Nazi Science — The Dachau Hypothermia Experiments

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Abstract
IT is widely recognized that the experiments performed on prisoners in German concentration camps during the Second World War were in fact brutal crimes committed under the guise of medical research. There is controversy, however, about the use of the results obtained from those studies. Among the approximately 30 known projects, the controversy has focused most intensely on the experiments involving hypothermia in humans that were performed at the Dachau concentration camp.1 The debate among scientists and ethicists has spread to the public through the print and broadcast media.2 3 4 5 6 Positions range from a total ban to advocacy of the uninhibited use of the material. At one pole, Arnold Relman, editor-in-chief of the Journal, has noted that the Nazi experiments "are such a gross violation of human standards that they are not to be trusted at all" and said that the Journal would not allow citations of the Nazi work.1 In contrast, Robert Pozos, a physiologist specializing in hypothermia, has advocated the free use of the results, believing that they can advance contemporary research on hypothermia and save lives.2 , 7 By 1984 more than 45 publications had made reference to Dachau experiments.1 A much larger body of literature on hypothermia, however, has not referred to these controversial studies.

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