Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 40

16B Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, Sunday, July 30, 1972 'Syphilis Put Tuskegee On Map9 Town Feels Stigmatized 'This used to be a real friendly town. Now everybody's suspicious of everybody else. I'-ve seen folks cross the street to avoid talking to someone they think was in the Tuskegee black mmmmm 88 West Bend percolator, 5 to 9 cups, automatic, choice of colors Dazey can opener and knife sharpener, choice of colors Proctor Silex toaster, Select-Ronic color control Regal compopper, 4-qt. capacity, automatic, choice of colors Sunbeam hand mixer, easy-to-operate, compact to store $8 Your Choice Put your house in order Regal 7-pc. cookware set with 5 kitchen utensils on rack, Tefloncookware in choice of colors includes: 1 qt.

saucepanlid, 2 qt. saucepanlid, 5 qt. Dutch ovenlid, 10-inch open fry pan (uses Dutch oven lid). By JEAN HELLER Associated Press Writer TUSKEGEE, Ala. "Syphilis put Tuskegee on the map," Bill Lennard reflected grimly.

"How's that for a town motto?" Lennard is project coordinator for the local OEO Community Action Agency, a college-educated black, born and raised in Tuskegee and now deeply concerned about the future of his home town. "How could I have lived here all my life and never known this was going on?" Lennard asked. "I'm astounded. I'm shocked and I feel sick. I don't know what it's going to do to this town." This town and the surrounding county have, for 40 years, been the object of the Tuskegee Study, a syphilis experiment involving 600 local blacks, disclosed by the Associated Press last week.

The study was a cooperative project of the U.S. Public Health Service, (PHS) the Alabama Health Department, the Macon County Medical Society and the Macon County Health Department and was conducted to determine what damage untreated syphilis does to the human body. ABOUT 400 MEN HAD DISEASE In the beginning, 1932, about 200 of the study group showed no signs of syphilis and were used for purposes of comparison with the 400 or so men who had the disease. Questions exist over just how many of the 400 men ever received any treatment for their syphilis. An Alabama attorney general's office spokesman said an effort will be made to determine if the lack of treatment for some of the study participants violated a 1927 state law requiring treatment for all who suffered from the disease.

During the study at least seven men died as a direct result of syphilis and the figure could be higher, said Dr. Don Printz of the venereal disease branch of the PHS' Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Local residents are deeply disturbed about the study and concerned about the surviving participants, particularly, that one of them was publicly identified, apparently by health officials. "I know his family so well; some of them are highly educated and he's a real good farmer," a former county agent said. "Now they've got this stigma attached to them.

Folks keep asking me if it's safe to shake his hand." It is. Neither the man to whom the agent referred nor any other participant in the Tuskegee Study has syphilis in contagious form, according to PHS officials in Atlanta. Several of the Tuskegee Study survivors have retained a prominent black civil rights lawyer, Fred D. Gray, to represent them, hoping to obtain compensation for their part in the without putting your budget out Based on interviews with his clients, Gray said he does not believe they knew what was in store for them when they volunteered for the Tuskegee Study. Nor, he added, do they recall signing any releases when they joined.

Dr. J. W. Williams, a local black doctor who participated as an intern during the early years of the Tuskegee Study, said he does not recall any of the participants being told what was happening to them. In fact, he added, the three interns working as technicians under the direction of two PHS doctors from Washington were not told about the study, either.

There seems to be a general consensus among PHS and state doctors that the Tuskegee Study may have had some validity when it was undertaken in 1932. The treatment available at that time was almost as dangerous as the disease, and sometimes fatal. The juestion of morality arises in the decision not to end the study and treat all remaining participants with penicillin or sulfa drugs after World War II. In Tuskegee, a town which feels stigmatized, the problem already is a mountain. Many people who were involved in the program, both as participants and supervisors, have gone into temporary seclusion.

MOST PEOPLE SEEM DAZED In restaurants, the Tuskegee Study is the basic topic of conversation. Many still don't believe it. Many don't want to believe it. A few don't care. But basically, the people seem dazed.

"This used to be a real friendly town," said one black resident who asked not to be identified. "Now everybody's suspicious of everybody else. Folks are all trying to figure out who the people in the study were and they don't know what to do about them, whether they're safe or not. "I've seen folks cross the street to avoid talking to someone they think was in the study," he added. "This is the biggest thing that hit this town.

Everybody's buzzing. It ain't ever going to be the same around here and that's too bad. It's all too bad. It's all just a damned shame." Check the famous brand names. Then check the lowprices.

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