Blog 8

Many things contributed to the acceptance of human experimentation in the Japanese medical field however it seems as though a main culprit is the cultural mentality of those involved.  Since the doctors and professors hired by the army to do the experimentation were culturally bound to follow in their mentors' footsteps as they wish to be their successor.  This made it fairly easy for the army to recruit combined with top of the line facilities and the guarantee that no one would find out what they were doing.  Human experimentation was the "secret of secrets" and was almost never talked about publicly for fear of becoming a social outcast.  It also gave researchers the resources and equipment they needed as it was all funded by the government.  Even though many of the conditions the experimentation was held under could be classified as cruel and inhumane, even the United States could not deny the importance of the research's findings (they decided to not consider these researchers as war criminals when the information of experimentation became public).  These candidates were given the opportunity to research in a fully funded and equipped facility that was completely away from the eye of the public's judgement, finding out intensely useful information that was then distributed throughout the nations.  Although these experiments could have been done in a kinder way, there is no doubt that the social pressures felt from the government and from superiors guided these researchers down a fairly inhumane path.