ADF Health

Army’s notorious Unit 731 was apparently unconcerned by the dilemma confronting him. Indeed, he conveniently linked the goals of medical research with the military mission, despite his unit’s involvement in human vivisection, biological weapons testing, and freezing experiments. Sadly, the Japanese Army was not alone in its corruption of the Hippocratic Oath. Perhaps more infamous was the state of confusion between the caduceus and swastika in Germany, where 350 physicians participated in concentration camp atrocities during World War II. In both these cases, physicians facilitated human rights violations through silence during and after the event. In fact, by treating victims of these violations while remaining silent as to the cause of their plight, physicians have aided repressive regimes by shielding their human rights violations from public scrutiny. Increasing concern about human rights abuses, including the safety and conduct of research involving humans, led to the Declaration of Helsinki in 1964. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) statement on ethical conduct of research involving humans was released in Australia in 1982.