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SAN FRANCISCO — A prominent California medical school has apologized for conducting dozens of unethical medical experiments on at least 2,600 incarcerated men in the 1960s and 1970s, including putting pesticides and herbicides on the men’s skin and injecting it into their veins.

Two dermatologists at the University of California, San Francisco — one of whom remains at the university — conducted the experiments on men at the California Medical Facility, a prison hospital in Vacaville, about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. The practice was halted in 1977.

The university’s Program for Historical Reconciliation issued a report about the experiments earlier this month, writing that the doctors engaged in “questionable informed consent practices” and performed procedures on men who did not have any of the diseases or conditions that the research aimed to treat. The San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report the program’s findings.

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“UCSF apologizes for its explicit role in the harm caused to the subjects, their families and our community by facilitating this research, and acknowledges the institution’s implicit role in perpetuating unethical treatment of vulnerable and underserved populations — regardless of the legal or perceptual standards of the time,” Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Dan Lowenstein said in a statement.

The report said further analysis is needed to determine the extent of harms caused to the prisoners as a result of the experiments and what the university should do in response.

“We are still in the process of considering the recommendations and determining appropriate next steps,” the university said in a statement. “As we do so, it will be with humility and an ongoing commitment to a more just, equitable and ethical future.”

A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Dana Simas, said officials had not yet read the report. However, the agency and California Correctional Health Care Services “strive to ensure the incarcerated population receive appropriate health care that meets the community standard of care and ethics,” Simas wrote.

The report focused on research by Dr. Howard Maibach and Dr. William Epstein. Maibach continues to work at the university, and Epstein died in 2006. It was not immediately clear whether Maibach would face discipline in the light of the report.

The experiments involved administering doses of pesticides and herbicides to the incarcerated men, who volunteered for the studies and were paid $30 a month for their participation — among the highest-paid roles at the prison and in high demand, according to a 1977 article of the university’s student newspaper, The Synapse.

Other experiments included placing small cages with mosquitoes close to the participants’ arms or directly on their skin to determine “host attractiveness of humans to mosquitoes,” the report stated.

The research ended in 1977 when California prohibited human subject research in state prisons, a year after the federal government halted the practice.

But Epstein in 1977 testified in state hearings in support of biomedical experimentation at prisons, the report found, and investigators could not find evidence that he changed his opinion before he died.

While Maibach wrote that he regrets having participated in research that does not meet current standards in a letter to the university’s dermatology department, he said he believed the experiments offered benefits to some of the patients.

“What I believed to be ethical as a matter of course 40 or 50 years ago is not considered ethical today,” he wrote. “I do not recall in any way in which the studies caused medical harm to the participants.”

The university says there is no evidence that the doctors’ research was directed specifically at Black men, although they were trained by a now-deceased Philadelphia doctor whose research at a Pennsylvania prison was unethical and disrespectful toward the subjects, many of whom were incarcerated Black men.

The report also found that many of Maibach’s publications during his career perpetuate the biologization of race — which he addressed in his letter by saying he has now “come to the understanding that race has always been a social and not a biological construct, something not appreciated by so many of us in a prior era.”

“While one of his (Maibach’s) recent articles hints at a possible reconsideration of the biology of race, we believe the long history of his research of skin differences along racial lines, with race as a possible biological factor, perpetuated the continuance of racial science in dermatology and has yet to be publicly addressed,” the report stated.

Maibach’s son, Edward Maibach, wrote in a recent email to The Associated Press that his father had suffered a stroke and was unable to respond to press inquiries.

The younger Maibach said his father had not been allowed to meet with the report’s authors or access their documents. The report and a press release from the university, he wrote, treated his father “as a ‘lone ranger’ who seemingly acted without knowledge or approval at others at UCSF. This, too, is incorrect.”

“Dr. Maibach’s activities at Vacaville were known to, and endorsed by, UCSF administrators, including the UCSF ethicist,” Edward Maibach wrote.

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The post California college apologizes for prisoner experiments appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Dec 5, 3:20pm The restaurant Hilda and Jesse has apologized for refusing to serve three uniformed and armed San Francisco police officers on Friday.

“We made a mistake and apologize for the unfortunate incident on Friday when we asked members of the San Francisco Police Department to leave our restaurant,” co-owners Rachel Sillcocks and Kristina Liedags Compton wrote in a statement posted to Instagram Sunday afternoon. “We are grateful to all members of the force who work hard to keep us safe, especially during these challenging times.”

Yelp has added a disclaimer to Hilda and Jesse’s page, saying the page is being monitored by its support team, after a bombardment of negative reviews earned the restaurant a one-star rating.

