Unit 731 and moral repair. - PubMed - NCBI

Unit 731 and moral repair. - PubMed - NCBI




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J Med Ethics. 2017 Apr;43(4):270-276. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2015-103177. Epub 2016 Mar 21.
Unit 731 and moral repair.
Hickey D1, Li SS1, Morrison C1, Schulz R1, Thiry M1, Sorensen K1.

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Abstract


Unit 731, a biological warfare research organisation that operated under the authority of the Imperial Japanese Army in the 1930s and 1940s, conducted brutal experiments on thousands of unconsenting subjects. Because of the US interest in the data from these experiments, the perpetrators were not prosecuted and the atrocities are still relatively undiscussed. What counts as meaningful moral repair in this case-what should perpetrators and collaborator communities do decades later? We argue for three non-ideal but realistic forms of moral repair: (1) a national policy in Japan against human experimentation without appropriate informed and voluntary consent; (2) the establishment of a memorial to the victims of Unit 731; and (3) US disclosure about its use of Unit 731 data and an apology for failing to hold the perpetrators accountable.

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KEYWORDS:

Chemical and Biological Weapons; Codes of/Position Statements on Professional Ethics
PMID: 27003420 DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2015-103177
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