Japanese Biological Warfare Research on Humans: A Case Study of Microbiology and Ethics
1992; Wiley; Volume: 666; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb38021.x
ISSN1749-6632
Autores Tópico(s)Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
ResumoAnnals of the New York Academy of SciencesVolume 666, Issue 1 p. 21-52 Japanese Biological Warfare Research on Humans: A Case Study of Microbiology and Ethics SHELDON HARRIS, Corresponding Author SHELDON HARRIS Emeritus Professor of History California State University, Northridge Northridge, California 9133017144 Nanette Street, Granada Hills, California 91344.Search for more papers by this author SHELDON HARRIS, Corresponding Author SHELDON HARRIS Emeritus Professor of History California State University, Northridge Northridge, California 9133017144 Nanette Street, Granada Hills, California 91344.Search for more papers by this author First published: December 1992 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb38021.xCitations: 107AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat References 1 Japan signed the Geneva Protocol in 1925, but its Parliament did not ratify it until 1970. 2 For a fuller description of Japanese biological warfare activities see Harris, S. 1992. Japanese Biological Warfare Experiments and the American Cover-up. Routledge. New York . In press. 3 Tsuneishi, K. & T. Asano. 1982. [The Bacteriological Warfare Unit And The Suicide Of Two Physicians.] Saikinsen Butai to Jiketsu Ita Futari no Igakusha. Shincho-Sha Publishing. Tokyo I have used an English translation of this work kindly provided by Mr. Norman Covert, Public Information Officer, USAMRIID, Fort Detrick , Md . 4 Anon. No Date (1946 or 1947). Military and Biographical History of Ishii Shiro. Typescript copy, Record Group 331, Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, Boxes 1772/330, The National Archives. 5 Telephone interview with Dr. Shuichi Kato, Professor of Medicine, University of California, Davis , 6 March 1989. 6 Ishii was a heavy drinker, a frequenter of geisha houses, where he enjoyed the entertainment of 15- and 16-year-old trainees, and a notorious embezzler. Ishii's personal habits are discussed in Ref. 2. 7 Quoted in Ref. 3, pp. 50–51. 8 Interviews with Mr. Han Xiao, Deputy Director of the Ping Fan Museum, 8 June 1989, Mr. Sheng Zhan Jie, Section Head of English, Department of Foreign Languages, Harbin Normal University, 7–10 June 1989, and Mr. Wen Ye, Director of the Museum of the Martyrs, Harbin, 9 June 1989. 9 Han, X. 1984. Bacterial factory in Beiyinhe, Zhong Ma City, The Harbin Historical Chronicle. Harbin. People's Republic of China. (Translated by Ms. Lu Cheng). 10 Dong, Z. Y. 1987. Kwantung Army Unit Number 731. Historical Material on Jilin History, edited by the Jilin Branch of the Committee on Culture and History. Changchun, People's Republic of China. (Translated by Ms. Wang Qing Ling). 11 There is some confusion as to the dates relating to the Beiyinhe facility. Mr. Han Xiao, the foremost authority on Japanese biological warfare activities in Manchuria, gives the date in his article as 1935. He now believes the correct date is 1936. Letter to the author, 11 November 1989. 12 Morimura, S. 1983. The Devil's Gluttony, Vol. I. Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyo . 13 Yen, P.M. 1991. Straits Times uncovers S'pore connection in clandestine war operation. WWII germ lab secret. Singapore Straits Times, September 19: 1. 14 Ping Fan today is part of Harbin, and is considered the southernmost district of the city. 15 Han, X. 1971. Record of the actual events of the bacteriological factory in Ping Fan. People's China, Vol. 3. People's Republic of China. (Translated by Ms. Qing Ling Wang). 16 Han, X. 1988. Brief introduction to the remains of the Japanese bacterial factory. Harbin History Magazine, Vol. 4. Harbin, People's Republic of China. 17 Han, X. 1988. The remains of "The Square Building' and 'The Special Prison" of Unit 731. Harbin Gazette. Special Issue Number 4. Harbin, People's Republic of China. (Translated by Mrs. Lu Chang). 