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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A recently published book raises several issues of relevance to dermatologists. In the book, entitled Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison,¹ Allen M. Hornblum describes in detail medical research using prison volunteers in a prison in Philadelphia, Pa, starting in the 1950s. The research included not only relatively harmless procedures such as ordinary patch testing but also testing with some associated risks, such as the application of dioxin to the skin of volunteers. The principal researchers in the program were dermatologists.

The book emphasizes that prisoners have been exploited in the past, and that while this was happening, the medical community did not express concern for them. Since prisoners do not have the rights or opportunities afforded nonprisoners, they need to have more protection. However, to say categorically that research should not be done on prisoners, or to say that when such research is stopped the problem is . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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