5
The U.S. Government Irradiated Dozens Of Children Just To See What Would Happen
In the '90s, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Eileen Welsome uncovered what she called "The Plutonium Files" -- documentation of a vast conspiracy wherein America spent most of the '40s and '50 doing involuntary radiation experiments on unwitting citizens. The first was performed by members of the Manhattan Project, who injected 18 people with plutonium-238, the deadliest radioactive substance on Earth. These men, women, and children (many working-class and/or black) were supposedly terminally ill anyway, and thus expendable in the eyes of the most murderous scientists in history. But plenty lived long enough to develop horrific cancerous tumors which necessitated amputation, all without realizing they'd been turned into glow-in-the-dark guinea pigs.
Weirder but just as cruel, between 1945 and 1953, MIT conducted a series of government-sanctioned and wildly unethical experiments on children, feeding them irradiated bowls of cereal to track how their young bodies absorbed the nutrients. Their victims were from Walter E. Fernald State School in Massachusetts, an institute for mentally troubled and disabled boys, and the 74 participants in this "Science Club" didn't know they were the lab rats.
These downtrodden children (many didn't have, or weren't allowed to see, parents) were bribed with trips to baseball games, parties, and Mickey Mouse watches in exchange for their livelihoods. Perhaps most disturbing was that this was all sponsored by the good people at Quaker Oats, who even supplied the tainted cereal in the hopes they could use the results in a demented ad campaign.
QuakerSo on the extremely off chance you didn't find Quaker Oats disgusting already, there's another reason to.
But don't worry, there was some accountability here. Bill Clinton launched an investigation into the cover-up. He then released the report with a televised apology ... on the day of the O.J. Simpson trial verdict.
4
Australian Electroshock Sleep Therapy Was A Fatal Nightmare
In the 1960s and '70s, Harry Bailey was a trusted Australian physician, purported to have developed a medical procedure called "deep sleep therapy." Dr. Bailey would put patients into two-week drug-induced comas with "beautiful" chemicals. Then, while they were off on their extended vacation to dreamland, he would shock the living hell out them in a way-too-literal attempt to rewire their subconscious.
Chelmsford HospitalSure it's harsh, but you need serious treatments for things like schizophrenia, drug addiction, and ... er ...
PMS and weight loss.