18 Other thousands were trained by people not directly responsible to Ishii or his subordinates; see below. 19 Thompson, Lt. Col. A. T. 1946. Report on Japanese Biological Warfare, 31 May 1946. Record Group 330, the National Archives. Thompson's report stated that at the time of Japan's surrender, Ping Fan employed 35 Army surgeons, 18 pharmacologists, 25 hygienic officers, 10 technical officers, and approximately 100 medical soldiers and civilian employees (Supplement, p.2). 20 Anon. 1950. Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons. Moscow. Foreign Languages Publishing House. 21 Zhou, X. 1986. An Investigation into the Remains of Army Unit 100. Changchun Cultural And Historical Materials, Vol. 4. Changchun , People's Republic of China. (Translated by Ms. Qing Ling Wang). 22 During United Nations interrogation sessions in 1946 and 1947, surviving personnel from Unit 731, Unit 100, and members of other biological warfare units would refer frequently to "rumors" of human experiments, while denying having participated in such tests. See also Ref. 19. 23 Han, X. 1989. The suicide squads of the 731 Troop in the Nomonhan Incident. Harbin Gazette, Number 2. (Translated by Ms. Lu Cheng). 24 Tsuneishi, K. 1981. Kieta Saikinsen Butai. [The Germ Warfare Unit That Disappeared] Kaimei-Sha. Tokyo. All citations are from an English translation kindly provided by Mr. Norman Covert, USAMRIID, Fort Detrick, Frederick , Md . 25 Kitano published at least two dozen scholarly papers based on his work with involuntary human subjects. He used a code, known to his readers, referring to test subjects as "monkeys,' rather than a specific subspecies such as "Taiwan monkey," When he was alluding to human experiments. See Ref. 24. 26 Interviews with Mr. Han Xiao, 7, 8 June 1989, 2 June 1991, and Professor Xu Wei, Harbin Normal University, 2, 3 June 1991. 27 Personal observations by the author on a visit to the ruins of the extensive biological warfare research station in Hailar, 5, 6 June 1991. Unfortunately, local authorities refused to grant permission for foreign scholars to review documents allegedly substantiating human experimentation in Hailar that are housed in the municipal archive. 28 Anon. 1991. No record of war lab in S'pore, says Tokyo. [AFP dispatch]. The Singapore Straits Times. 22 September: 1. 29 Yen, P.M. 1991. US Army records mention wartime germ lab in S'pore. The Singapore Straits Times. 25 September: 1. 30 Yen, P.M. 1991. Germ lab's head says work solely for research, vaccines. The Singapore Straits Times, 11 November: 1,3. 31 Letter from Ms. Zhu Xiaoyang to the author, Changchun, 14 November 1991. 32 Anon. 1947. Deposition of Naito Ryoichi, 24 January 1947. Record Group 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), The National Archives. 33 Anon. 1947. Interview with Dr. Hideo Futagi, 15 November 1947. Document 020, AA, Dugway Proving Grounds Library, Utah. It is possible that Dr. Futagi exaggerated his success, since tuberculosis usually acts much more slowly than he claimed. 34 Anon. 1947, Interview with Dr. Tabei [Kanau], 24 November 1947. Document 022, AC, Dugway Proving Grounds Library, Utah. 35 Anon. No date. Information Furnished by Drs. Yukio Kashara and Masaji Kitano. Document 019, Dugway Proving Grounds Library, Utah . 36 Quoted in Ref. 3, p. 124. 37 Anon. No date. The Report of "A". Dugway Proving Grounds Library, Utah . 38 Anon. No date. The Report of "Q". Dugway Proving Grounds Library, Utah . 39 Anon. No date. The Report of "G". Dugway Proving Grounds Library, Utah . 40 Nothing remains of the Anda test grounds. The Japanese destroyed whatever structures existed there at the time of their surrender. The ruins were swallowed up by the new city of Anda, which was developed to meet the needs of the fledgling Chinese petroleum industry. 