How is Cancer Prevention Study-3 different from the Tuskegee Experiment (aka Tuskegee Syphilis Study)?
The Tuskegee Experiment was a clinical study, conducted between 1932 and 1972 in which 399 poor and mostly illiterate African American sharecroppers were studied to observe the natural progression of syphilis if left untreated. Individuals in that study were not informed that they had syphilis, and treatment was withheld. Cancer Prevention Study-3 is not a clinical study, nor are we providing (or withholding) treatment for cancer or other diseases. Blood samples of individuals enrolled in CPS-3 are to study what causes cancer and how to prevent it. In addition, individuals in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study were not given the opportunity to provide informed consent. As a result of the Tuskegee Experiment, the 1979 Belmont Report, the establishment of the National Human Investigation Board, and the requirement for Institutional Review Board approval for any study involving human subjects was mandated. Cancer Prevention Study-3 and all research studies started after 1979 must conform to the
