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Contraceptive Trials (The "Pill" Experiments)
What Happened: In the 1950s and 1960s, Puerto Rico became a key site for testing early versions of the oral contraceptive pill. The trials, conducted by pharmaceutical companies like Searle (which later became part of Pfizer), were led by researchers including Gregory Pincus and John Rock, who were seeking to develop a reliable birth control method.
The clinical trials were conducted without proper informed consent, and many women were not fully aware of the potential side effects. Some of the women in the trials suffered from adverse effects, including mood changes and physical side effects, and were not given proper follow-up care. There were also concerns that the trials targeted low-income, uneducated Puerto Rican women, exploiting their lack of knowledge about the experiment.