41 Copies of a series of field dispatches from 1937–1942 were kindly provided by Professor Milton Leitenberg of the University of Maryland and translated by Ms. Qing Ling Wang. Some field dispatches are so hysterical and filled with contradictions that they are obvious distortions of the truth; other claims of chemical warfare and biological warfare attacks were supported by independent foreign observers, and can be accepted as genuine. See also Refs. 42 and 43 for an opposing view. 42 Waitt, A.H. 1942. Poison gas in this war. The New Republic. 106: 563–565. 43 Anon. 1942. Telegram from Chungking to Milid, No. 205, 14 June 1942. Record Group 218, CCS 385.5, Japan (6–14–42), The National Archives. 44 The New York Times reported more than 50 alleged incidents of Japanese biological warfare and chemical warfare attacks in China from the outbreak of fighting until July 1945. 45 Quoted in a dispatch from China's Ambassador to the United States, T. V. Soong, to Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, Washington, 6 June 1943, Leitenberg Collection. Roosevelt was in a position to make good on his threat: by June 1943 the U.S. biological warfare program was well underway. See Ref. 2. 46 Interviews with Mr. Han Xiao in Ping Fan, 7 June 1989 and Mrs. Ada Pivo of Encino, California , 7 February 1989. 47 Han, X. 1987. Compilation of Camp 731 Fascist savage acts. Harbin Gazette. Number 3. Harbin , People's Republic of China. 48 Williams, P. & D. Wallace. 1989. Unit 731. Hodder & Stoughton. London . 49 Harris, R. & J. Paxton. 1982. A Higher Form of Killing. Hill and Wang . New York. 50 Behr, E. 1989. Hirohito, Behind The Myth. Villard Books. New York . 51 Sahr, J. 1976. Japan Accused of WWII Germ Deaths. Washington Post. 19 November: A1, 19. 52 Quoted in Ref. 3, p. 137. 53 Quoted in Ref. 24, p. 71. 54 Hojo, E., Lt. Col.(Med.) 1941. About Bacteriological Warfare, Lecture to the Army Medical School. English translation of the German translation from the Japanese. Record Group 112, Entry 295A, Box 9, ALSOS, The National Archives. Prior to his Berlin assignment, Hojo worked with Ishii at Ping Fan; he became Surgeon General of the Army in democratic postwar Japan. 55 Anon. 1989. Black blood and white genes: A study of the tie-in between Unit 731, the Green Cross Company and the Institute for Preventive Medicine. Days Japan ( Tokyo ). June: 76–91. 56 Thompson, A. C., Lt. Col 1946. Stenographic Transcript of Interrogation of Major Yoshiyosa Masuda in Tokyo Japan on February 9, 1946. In Stenographic Transcript of Lt. General Masaji Kitano in Tokyo by Colonel S. E. Whiteside and A. H. Colonel Schwichtenberg on 11 January 1946. Document 004, Dugway Proving Grounds Library, Utah . 57 Pritchard, R. J. & S. M. Zaide. 1981. The Tokyo War Crimes Trial. Garland Publishing, Inc. New York . 58 Schoenberg, K. 1990. Issue of Japanese Racism Grows with Immigration. The Los Angeles Times. 1 January: A1, A20, A22. 59 The small (1–2%) aboriginal population and resident Korean community continue to suffer discrimination on the part of the majority of Japanese. Throughout the 1980s, Japanese politicians found themselves in difficulty because of their racist pronouncements concerning African Americans, Latino-Americans, and many of their Asian neighbors. 60 Quoted in Ref. 3, p. 102. 61 Dower, J. 1986. War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. Pantheon Books. New York . 62 Berger, M. 1988. 43 Years later, Japan is Still Sorting out Its Role in the War. The San Francisco Chronicle. 5 August: Part A, II, 1. 63 Schneider, K. 1988. E.P.A. to Relax Rules on Microbe Tests. The New York Times. 11 May: A16. 64 Anon. 1989. Pentagon Money Stirs Germ Warfare Accusations. The New York Times. 19 March: A17. 65 Weisman, S.R. 1989. Japan and the War: Debate on Censors is Renewed. The New York Times. 8 October: A10. 66 Weisman, S.R. 1990. Fellow Asians, Yes, but Where's the Fellowship The New York Times, 3 January: A4. 67 Conversations with Professor Peter Dus, Stanford University during 1988 and 1989. 68 It is interesting to note that in the postwar period, not one of the biological warfare principals expressed regret, or offered an apology for his behavior. 