Dec 4, 10:30pm A restaurant in North Beach refused to serve three uniformed and armed San Francisco police officers on Friday, because staff felt “uncomfortable with the presence of their multiple weapons.”

Staff “politely asked” the officers to leave, according to an Instagram post from the Hilda and Jesse, at an all-day brunch eatery that opened its doors on Nov. 1.

“We respect the San Francisco Police Department and are grateful for the work they do,” the post reads. “We welcome them into the restaurant when they are off duty, out of uniform, and without their weapons.”

The statement also added that “this is not a political statement, we did what we thought was best for our staff.”

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott tweeted a response on Saturday evening: “The San Francisco Police Department stands for safety with respect, even when it means respecting wishes that our officers and I find discouraging and personally disappointing.

“I believe the vast majority of San Franciscans welcome their police officers, who deserve to know that they are appreciated for the difficult job we ask them to do — in their uniforms — to keep our neighborhoods and businesses safe.”

By Saturday evening, Hilda and Jesse, located at 701 Union St., had been inundated with negative reviews on both Yelp and Google. It currently has one star and over 400 reviews on Yelp; the company normally puts a disclaimer on businesses receiving unusually high numbers of reviews due to controversy, but as of Sunday morning, that banner was not added.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The owners of a San Francisco restaurant have apologized for turning three police officers off duty over the weekend because their guns made their employees “uncomfortable.”

Restaurant owners Hilda and Jesse apologized in a social media post published Sunday after outcry and calls to boycott the restaurant because officers were told to leave shortly after they sat down on Friday.

The restaurant owners said in a Saturday post that officers were politely asked to leave the restaurant because the restaurant is a “safe place and the presence of officers’ guns made us feel uncomfortable.”

Officers would be welcome at the North Beach restaurant when off duty, without their uniforms and without their guns, the Post added. The post was deleted on Monday.

“We made a mistake and apologize for the unfortunate incident on Friday when we asked members of the San Francisco Police Department to leave our restaurant,” said Rachel Sillcocks and Kristina Liegas, co-owners of the Hilda and Jesse restaurant, where apology post .

“These are stressful times and we’ve dealt with them poorly,” they added.

On Saturday, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott tweeted about the incident and said his department encourages officers to support local businesses and meet members of the community.

“The San Francisco Police Department stands for safety with respect, even if it means honoring requests that our officers and I find discouraging and personally disappointing,” he tweeted.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The post San Francisco eatery apologizes for refusing service to cops appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

LATEST DECEMBER 5, 3:20 p.m. Hilda and Jesse restaurant apologized for refusing to serve three uniformed and armed San Francisco police officers on Friday.

“We made a mistake and apologize for the unfortunate incident on Friday when we asked members of the San Francisco Police Department to leave our restaurant,” wrote co-owners Rachel Sillcocks and Kristina Liedags Compton in a statement posted on Sunday afternoon Instagram was released. “We are grateful to all members of the force who work hard to ensure our safety, especially in these challenging times.”

Yelp added a disclaimer to Hilda and Jesse’s page stating that the site is being monitored by its support team after a bombing of negative reviews earned the restaurant a one-star rating.

Dec 4, 10:30 p.m. A North Beach restaurant refused to serve three uniformed and armed San Francisco police officers on Friday because the staff were “uncomfortable with their numerous guns.”

According to an Instagram post from Hilda and Jesse, an all-day brunch restaurant that opened its doors on Nov. 1, the staff “politely asked” officers to leave.

“We respect the San Francisco Police Department and are grateful for the work they are doing,” the post said.

The statement also added, “This is not a political statement, we did what we thought was best for our employees.”

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott tweeted a response Saturday night: “The San Francisco Police Department stands for safety with respect, even if it means respecting wishes that our officers and I find discouraging and personally disappointing.

“I believe the vast majority of San Franciscans welcome their police officers, who deserve to know that they are valued for the difficult work we ask of them – in their uniforms – to protect our neighborhoods and businesses.”

(1/3) Community engagement is a core principle of the police reforms of the SFPD in the 21st https://t.co/nJsk4hy0tB

– SFPD boss Scott (@SFPDChief) December 5, 2021

On Saturday night, Hilda and Jesse at 701 Union Street were inundated with negative reviews on both Yelp and Google. It currently has one star and over 400 reviews on Yelp; The company usually issues a disclaimer for companies that receive an unusually high number of reviews due to controversy, but this banner was not added on Sunday morning.

The post San Francisco restaurant apologizes for refusing to serve 3 armed SFPD officers appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.