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In all cases, subject protections, informed consent, direct benefit to the participants, and an institutional review board (IRB) approval are required. Otherwise, human subject experimentation breaches the Nuremberg Code and other internationally recognized regulations and ethical guidelines. In addition, doing so constitutes a crime of war and/or against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
No information indicates that the Bush administration sought or received formal authorization for its practices. Also, neither the CIA or DOD ever filed a waiver for informed consent, as required by federal regulations.
In addition, the CIA's Office of Medical Services (OMS) made public a formal research protocol. However, DOJ memos and other government documents reveal a classified medical monitoring program, involving "the meticulous collection and analysis of data to derive generalizable knowledge," relating to the "safety" and effects of torture techniques.
However, under US and international law and accepted medical ethics, non-clinical human experimentation, with or without subjects' consent, is impermissible. "In fact, the 'enhanced' interrogation techniques are premised on the infliction of mental (and physical) harm, so" experiments to make them safe and effective are legally and ethically groundless and indefensible.
Instances of Illegal and Unethical Human Subject Research and Experimentation
Medical personnel involvement in waterboarding was undertaken to "disguise a universally recognized torture tactic as a 'safe, legal and effective' interrogation" technique. One CIA guideline directs participants to record:
"....how long each application (and the entire procedure) lasted, how much water was applied (realizing that much splashes off), how exactly the water was applied, and if a seal was achieved, if the naso-or oropharynx was filled, what sort of volume was expelled, how long was the break between applications, and how the subject looked between each treatment."
In his 2005 "combined techniques" memo, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steven G. Bradbury told Acting CIA General Counsel John A. Rizzo that experimentation determined that waterboarding healthy subjects, subject to defined limitations, is "medically acceptable."
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