The promise and perils of Unit 731 data to advance COVID-19 research

A closer examination of available evidence indicates that one historical event may hold the key to better control and management of infectious diseases like COVID-19: Unit 731.10–13 Unit 731: a dark and evil existence Less discussed than the Holocaust forced on Jewish people during World War II, Unit 731 is Japan’s covert biological and chemical research division that primarily operated in China between 1932 and 1945.10–14 Unit 731 performed medical experiments, such as human vivisections, on detained Chinese, Koreans, Mongolians, Russians and Americans, including the young, the old and the pregnant.10–15 Human vivisections are medical experiments conducted on live and conscious human beings. During these experiments under Unit 731, captured individuals were rarely given anaesthetics and often suffered through amputations, burning, or forced consumption of toxins or poisons while awake; many observations were recorded during these procedures.10–15 At the centre of these medical atrocities are Unit 731’s biological warfare experiments, epitomised by the litany of maliciously human-made plagues unleashed on non-captured Chinese civilians in their homes and communities. [...]the US government wanted data about biological weapons for its research and purposes. [...]they agreed not to prosecute the Unit 731 perpetrators in exchange for at least some of the data.19 20 In other words, even scientists back then understood the importance of Unit 731 data in enriching our understanding of infectious diseases and beyond, a time when the world was not struggling to fight COVID-19—an extremely contagious and deadly global pandemic. By ‘medical community’, we mean a carefully selected group of scientists and scholars who have adequate knowledge and experience regarding the best approaches to analyse medical data of Unit 731’s scale, as well as sufficient ethical training on what is required to protect the data correctly.