Head of E.P.A. Bars Nazi Data In Study on Gas

By PHILIP SHABECOFF, Special to the New York Times
Published: March 23, 1988

The chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, alerted by a letter of protest from agency scientists, has barred from an E.P.A. report on a toxic gas any data that the Nazis acquired in experiments on concentration camp prisoners.  The action by the agency's Administrator, Lee M. Thomas, followed an E.P.A. draft study in which the information from the Nazi experiments was used.  The purpose of the study was to trace the human effects of various doses of the gas, phosgene, because it is now widely used in the manufacture of plastics and pesticides. Weapon of World War I……But 22 agency employees, many of them scientists, wrote to Mr. Thomas last week questioning the use of unethically obtained data and expressing doubt about the scientific value of such information.  An issue raised by the letter was whether the agency should ever use such data.  More Here......

My Take – Ya gotta love this.  Does anyone notice the smell of hypocrisy?  Here is an agency that is under investigation for what will probably be labeled as illegal human testing and they are pointing fingers.   This issue about using Nazi data from WWII human testing programs has been a sore point in science since the war ended.  I can remember the emotional issues raised so many years ago.  Emotionally I was opposed to using any of it, but intellectually I thought it was a shame to waste it, especially since so many suffered in acquiring it. But that is the crux of the matter isn’t it.  So many suffered! 

The reality is we need to start defining things properly.  Data is neither evil nor righteous.  It is either correct or incorrect.  How that data was acquired may be evil, but the data is just information and should be evaluated for accuracy and if accurate it should be used.   However, that doesn't give the EPA the right to act in the same manner as did the Nazi's.