Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent

The narrative explores the alarming decline of Americans' right to refuse risky medical research, particularly in the context of urgent vaccine development during the Covid-19 pandemic. It traces the origins of this erosion back to a 1990 FDA waiver allowing nonconsensual testing of an anthrax vaccine on military personnel. Since then, over 20,000 civilians have been subjected to similar practices under the guise of research. Legal modifications in 1996 have further enabled such unethical studies, revealing a troubling trend in the U.S. medical-research system's trustworthiness.