UniversityofNewcastleonTyne,inEngland,forinstance,
scientistsusedpigs.Thepigsweresubjectedtouptoeighty-
oneperiodsofdecompressionoveraperiodofninemonths.
All suffered attacks of decompression sickness, and some
diedfromtheseattacks.^122 Theexampleillustratesonlytoo
wellwhatthegreatJewishwriterIsaacBashevisSingerhas
written: “Intheir behaviortowards creatures,all men[are]
Nazis.”^123
Experimentationonsubjectsoutsidetheexperimenters’own
groupisa storythatconstantlyrepeats itselfwithdifferent
victims. IntheUnitedStatesthemost notorious twentieth-
centuryinstanceofhumanexperimentationwasthedeliberate
nontreatment ofsyphilispatients atTuskegee,Alabama, so
thatthenaturalcourseofthediseasecouldbeobserved.This
was continued long after penicillin was shown to be an
effectivetreatmentforsyphilis.Theuntreatedvictimsofthe
experiment were, of course, blacks.^124 Perhaps the major
international human experimentation scandal of the past
decadecameto lightin NewZealandin1987.Arespected
doctorat a leading Aucklandhospital decided not to treat
patientswithearlysignsofcancer.Hewastryingtoprovehis
unorthodoxtheorythatthisformofcancerwouldnotdevelop,
but he did not tell the patients that they were part of an
experiment.Histheorywaswrong,andtwenty-sevenofhis
patients died. This time the victims were women.^125
Whensucheventscometolight,thepublicreactionmakesit
clearthatoursphereofmoralconcerniswiderthanthatofthe
Nazis,andwearenolongerpreparedtocountenancealesser
degree of concern for other human beings; but there are still
manysentientbeings forwhomwe appeartohaveno real
concern at all.