A report from a Japanese military medical conference held in March 1940 suggests that the Imperial Japanese Army may have repeatedly conducted experiments in China involving the transfusion of animal blood into humans during its invasion, local media reported Saturday.
The experiments were carried out in the autumn of 1938 at an undisclosed location, and the identities of the 23 test subjects were not specified, Kyodo News said.
The document indicates that the experimenters injected some subjects with animal blood or serum, specifically including large-volume transfusions of horse blood into those critically ill individuals due to blood loss and injections of chicken blood into humans to observe how long it remained in the human body. It also recorded adverse reactions among the subjects, including high fever following the transfusions.
Kyodo News noted that such practices constituted a clear violation of medical ethics. The document was discovered in a journal published by the Japanese Army Medical Corps, despite efforts by Japan's military authorities to destroy evidence related to human experimentation after the country's defeat in World War II.
In recent years, Japanese researchers and media outlets have successively uncovered additional evidence of wartime atrocities, including human experimentation conducted by the Japanese military.
Some historians argue that Japan should thoroughly reflect on its aggressive war and its brutal acts, particularly regarding wartime atrocities such as human experimentation.
Japanese military reportedly conducted human experiments involving animal blood during invasion of China: media
Japanese military reportedly conducted human experiments involving animal blood during invasion of China: media
