, analyzes no