69 Tabata, M. 1982. Daughter's-Eye View of Lt. Gen. Ishii, Chief of "Devil's Brigade. The Japan Times. 29 August: 12. 70 See, for example Haberman, C. 1988. Japanese Cut "Late Emperor," The New York Times. 21 January: C21. One exception to this statement is Morimura's three-volume novel, The Devil's Gluttony (Ref. 12). Unfortunately, this remarkable novel is as yet unpublished in English. 71 Statement of a government official, Tanabe Kunio, to Parliament in April 1982. Quoted in Haberman, C. 1988. Uproar Over Japanese Textbooks. The New York Times. 13 June: A3. 72 Anon. 1991. No record of war lab in S'pore, says Tokyo. Singapore Straits Times. 22 September: 3. 73 Yen, P.H. 1991. Germ lab's head says work solely for research, vaccines. Singapore Straits Times, 11 November: 1. 74 Yen, P.M. 1991. No record of war lab in S'pore, says Tokyo. Singapore Straits Times. 22 September: 3. 75 One exception is Professor Matsumura of Keio University. See his comments in Anon. 1991. The grisly history of Unit 731. Singapore Straits Times. 19 September: 1. 76 Muller-Hill, B. 1988. Murderous Science. Oxford University Press. Oxford . 77 Hilberg, R. 1961. The Destruction of the European Jews. New Viewpoints. New York . 78 Klee, E. 1983. Euthanasie im NS-Staat. [Euthanasia in the National Socialist State]. Patmos-Verlag. Frankfurt . 79 Nyiszli, M. 1960. Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account. F. Fell. New York . 80 Lifton, R. J. 1986. The Nazi Doctors. Medical Killing and the Psychology of Killing. Basic Books. New York . 81 Bryden, J. 1989. Deadly Allies, Canada's Secret War. Toronto . McClelland & Stewart, Inc. 82 Sanders, M., Lt. Col 1945. Report on Scientific Intelligence Survey in Japan. GHQ. AFPAC. Volume 5. September and October 1945, Section 3. Record Group 330. The National Archives. 83 Hill, E. V. 1947. Letter to A.C. Waitt. 12 December 1947. Record Group 331. The National Archives. 84 Interview with Mr. Norman Covert, USAMRIID, Fort Detrick, 2 April 1990. 85 Okie, S. 1990. Nazi medical experiments called a scientific fraud. Washington Post. May 22: 19. 86 Anon. 1990. The Errors of Nazi Science. [The Editorial Notebook]. New York Times. May 27: E13. 87 Wilkerson, I. 1989. Nazi scientists and ethics today. New York Times. May 21: Y17. 88 Floweree, C. 1992. The Biological Weapons Convention and the individual researcher. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. This volume. 89 Blakeslee, S. 1988. Panel of scientists fears a biological arms race. New York Times. January 18: A11. 90 Carus, W.S. 1989. History of Proliferation in the Mideast. [Week In Review] New York Times. January 8: 2. 91 Cole, L. 1988. The Army's Germ Warfare against Civilians. New York Times. November 29: A19. 92 Lichtblau, E. 1988. 500 scientists spurn work on biological arms. Los Angeles Times. July 28: A1, 21. 93 Gordon, M. 1989. U.S. Seeks Curbs on Biological Weapons. New York Times. July 27: A3. 94 Cushman, J.H., Jr. 1988. Perils Seen in Pentagon's Biological Research. New York Times. May 12: A9. 95 Healy, M. 1988. Germ Research Risk Discounted by Army. Los Angeles Times. May 13: 113. 96 Broder, J. 1988. Plan for Germ Warfare Facility Defended. Los Angeles Times. May 4: 116. 97 Anon. 1989. Pentagon Money Stirs Germ Warfare Accusations. New York Times. March 19: A17. 98 See contributions by D. Huxsoll and J. Dalrymple in This volume for descriptions of the U.S. Biological Defense Research Program. 99 Engleberg, S. & Gordon, M. 1989. Germans accused of helping Libya to build nerve gas plant. New York Times. January 1: A1, 4. 100 Gee, J. 1991. Confessions of an on-site inspector. Pacific Research 4(4): 3–9. 101 Ross, M. 1992. US concern on Iraqi arms told. Los Angeles Times. January 16: A4. Citing Literature Volume666, Issue1The Microbiologist and Biological Defense Research: Ethics, Politics and International SecurityDecember 1992Pages 21-52 ReferencesRelatedInformation
Referência(s)