Former Inmates Charge Prof With Toxic Drug Experiment

PHILADELPHIA--Five former prison inmates last month filed suit against a University of Pennsylvania medical school professor, charging that they were given potentially harmful drugs during experiments conducted in the early 1960s, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported.

The $6 million damages suit names the professor, Albert Kligman, as well as the University, the Dow Chemical Company, and the Federal government as defendants.

Kligman, well-known dermatologist and an expert on such ailments as acne and athlete's foot, performed experiments with the chemical dioxin on many inmates during the 1960s, with grants from Dow and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The inmates' suit charges that the prisoners were not told the nature of the experiments and suffered from outbreaks of rashes following their participation in the studies.

James Walker, one of the plaintiffs, claims that since he participated in the experiments he has developed a skin disease and a condition which causes his breasts to enlarge when exposed to sunlight.

EPA on the Scene

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last January investigated Kligman's dioxin experiments. A former Dow worker claimed during the EPA hearings that Kligman went well beyond the guidelines for the dioxin experiments approved by Dow and the university.

Dioxin has recently been linked by researchers to cancer, fetal death and birth defects. It is also a major component of Agent Orange, a defoliant used in Vietnam.